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Montgomery · ADU cost

What it costs to build an ADU in Montgomery, NY

800 sq ft ≈ $205k–270k $258–337/sq ft 13 districts Orange & Rockland

An 800 sq ft accessory dwelling unit in Montgomery runs roughly $205k–270k, or about $258–337/sq ft, and that per-square-foot figure sits deliberately above the $211–276/sq ft a full house costs here. An ADU still needs one whole kitchen, one whole bath, its own service panel and its own heating plant no matter how small you draw it, and those costs do not shrink with the floor plan, so they land on half the square footage and push the rate up. Whether the town will let you build one is a separate question from what it costs, and it gets answered parcel by parcel rather than townwide, since the Town of Montgomery maps 13 districts that treat accessory units differently from one another, so read the table below as a starting point rather than a verdict.

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ADU cost by size in Montgomery

Standard finish, slab on grade, on a flat and clear part of the lot, general-contractor margin included. These are structure costs at Orange County pricing, before the service and septic work a second dwelling can trigger.

SizeType$ / sq ftEstimated total
400 sq ft Studio $342–$447 $135k–180k
600 sq ft One bedroom $286–$374 $170k–225k
800 sq ft One bedroom, larger $258–$337 $205k–270k
1,000 sq ft Two bedroom $241–$315 $240k–315k

400 sq ft — One room plus a bath. Garage conversions and small backyard cottages land here.

600 sq ft — The most common detached build - a real bedroom, full kitchen, one bath.

800 sq ft — Room for a proper living area. Still a single bath and one kitchen.

1,000 sq ft — About as large as most codes allow an accessory unit to go.

Why the rate is higher than a house

The systems below are priced for an 800 sq ft unit. The middle column is what each system would cost if it simply shrank with the floor plan; the left column is what it actually costs once you account for the equipment a dwelling needs one of regardless of size. The gap between the two columns is the whole reason small builds price the way they do.

System$ / sq ft in an ADUIf it scaled with floor areaFixed per unit
Site work $8–$11 $8 —
Foundation $17–$24 $17 —
Framing $26–$33 $26 —
Envelope - roof, siding, windows $33–$42 $33 —
Plumbing $29–$35 $17 55%
Electrical $19–$24 $13 35%
HVAC $24–$29 $15 45%
Insulation $8–$9 $8 —
Interior finishes $33–$45 $28 15%
Millwork & cabinetry $19–$29 $11 55%

The fixed-per-unit share is a modeling assumption, not a figure from the code: it is our estimate of how much of each system's budget buys equipment a dwelling needs exactly one of - a kitchen rough-in, a bath group, a service panel, a heating plant - and therefore does not shrink when the unit does. Site work, foundation, framing, envelope and insulation are treated as scaling straight with floor area, which understates the premium slightly, because a small building carries more envelope per square foot of floor than a large one.

What the Montgomery code says about accessory units

Whether you can build one, and how large, is decided by the district your parcel sits in rather than by the town as a whole. The table shows how each mapped district treats ADUs alongside the lot and setback standards a second unit still has to fit inside. District boundaries and conditions vary, so treat it as a starting point and confirm the district that applies to your parcel.

District Min lot Setbacks F / S / R Max height ADU
Residential Agriculture — One-Family Residences 2 ac 75 / 40 / 75 ft 35 ft Occupancy restricted
Residential Agriculture — One- and Two-Family Residences 1 ac 60 / 30 / 40 ft 35 ft Occupancy restricted
Multifamily 0.11 ac 25 / 10 / 25 ft 35 ft Occupancy restricted
Mobile Home Court 0.46 ac 35 / 15 / 35 ft 35 ft No
Mobile Home Park — Age-Restricted 0.46 ac 35 / 15 / 35 ft 35 ft No
Regional Commercial 0.92 ac 50 / 20 / 30 ft 40 ft No
Community Commercial 0.46 ac 50 / 20 / 30 ft 40 ft No
Tourist Commercial 0.23 ac 50 / 20 / 30 ft 40 ft Occupancy restricted
Crossroads Commercial Overlay 0.46 ac 50 / 20 / 30 ft 40 ft No
General Industry 1.84 ac 75 / 30 / 50 ft 55 ft No
Airport Industry 0.92 ac 50 / 20 / 50 ft 55 ft No
Tech Industry 0.92 ac 50 / 20 / 30 ft 55 ft No
Business Park 0.92 ac 50 / 20 / 50 ft 55 ft No

Residential Agriculture — One-Family Residences - Only a single-family house is permitted here; a two-family house is not, and converting an existing house to a multifamily one needs a special use permit. The two-acre minimum is the same with or without central water or sewer.

  • A lot on a state or county road must be at least two hundred and fifty feet wide.
  • The lot area is a requirement per dwelling unit, so a second unit doubles the land.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least seventy-five feet.
  • An accessory building may not cover any of the required rear yard, may not exceed twenty-five feet in height there, and must stand at least ten feet from any lot line.
  • No lot for a single-family detached dwelling may be narrower than forty feet at any point between the front line and where lot width is measured.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Residential Agriculture — One- and Two-Family Residences - The figures shown apply more than a mile from a business district. Within half a mile, a lot with central water and sewer needs at least sixteen thousand three hundred and thirty-five square feet and at least a hundred feet of width, with coverage up to twenty-five percent.

  • Within a mile, a lot needs at least 43,560 square feet unserviced, thirty-two thousand six hundred and seventy with water or sewer, and twenty-one thousand seven hundred and eighty with both.
  • Within a mile, coverage may reach twenty percent; a lot needs at least a hundred and twenty-five feet of width and yards of at least forty front, twenty a side with forty for the pair, and forty rear.
  • Closer still, inside half a mile, an unserviced lot needs at least thirty-two thousand six hundred and seventy square feet, or twenty-seven thousand two hundred and twenty-four with either service.
  • Within half a mile, yards must be at least thirty-five front, fifteen a side with thirty for the pair, and thirty-five rear.
  • Distance runs from the nearest lot line to the nearest Crossroads, B-1, B-2 or B-3 district, or a Village of Montgomery or Village of Walden business district.
  • A planned adult community, a single-family attached dwelling and the conversion of an existing house to multifamily each need a special use permit.

Multifamily - Nothing may be built here without both central water and central sewer. The land figure applies per dwelling unit, so a ten-unit building needs fifty thousand square feet.

  • A multiple dwelling or a single-family attached dwelling needs a special use permit; a one-family or two-family house is permitted by right.
  • A two-family residence may take the per-unit land requirement down to eighty-five percent of it.
  • The side yards may total fifteen feet, so a building may sit ten feet from one line and five from the other.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least twenty-five feet.
  • An accessory building may cover up to thirty-five percent of the required rear yard, stand up to twenty feet high there, and must be at least five feet from any lot line.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Mobile Home Court - A licensed mobile home court needs a special use permit, and the permit standard requires a site of not less than five acres. Land per dwelling unit falls to eighteen thousand square feet with central water or sewer and twelve thousand with both.

  • Individual spaces must be at least two thousand square feet and thirty feet wide, and the spaces must average at least three thousand square feet and forty feet.
  • Initial development must cover at least two acres and each later addition at least one.
  • Interior roadways must be paved and at least twenty feet wide, with curbs or gutters and two access drives to the public street.
  • All mobile homes and accessory structures must be at least thirty feet apart, and no trailer may be more than a hundred and fifty feet from a refuse collection point.
  • Sewage disposal and water supply need State Health Department approval, and the site needs a development plan by a licensed professional engineer.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Mobile Home Park — Age-Restricted - This floating district is reachable only on a special use permit, and the figures shown size the overall site plan, not individual lots; the park may not be subdivided into lots at all.

  • Land per dwelling unit falls to eighteen thousand square feet with central water or sewer and twelve thousand with both.
  • Occupancy is restricted to age fifty-five and over, with at least one resident aged fifty-five or more in every unit and no occupant under nineteen.
  • The owner must certify compliance to the Code Enforcement Officer before the first of June each year, on an attorney's or licensed engineer's inquiry made within the previous forty-five days.
  • Open space the Planning Board requires must be fixed in a conservation easement, approved by the Municipal Attorney and recorded with the Orange County Clerk, before the first building permit.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Regional Commercial - A house is not permitted; the only dwellings are a unit over or behind a first-floor commercial use, on a special use permit, and a caretaker's or owner's unit on site plan approval.

  • Except by special use permit of the Town Board, access from Maple Avenue is limited to agricultural or normal residential purposes, other than within a thousand feet of NYS Route 17K.
  • No halving of the front yard is available here; the fifty feet stands.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least twenty-five feet.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • An accessory building's setback from a lot line is the full district yard, not a reduced figure.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Community Commercial - The Planning Board may cut the front yard in half, to twenty-five feet, at site plan approval where no parking is proposed in the front yard and the reduction suits the area's rural character.

  • The reduction is discretionary, not an entitlement; the fifty-foot front yard binds until the Board grants it.
  • No house is permitted; the only dwelling is a caretaker's or owner's unit, and it needs a special use permit.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least twenty-five feet.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • An accessory building's setback from a lot line is the full district yard, not a reduced figure.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Tourist Commercial - A one- or two-family house here is held to the two-acre agricultural standard, not the lot minimum shown. The Planning Board may cut the front yard in half, to twenty-five feet, where no parking is proposed in the front yard and the reduction suits the area's rural character.

  • The front-yard reduction is discretionary, taken at site plan approval; the fifty-foot front yard binds until the Board grants it.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least twenty-five feet.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • An accessory building's setback from a lot line is the full district yard, not a reduced figure.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Crossroads Commercial Overlay - This is an overlay: the figures shown apply only to uses the underlying district does not already permit. Where the underlying district permits a use, its own bulk requirements govern instead.

  • The Planning Board may cut the front yard in half, to twenty-five feet, at site plan approval where no parking is proposed in the front yard and the reduction suits the area's rural character.
  • The reduction is discretionary, not an entitlement; the fifty-foot front yard binds until the Board grants it.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least twenty-five feet.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • An accessory building's setback from a lot line is the full district yard, not a reduced figure.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

General Industry - Parcels fronting on Bracken Road take a sixty-foot front yard instead of seventy-five, and a side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least seventy-five feet.

  • Composting, recycling, handling and recovery facilities and biomass gasification-to-energy facilities take their lot area and bulk from a separate table graded by intensity of use, at § 235-7.4.
  • Except by special use permit of the Town Board, access from Maple Avenue is limited to agricultural or normal residential purposes, other than within a thousand feet of NYS Route 17K.
  • No house is permitted; the only dwelling is a caretaker's or owner's unit on site plan approval.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • An accessory building's setback from a lot line is the full district yard, not a reduced figure.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Airport Industry - The figures shown apply to industrial uses. A dwelling is held to the two-acre agricultural standard, and a single-family house needs a special use permit.

  • Other uses, neither industrial nor residential, need at least twenty thousand square feet and a hundred and fifty feet of width, with up to thirty percent coverage and forty feet of height.
  • Those uses need yards of at least fifty front, twenty to a side with forty for the pair, and thirty rear.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least fifty feet.
  • A caretaker's or owner's dwelling unit is available on site plan approval.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Tech Industry - No ordinary house is permitted; the only dwelling is a caretaker's or owner's unit on site plan approval, and any residential use allowed is held to the two-acre agricultural standard rather than the lot shown.

  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least fifty feet.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • An accessory building's setback from a lot line is the full district yard, not a reduced figure.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Business Park - This is a floating district: land is in it only once the Town Board places it on a parcel. No dwelling of any kind is permitted, not even a caretaker's unit.

  • No more than one building in four may be designed as a non-intensive warehouse.
  • A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least fifty feet.
  • Agriculture and farm uses need at least three acres.
  • An accessory building's setback from a lot line is the full district yard, not a reduced figure.
  • Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
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Costs an ADU adds that a house does not

Sizing up a specific parcel in Montgomery?

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Building a full house instead?

A standard-finish house in Montgomery runs $211–276/sq ft, about $380k–495k at 1,800 sq ft , plus roughly $9,017 for a conforming lot. See what it costs to build a house in Montgomery.

ADU cost in nearby towns

ADU cost in Montgomery: common questions

How much does it cost to build an ADU in Montgomery, NY?

An 800 sq ft accessory dwelling unit in Town of Montgomery runs roughly $205k–270k at a standard finish, general-contractor margin included. A 400 sq ft studio runs about $135k–180k. Those are structure costs on an easy site and do not include the septic, water or electrical service work a second unit often triggers.

Why does an ADU cost more per square foot than a house in Montgomery?

Because a lot of a dwelling's cost is per dwelling, not per square foot. One kitchen, one bath group, one service panel and one heating plant cost about the same in an 800 sq ft cottage as in a 1,800 sq ft house, so on the smaller unit they get spread over less than half the floor area. That is why an ADU here prices at $258–337/sq ft against $211–276/sq ft for a full house, even though it is the same trades doing the same work.

Are ADUs allowed in Montgomery?

Town of Montgomery has 13 districts. 9 districts prohibit ADUs, 4 allow them with occupancy restrictions. Check the specific address with the free ADU checker or confirm with the building department at (845) 457-2640 before you spend money on design.

Can I rent an ADU in Montgomery short term?

Short-term rentals allowed with local rules for Town of Montgomery. ADU rules and short-term-rental rules are set separately, so a unit you are allowed to build is not automatically one you are allowed to rent nightly. Confirm both before you underwrite the build on short-term-rental income.

ADU costs are modeled estimates in current 2026 dollars at the Orange County regional index, general-contractor margin included, derived from Offsite's cost engine with a stated adjustment for the equipment a dwelling needs one of regardless of size. They are planning numbers for decision-support only - not a bid, quote, or guarantee, and not legal, architectural or engineering advice. They cover the structure and exclude septic expansion, utility service runs, site work beyond a flat and clear pad, and permit fees. ADU eligibility, size, owner-occupancy and permit conditions in the Town of Montgomery vary by district and often carry exceptions this page does not show; zoning last reviewed 2026-09-15; verify with the building department at (845) 457-2640 before relying on any answer. Sources: the Offsite / Aldo cost engine and zoning dataset.

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