What’s included for addition and ADU contractors
Home additions and ADUs are the longest residential remodels and the most disruptive to the homeowner’s daily life. Foundation work in the side yard for three weeks, framing for a month, and roof-cut into the existing structure. The snapshot is built around that disruption:
- Feasibility study and zoning review — pre-construction discovery flow including setback analysis, lot coverage, height restrictions, and any HOA constraints, all captured at intake before the design contract is offered.
- Permit and approval tracking — building permit, electrical permit, plumbing permit, and any zoning variance each tracked as discrete milestones with submission date, status check, and approval notification.
- Utility connection coordination — for ADUs and major additions, water, sewer, gas, and electrical service connections are tracked with the utility company contact, scheduled connection date, and homeowner-visible status.
- Phased homeowner communication — five distinct project phases (site prep, foundation, framing, weather-in, interior finish) each with its own phase-start expectation-setting message, daily or weekly SMS cadence, and phase-end milestone celebration.
- Subcontractor scope and arrival coordination — excavation, foundation, framing, roofing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, drywall, finish carpentry, paint, and flooring all coordinated with arrival-window SMS to homeowner and scope confirmation to the sub.
- Disruption-management messaging — water shutoff dates, power shutoff dates, driveway-blocked dates, and noise-window expectations sent 48 hours before with the project-manager’s direct line.
- Final inspection and certificate of occupancy — for ADUs, the CO is the keys-handover moment; the snapshot tracks final inspection scheduling through CO issuance and triggers the homeowner welcome-to-ADU sequence.
How it differs from generic construction CRMs
Buildertrend and CoConstruct handle the construction admin well but were not built around the phased-disruption reality of addition and ADU work. They do not have native concept of project phases with distinct communication cadences. They do not handle the utility-connection coordination that determines whether an ADU project finishes on time. They do not message the homeowner 48 hours before water shutoff with the project-manager’s direct line and the expected restoration window.
The snapshot is built for the multi-month disruption. Every project phase has its own communication character. The foundation phase opens with a “what to expect in the next 3 weeks” video from the project manager. The framing phase opens with the realistic noise window and the daily SMS schedule. The weather-in milestone is celebrated because the homeowner has waited 8 weeks for the roof to be on. The interior phase shifts to a weekly digest because the visible progress slows down. Stop losing the next-door-neighbor referral because the homeowner felt blindsided by every disruption and assumed nobody was thinking about their daily life.
Addition and ADU contractor-specific edge
Additions and ADUs win on the homeowner’s experience of the long disruption. Six months is a long time to live next to a foundation hole, a framed shell with no roof, and a constant rotation of subs in and out of the side yard. The homeowner who felt informed every step of the way is the homeowner who refers their neighbor for the next ADU. The homeowner who felt blindsided by every disruption writes the one-star review that ranks above your five-stars for six months.
The snapshot’s edge is the multi-month phased communication that meets the homeowner where they are. Phase-start messaging sets realistic expectations before the disruption begins. Phase-end milestones celebrate the visible progress. Daily SMS during the most disruptive phases keeps the homeowner from feeling abandoned. The weather-in milestone — the moment the roof is on and the rain stops being a problem — gets explicit celebration because the homeowner has been waiting for it. In 12 months you’ll have documented per-phase homeowner-satisfaction scores, documented per-phase actual-vs-planned duration, and documented utility-connection accuracy — and you’ll know exactly which phase of your projects needs operational attention.
The 3-week framing phase on a 600-square-foot addition
Framing crew shows up Monday → homeowner doesn't know if they'll be there all week → noise starts at 7 AM → homeowner has a Zoom call at 8:30 AM → calls the office to ask if the noise will stop → office can't reach the framing crew → homeowner endures 14 days of unpredictable noise wondering if anyone is thinking about them
Friday before framing → 'what to expect in the next 3 weeks' video from PM → Sunday night → 'tomorrow framing starts, noise window 7 AM to 4 PM, here's the daily schedule, here's my direct line' → daily SMS with photo at end of each work day → homeowner adjusts their Zoom schedule and tells the neighbors what to expect → references the contractor by name to two coworkers in the same week
Compliance, by default
- TCPA SMS consent — captured at lead intake and re-confirmed at design contract signing.
- State contractor license display — license, classification, and any required residential-builder registration appear on contracts, change orders, and email footers.
- Lead-paint disclosure — for pre-1978 homes, the federal lead-paint disclosure is inserted into the project documents before demo or framing tie-in begins.
- Lien waiver workflow — partial waivers on every draw, final waiver at certificate of occupancy or final payment.
- Asbestos and environmental disclosures — state-specific environmental disclosure templates surfaced when project type triggers them (pre-1980 structure tie-in, basement work, attic insulation removal).