The Friend Compound Field Guide
The Friend Compound Field Guide
California’s new housing laws make multi-home living on a single lot achievable—explore real Bay Area sites reimagined as friend and family compounds.
California passed a wave of housing laws — SB 9, SB 684, SB 1123 — that make it so you can now build multiple homes on a single residential lot in most Bay Area cities.
That means a friend compound isn't a fantasy. It's a project you can pull off with good certainty on cost and timelines.
To show what's possible, we found 18 properties that sold across the Bay Area in the last year and asked: what if a group of friends or family had bought this instead? Each case study is a project that could have been — a real lot, at its real sale price, with the compound we would have designed for it.
Browse them. Get inspired. And when you're ready to build your own, we're here to help.
17 Friend Compounds (that could have been)
AreaAll areas
Number of homesAny
Price per homeAny
Showing 17 of 17
Six New Single-Family Homes
Sixth Avenue
Menlo Park
Cost:$8.7mTimeline:23 monthsHomes:6](/content/fieldguide/listings/menlo-park-sb684-compound/index.html)
A New Single Family Home and an Existing Primary Home
Hampton Road
Piedmont
Cost:$4.3mTimeline:20 monthsHomes:2](/content/fieldguide/listings/piedmont-sb9-compound/index.html)
A New ADU and an Existing Primary Home
Young St
San Mateo
Cost:$2.2mTimeline:10 monthsHomes:2](/content/fieldguide/listings/san-mateo-adu-compound/index.html)
New Duplex
Fifteenth Avenue
San Francisco
Cost:$4.4mTimeline:21 monthsHomes:2](/content/fieldguide/listings/sanfrancisco-fifteenth-sb684-compound/index.html)
A New Single Family Home and Two New ADUs
Bay Street
Alameda
Cost:$7.3mTimeline:22 monthsHomes:4](/content/fieldguide/listings/alameda-sb9-compound/index.html)
Two New Single Family Homes and an Existing Primary Home
Buena Vista Avenue
Alameda
Cost:$4.0mTimeline:20 monthsHomes:3](/content/fieldguide/listings/alameda-sb684-compound/index.html)
A Single-Family Home and Two New ADUs with an Existing Primary Home
Wildwood Drive
San Mateo
Cost:$6.5mTimeline:21 monthsHomes:4](/content/fieldguide/listings/wildwood-sb9-compound/index.html)
A New Single Family Home and an Existing Primary Home
Cortez Avenue
Burlingame
Cost:$4.1mTimeline:20 monthsHomes:2](/content/fieldguide/listings/burlingame-sb9-compound/index.html)
Two New Single Family Homes and an Existing Primary Home
Carberry Avenue
Oakland
Cost:$4.1mTimeline:20 monthsHomes:3](/content/fieldguide/listings/oakland-sb684-compound/index.html)
A New Single-Family Home and Two New ADUs with an Existing Primary Home
Pleasant Hill Road
Sebastopol
Cost:$4.2mTimeline:21 monthsHomes:4](/content/fieldguide/listings/sebastopol-sb9-compound/index.html)
Four New Single-Family Homes
University Avenue
Mountain View
Cost:$6.6mTimeline:24 monthsHomes:5](/content/fieldguide/listings/mountain-view-sb1123-compound/index.html)
Two New Single-Family Homes and an Existing Primary Home
Highland Avenue
San Mateo
Cost:$3.5mTimeline:21 monthsHomes:3](/content/fieldguide/listings/san-mateo-sb684-compound/index.html)
Three New Duplex Townhomes
Alabama Street
San Francisco
Cost:$7.1mTimeline:22 monthsHomes:3](/content/fieldguide/listings/sanfrancisco-sb684-compound/index.html)
New ADU with an Existing Primary Home
Jayne Avenue
Oakland
Cost:$1.3mTimeline:10 monthsHomes:2](/content/fieldguide/listings/oakland-adu-compound/index.html)
A New ADU and Existing Primary Home
La Goma Street
Mill Valley
Cost:$3.2mTimeline:10 monthsHomes:2](/content/fieldguide/listings/mill-valley-adu-compound/index.html)
Six New Single-Family Homes
Floribunda Avenue
Burlingame
Cost:$8.2mTimeline:25 monthsHomes:6](/content/fieldguide/listings/burlingame-sb684-compound/index.html)
A New Single Family Home and an Existing Primary Home
Dowling Boulevard
San Leandro
Cost:$2.4mTimeline:19 monthsHomes:2](/content/fieldguide/listings/san-leandro-compound/index.html)
Interested in building your own?
Share your goals and we'll figure out next steps.