It was inevitable that Airbnb would look at building and installing their own ADUs in backyards across California and in other states as their Samara division grows.
Samara, the startup founded by Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, began as an innovation studio inside Airbnb that looked for new products for the company and new ways to create social change. The team eventually began to focus on backyard houses, also known as accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. The first product, a net-zero tiny house called Backyard, is launching now, and Samara has spun out into a new business. “As the product progressed, it got to the stage where it just made more sense to be an independent company,” Gebbia says.
The prefab houses come in two sizes, a 430-square-foot studio and a 550-square-foot one-bedroom, and are intended to serve multiple uses. It’s a “flexible dwelling that can adapt to new ways of living,” Gebbia says. The percentage of households with multiple generations under one roof has more than doubled in the U.S. since the 1970s, and some people may use it as space for their in-laws. Others may use it as a home office, or space for creative projects, or as a rental. And yes, it could be used as an Airbnb, though the company isn’t promoting it solely for that purpose.
The company handles the whole construction process, including surveying and getting permits.
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Gary Fleisher
