The Garden House

The garden house is the classic accessory dwelling we take on: a new, complete home set in the rear yard. We size it to the lot, the setbacks, and the life it has to hold — a parent, a renter, an adult child, or a future version of you.

The work is a new building, with its own envelope, on ground that is already yours.

In Davis and Weber counties the envelope is tight. Height, coverage, parking, and whether the unit must match the main house all vary by city. The drawings have to read as architecture, not as leftover square footage.

Typical materials: vertical cedar or board-and-batten, limewashed stucco, standing-seam metal, bronze or black windows. A gravel court and native planting keep the lot from feeling overbuilt.