SANTA CRUZ — Friends and neighbors of upper Westside Santa Cruz residents Katrin Tobin and Mike Erbe gathered around the couple’s home on Moore Street Tuesday morning to witness a prefabricated studio apartment being craned over power lines and a neighboring house and dropped in their backyard.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Tobin as the accessory dwelling unit or ADU was lowered meticulously into its foundation. “It hasn’t felt real until now. It’s so much different than living with something being built slowly. But now I am totally excited.”
With Tobin’s homemade lemonade and zucchini bread on hand and an ice cream truck down the street, which was blocked off due to the potentially dangerous undertaking, the lowering of the building was like a low-key block party.
The 340-square-foot studio bedroom was made by Redwood City-based company called Abodu, which Tobin said she landed on after visiting the company’s showroom and checking out the inside of one of the prefabricated dwelling units.
“I had been thinking about it for a while but it was not something that I needed,” said Tobin. “I walked into one of the units and thought there wasn’t anything not to like about it. And it was attractive to me that I didn’t have to make a zillion decisions like when you stick-build from scratch.”
Tobin mentioned that the process to place the unit in her backyard had been in the works for a little more than a year and the company also took care of all the permits. Tobin said she isn’t planning on renting the studio out to anyone but will be using the space as a guest house for friends and family such as her mom, who lives in Idaho, and her two daughters and their partners.
“The inspiration was that I wanted to have more guests but I didn’t want to make them breakfast,” said Tobin. “This way they can make their own coffee and have their own morning. To have someone in your house making breakfast for more than three days can be too tough.”
After the prefabricated building was set onto the foundation, Tobin took the Sentinel and a few curious neighbors inside the 340-square-foot unit, which she said will cost a ballpark of $1,000 per square foot with the delivery and installation and landscaping included.
“I have some friends who just built a studio over their garage from scratch and that too cost about $1,000 per square foot,” said Tobin. “From the day they met with a designer until it was finished was three years. For me, I don’t want to have to make all kinds of decisions and live with it for three years.”
Tobin’s husband, Erbe, joked that their newly placed guest house doubles as a doghouse for him if the two get into any arguments. He mentioned that he will be painting the white building but hasn’t yet decided on the color.
“It’s wonderful and it’s been a heck of a process,” said Erbe. “Abodu handled most of it but we needed to get the grade down and the dirt moved out. And connecting with the neighbors about it was a fun part of the process.”
Westside resident David Mintz was one of the onlookers Tuesday morning, and watched the studio apartment lifted into the air and craned over to the backyard. He said he was amazed at the coordinated effort that went off without a hitch.
“These guys are pretty amazing to do this kind of work,” said Mintz. “It was an amazing process and to see that thing way up in the air and get dropped down, it was impressive.”
Now that the studio is settling into its foundation, Tobin said it will take a few weeks to hook everything up, install solar panels and get the final inspections and go-ahead from the city.
Originally Published: July 16, 2024 at 4:06 p.m.