05/19/2026
A property inside City of Bend. Three and a half acres, existing home, existing septic, room to build. It looked like an easy ADU.
It wasn't.
The existing septic couldn't support an additional unit. City sewer was more than a quarter mile away. A licensed professional was brought in specifically to find a workaround. His conclusion: there wasn't one.
The ADU was abandoned.
This isn't a universal City of Bend rule. But the pattern it represents is everywhere. ADUs get stopped by things that don't show up in a zoning search: sewer distance, septic capacity, sizing limits, solar setbacks, parking requirements, access standards, distance rules between the ADU and the main home. Most buyers go straight to a builder. Builders start at the build phase, not the feasibility phase. The infrastructure questions don't get asked until it's too late to walk away.
Check before you commit. That question has a real answer before you own the property.
Full details at the link in the first comment.
Comment ADU or DM us if you have a specific property you are evaluating.
