General Contractor in Orem, Utah

Orem City Code Section 22-6-11, adopted by Ordinance O-2026-0025 on September 22, 2026, replaced the city's accessory apartment rules and sets conditions that include these.

• One ADU of either kind per lot, beside one single-family home, with no more than one family in each unit
• A home counted as owner occupied only where the owner uses it as a residence and mailing address and lists it as the primary residence on property taxes, state and federal tax returns, and a driver's license or its equivalent
• An internal ADU only in an owner-occupied detached single-family home or another dwelling an ordinance specifically designates, and never in an R5 zone or a Planned Residential Development (PRD) zone
• The owner of record living in the home or the ADU, apart from a bona fide temporary absence of three years or less for a temporary work assignment, sabbatical, or voluntary service by an owner who lived there immediately before leaving and intends to make it a primary residence again on returning
• An internal ADU within the home's footprint, which does not take in an area joined to the home only by a breezeway or similar structure
• For an internal ADU, one more on-site parking stall of at least 8 by 16 feet
• Garage or carport stalls counted toward the internal ADU's added stall only where the garage or carport holds more than two spaces without double stacking, and then only the third space
• The driveway to a garage or carport not counted for an internal ADU, apart from an area widened or extended beyond what would customarily be installed, if it meets the stall size and parking there would not block or impede access to the garage or carport
• The internal ADU's added stall kept out of the front yard setback, with parking areas and driveways paved with concrete, masonry, or concrete pavers
• No more than two meters for each utility, each in the owner's name
• No separate ADU entrance on the front of a new home or on a side facing a street, and existing entrances used on the street sides of an existing home
• An ADU permit from Community Development, with the unit subject to the rental dwelling license requirements of Orem City Code Article 12-9
• A detached ADU only on a lot of at least 11,000 square feet where a single-family home is permitted, and not in a PRD zone
• A detached unit of 200 square feet or more; up to 850 square feet on lots of 11,000 to 15,999 square feet, 1,200 on lots of 16,000 to 19,999, and 1,500 on lots of 20,000 or more; never more than half the home's footprint; and left out of the residential accessory structure footprint total in Section 22-8-6(D)(2)
• A single-story detached unit no taller than the home, with a pitched roof up to 14 feet or a flat roof up to 12 feet at the minimum setbacks, rising 1 foot per added foot of setback to 18 or 14 feet, with interior lofts of no more than 20 percent of the total floor area and no exterior balconies
• Detached setbacks of 10 feet from interior property lines, 25 feet from a street, and the zone's rear setback; the unit no closer to the street than the home; and a setback reducible to 5 feet beside property zoned commercial or industrial or zoned or used for public facilities or parks
• An existing accessory structure, such as a detached garage, converted to a detached ADU only where it meets the location, setback, size, parking, and height rules
• One added parking space for a detached unit of 200 to 650 square feet, or two for a larger unit, beyond two spaces verified for the home, each space at least 8 by 16 feet
• For a detached unit, garage or carport spaces serving the home counted only where the garage or carport holds more than two spaces, and the driveway to a garage or carport not counted, apart from a widened or extended area under the same conditions as for an internal ADU
• No required space for a detached unit in the home's front setback or behind the unit's wall most nearly parallel to the front of the home, with parking areas and driveways paved with concrete, masonry, or concrete pavers
• An application for a detached unit that demonstrates adequate utility access and enough utility capacity for the added unit

Utah's ADU statutes apply in Orem as well, as our ADU page explains.

Sources: Orem Ordinance O-2026-0025, adding Orem City Code Section 22-6-11. On October 23, 2026, the city's online code still printed the repealed accessory apartment rules of Section 22-6-9(I) and did not yet include Section 22-6-11. Orem's accessory apartment page and handout also predate the ordinance. We confirm the current requirements with Orem Community Development during preconstruction.