The coronavirus pandemic has forced people to spend more time inside their homes than ever before. Once just a place to sleep, eat and relax, the home must now be used for school, work, exercise, entertainment and more.
Needless to say, the new trend has made the common home, which was once empty for a good chunk of the day, much more chaotic, as parents, siblings and children are forced to co-exist while completing their daily tasks.
A Bristol native thinks he has a solution with his new company, ADDASPACE, which can construct and install an eco-friendly accessory dwelling right in your backyard.
“We wanted to create a separation from the home without it being physically too far away from the home,” ADDASPACE co-founder Andrew Naperotic told Rhode Island Inno. “The way I like to say it is, it’s separated, but integrated with the home. Separated so it creates the privacy that’s needed… but you don’t need to drive anywhere.”
Naperotic, who runs a technology management consulting company, said the idea for ADDASPACE started over a cup of coffee in March, right as the pandemic was sending people into their homes to prevent the spread of the virus.
“The disruption it was causing was emotional, it was physical, and it created a lack of productivity,” he said.
Naperotic and his team put the business together in just eight months. Now, they are ready to start building homes. ADDASPACE is currently offering two different units: 160 square feet and 320 square feet.
Each unit can incorporate a bathroom and a kitchenette. While the initial concept included spare bedrooms and office spaces, Naperotic says the company can be very flexible and offer a wide array of options. The possibilities include “man caves” or “she sheds,” yoga studios, gyms, garage bars, seating rooms and pool cabanas.
Naperotic said ADDASPACE can build these units faster and more affordably than standard contractors can. The normal process for turning a garage into a separate room, for example, can cost north of $100,000 and take as long as nine months, according to Naperotic. By contrast, ADDASPACE can construct each unit in as little as four to six weeks at a price ranging from $29,000 to $70,000. The startup’s highly repeatable process removes expenses and time that would normally be needed to complete the project.
ADDASPACE, which works out of a facility in Bristol, builds the structures out of shipping containers and pre-fabricates and insulates the units before delivering them to the customer. Then, instead of laying out concrete foundation to firmly secure the unit, ADDASPACE essentially hammers the unit into the ground using structural metal pylons that can support a far larger structure than the current size of the units. Naperotic said that once bolted down, the units are hurricane-proof.
As Naperotic pointed out, that process is not only environmentally friendly but also allows the dwellings to be removed should a person move and want to take the unit with them or sell it as its own individual asset. Naperotic added that the goal is to make these units turnkey, so once they are delivered to the customer, they are more or less ready to go.
The new units do bring up zoning issues, which vary from town to town. For instance, in Bristol, the units can be built without prior sign-off from the local zoning board, but in East Providence, the units require approval, Naperotic said.
ADDASPACE is now in the process of starting dialogues with various municipalities. Naperotic’s ultimate goal for communities where there is sufficient demand is to seek a blanket zoning amendment for the ADDASPACE units.
Currently, the team is building the first ADDASPACE unit in Bristol. The goal is to start ramping up production and complete 50 to 100 units in New England within the next six to 12 months.
Next year, Naperotic hopes to roll out more features on the startup’s website so people can customize and look at different options they can incorporate into their designs.
While the idea for ADDASPACE may have stemmed from the pandemic, Naperotic believes the trend of incorporating additional functionality into the modern home is not going away.
“It’s not just about the pandemic,” he said. “It’s the fact that this will be an ever-changing existence, now and moving forward. It’s becoming communal, so home-working and home-educating is here to stay, whether it’s 100 percent of the time or part of the week.”
Curious about what ADDASPACE units could look like? Check out some renderings below.
ADDASPACE Concepts
Bram Berkowitz is a contributing writer for Rhode Island Inno.
