We build ADUs and convert garages across Reno, Sparks and Washoe County.

From the parcel, not the mailing address. The City of Reno administers its own ordinance inside Reno city limits, the City of Sparks administers its own inside Sparks, and unincorporated Washoe County code governs only unincorporated addresses: Verdi, Spanish Springs, Sun Valley, Washoe Valley and Incline Village. A parcel with a Reno mailing address can easily be unincorporated county. We confirm which authority yours belongs to before we draw anything.

No, and the honest answer at the walkthrough is sometimes no. What decides it: whether the slab can carry a habitable floor assembly, the ceiling height once a proper floor and insulation are added, whether the walls and roof can reach the energy code your permit is reviewed under, where the furnace and water heater go, and what your jurisdiction requires when the parking the garage provided disappears. That last one is held in Reno Land Development Code 18.03.303 and 18.03.405, with parking at 18.04.708, inside Reno city limits, Sparks Municipal Code 20.03.003 inside Sparks, and Washoe County Development Code 110.306.20 and 110.306.25 on unincorporated Washoe parcels (all three read 30 July 2026) until the current text is read.

Any room being created as a sleeping room does. The International Residential Code sets the emergency escape and rescue opening at 5.7 square feet of net clear opening (5.0 square feet where the opening is at grade-floor level), with a minimum clear height of 24 inches, a minimum clear width of 20 inches, and a sill no more than 44 inches above the finished floor. A garage wall usually has no opening that size, so cutting one in, and heading it properly, is a line item on nearly every conversion we price.

That is set by the ordinance your parcel falls under, and the three jurisdictions here do not answer it identically. Long-term tenancy, short-term rental and owner-occupancy conditions are treated separately, and the rules change. We will not print a rule we have not read against the current text, so the answer for your address is held in Reno Land Development Code 18.03.303 and 18.03.405, with parking at 18.04.708, inside Reno city limits, Sparks Municipal Code 20.03.003 inside Sparks, and Washoe County Development Code 110.306.20 and 110.306.25 on unincorporated Washoe parcels (all three read 30 July 2026) and confirmed with your planning counter during feasibility. It does change the design: a unit meant to be rented wants its own entry and its own parking answer.

Often, but not always, because a conversion inherits whatever the garage already is. If the slab is sound, the roof is in good condition and the walls take insulation without being rebuilt, you start with a shell somebody else paid for. If the slab has to be cut for drainage, the panel cannot carry a second dwelling, or the sewer connection has to be re-run across the property, the savings evaporate. We price both options during feasibility so the comparison is a document rather than an assumption.