A casita that fits the way you live

A casita is generally a guest suite — bedroom, bathroom, often a living space — without the full kitchen that makes a unit independently habitable. That distinction is what usually separates it from an accessory dwelling unit for permitting purposes, and it affects whether the space can be rented. Definitions vary between Arizona jurisdictions, so we confirm how your specific city treats it before design.

Yes. Attached casitas are common in Arizona, typically sharing a wall with the house but with their own external entrance and no internal connection, or with a lockable connecting door. Attached is often simpler on utilities and cheaper on foundations; detached gives guests genuine separation. Which is right depends on your lot, your setbacks and what the space is for.

Adding permitted living space generally affects assessed value, and the Assessor rather than the contractor determines that. We are not tax advisers and will not guess at figures for you, but we will make sure the work is properly permitted, because unpermitted square footage causes far more expensive problems at resale than a tax adjustment does.

Setbacks are set by zoning and vary by city, by zone within a city, and sometimes by lot. Corner lots, easements and washes all complicate it further. This is the single most common reason a casita design has to change, which is why we establish the buildable envelope before drawing a floor plan rather than after.

Often yes, but adding a full kitchen typically reclassifies the building as an accessory dwelling unit rather than a guest casita, with different permitting and different rules on renting it. If a kitchen matters to you, it is better to design and permit it as an ADU from the outset than to add one later and discover the classification changed.