South Glens Falls · ADU cost
What it costs to build an ADU in South Glens Falls, NY
An 800 sq ft accessory dwelling unit in South Glens Falls runs roughly $200k–260k, or about $249–327/sq ft, and that per-square-foot figure sits deliberately above the $204–268/sq ft a full house costs here. An ADU still needs one whole kitchen, one whole bath, its own service panel and its own heating plant no matter how small you draw it, and those costs do not shrink with the floor plan, so they land on half the square footage and push the rate up. Whether the village will let you build one is a separate question from what it costs, and it gets answered parcel by parcel rather than townwide, since the Village of South Glens Falls maps 7 districts that treat accessory units differently from one another, so read the table below as a starting point rather than a verdict.
ADU cost by size in South Glens Falls
Standard finish, slab on grade, on a flat and clear part of the lot, general-contractor margin included. These are structure costs at Saratoga County pricing, before the service and septic work a second dwelling can trigger.
| Size | Type | $ / sq ft | Estimated total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 sq ft | Studio | $331–$433 | $130k–175k |
| 600 sq ft | One bedroom | $276–$362 | $165k–215k |
| 800 sq ft | One bedroom, larger | $249–$327 | $200k–260k |
| 1,000 sq ft | Two bedroom | $233–$305 | $235k–305k |
400 sq ft — One room plus a bath. Garage conversions and small backyard cottages land here.
600 sq ft — The most common detached build - a real bedroom, full kitchen, one bath.
800 sq ft — Room for a proper living area. Still a single bath and one kitchen.
1,000 sq ft — About as large as most codes allow an accessory unit to go.
Why the rate is higher than a house
The systems below are priced for an 800 sq ft unit. The middle column is what each system would cost if it simply shrank with the floor plan; the left column is what it actually costs once you account for the equipment a dwelling needs one of regardless of size. The gap between the two columns is the whole reason small builds price the way they do.
| System | $ / sq ft in an ADU | If it scaled with floor area | Fixed per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site work | $7–$11 | $7 | — |
| Foundation | $16–$23 | $16 | — |
| Framing | $25–$32 | $25 | — |
| Envelope - roof, siding, windows | $32–$41 | $32 | — |
| Plumbing | $28–$34 | $16 | 55% |
| Electrical | $18–$24 | $13 | 35% |
| HVAC | $23–$28 | $15 | 45% |
| Insulation | $7–$9 | $7 | — |
| Interior finishes | $32–$43 | $27 | 15% |
| Millwork & cabinetry | $18–$28 | $11 | 55% |
The fixed-per-unit share is a modeling assumption, not a figure from the code: it is our estimate of how much of each system's budget buys equipment a dwelling needs exactly one of - a kitchen rough-in, a bath group, a service panel, a heating plant - and therefore does not shrink when the unit does. Site work, foundation, framing, envelope and insulation are treated as scaling straight with floor area, which understates the premium slightly, because a small building carries more envelope per square foot of floor than a large one.
What the South Glens Falls code says about accessory units
Whether you can build one, and how large, is decided by the district your parcel sits in rather than by the town as a whole. The table shows how each mapped district treats ADUs alongside the lot and setback standards a second unit still has to fit inside. District boundaries and conditions vary, so treat it as a starting point and confirm the district that applies to your parcel.
| District | Min lot | Setbacks F / S / R | Max height | ADU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-1 Residential Zone (the Village's low- to moderate-density single-family district: a 13,500 SQ FT minimum lot — just under 1/3 acre — with 25 ft front and rear yards, a 10 ft single side yard and 20 ft combined, a 90 FT minimum lot width, a 150 ft minimum lot depth, 40% maximum lot coverage and a 2 1/2-story, 30 FT height limit. THE 30 FT HEIGHT IS THE LOWEST IN THE VILLAGE and the only figure that separates R-1 from R-2 on the dimensional table — the two districts are otherwise identical, so the difference between them is entirely about USE (R-2 adds two-family dwellings, churches, libraries and schools) and about the 10 ft of height. THE ATTACHED SUMMARY SCHEDULE UNDERSTATES THE LOT WIDTH — USE § 153-10. Attachment 3 ('Schedules I and II') carries its own note saying it is a summary 'included for reference purposes only' and 'not part of Ch. 153', and it is in fact WRONG on lot width: it prints 80 ft for R-1 and R-2 where the definitive § 153-10 table gives a 90 FT BASE MINIMUM and 80 ft only WITH CLUSTERING. Anyone sizing a lot off the attachment rather than the section is 10 ft short. Every figure recorded here is taken from § 153-10, not from the attachment. § 153-10 states lot width twice — a base minimum and a lower 'with clustering' figure — so clustering in this Village buys FRONTAGE RELIEF, not lot-area relief. Minimum lot area, yards, depth and coverage are unchanged by clustering; only the width moves. Note that under § 153-10's Special Note 1, any proposed use in the C or C-2 Districts on a parcel ABUTTING an R-1 parcel must meet R-1's side and rear yard setbacks rather than its own — so R-1's 10/20 and 25 ft figures reach ACROSS the district line and govern the commercial neighbour. No accessory apartment or accessory dwelling unit exists anywhere in Ch. 153.) | 0.31 ac | 25 / 10 / 25 ft | 30 ft | No |
| R-2 Residential Zone (dimensionally IDENTICAL to R-1 except for height — a 13,500 SQ FT minimum lot, 25 ft front and rear yards, 10 ft single and 20 ft combined side yards, 90 FT minimum width, 150 ft depth, 40% coverage — but 2 1/2 stories at 40 FT rather than 30 ft. THE WHOLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN R-1 AND R-2 IS USE AND TEN FEET OF HEIGHT. R-2 is the Village's density district: § 153-6B states it is intended to 'conserve, maintain and allow two-family residential dwellings' and to accommodate new and existing residential development at moderately high densities with a mixture of housing types, and TWO-FAMILY DWELLINGS ARE A PRINCIPAL PERMITTED USE here — not a special use. THE ATTACHED SUMMARY SCHEDULE UNDERSTATES THE LOT WIDTH — USE § 153-10. Attachment 3 ('Schedules I and II') carries its own note saying it is a summary 'included for reference purposes only' and 'not part of Ch. 153', and it is in fact WRONG on lot width: it prints 80 ft for R-1 and R-2 where the definitive § 153-10 table gives a 90 FT BASE MINIMUM and 80 ft only WITH CLUSTERING. Anyone sizing a lot off the attachment rather than the section is 10 ft short. Every figure recorded here is taken from § 153-10, not from the attachment. § 153-10 states lot width twice — a base minimum and a lower 'with clustering' figure — so clustering in this Village buys FRONTAGE RELIEF, not lot-area relief. Minimum lot area, yards, depth and coverage are unchanged by clustering; only the width moves. No accessory apartment or ADU provision exists in Ch. 153; the two-family conversion is the route to a second unit here.) | 0.31 ac | 25 / 10 / 25 ft | 40 ft | No |
| C Commercial Zone (the Village's central-business and highway commercial district and BY FAR ITS SMALLEST LOT — 4,000 SQ FT, less than a tenth of an acre and under a third of the residential minimum — with only 12 ft front and rear yards, a 40 FT minimum lot width, a 100 ft minimum depth, 60% maximum coverage and a 45 ft height with NO STORY LIMIT STATED. BUT READ SPECIAL NOTE 1 BEFORE SIZING ANYTHING: any proposed use on a C or C-2 parcel ABUTTING an R-1 parcel must meet R-1's SIDE AND REAR YARD SETBACKS — 10 ft single side, 20 ft combined, 25 ft rear — instead of its own. On a small downtown lot that backs onto R-1, the zero side yard and 12 ft rear yard evaporate and the envelope collapses; check the abutting district before assuming the C figures. Mixed-use buildings are a SPECIAL USE here (any combination of residential and commercial), and Ch. 153 defines a MIXED-USE BUILDING as a multistory structure using street-level interior space for retail, service or office with upper-level residential occupancy in the same building — so the residential floor must sit ABOVE the commercial one; a side-by-side arrangement does not qualify. Motels are a principal permitted use with site plan review. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153.) | 0.09 ac | 12 / 0 / 12 ft | 45 ft | No |
| C-2 Mixed-Use Zone (13,500 SQ FT minimum lot — the same as the residential districts and more than three times the C district's 4,000 — with a 25 ft front yard, a 20 ft rear yard, NO single side yard requirement but a 10 FT COMBINED side yard, a 90 ft minimum width, a 150 ft depth, 40% coverage and 45 ft of height with no story limit. ITS SIDE YARD RULE IS UNIQUE IN THE VILLAGE: a 10 ft COMBINED requirement with no single-side minimum means the whole 10 ft may be taken on one side and the building may sit on the opposite lot line. Mixed-use buildings are the special use here. THE COMBINATION OF A 13,500 SQ FT LOT AND 45 FT OF HEIGHT AT 40% COVERAGE IS THE VILLAGE'S LARGEST BUILDABLE ENVELOPE BY VOLUME — roughly 5,400 sq ft of footprint over four-plus storeys — which makes C-2, not C, the district to look at for a multistorey mixed-use building on a single lot. THE ATTACHED SUMMARY SCHEDULE UNDERSTATES THE LOT WIDTH — USE § 153-10. Attachment 3 ('Schedules I and II') carries its own note saying it is a summary 'included for reference purposes only' and 'not part of Ch. 153', and it is in fact WRONG on lot width: it prints 80 ft for R-1 and R-2 where the definitive § 153-10 table gives a 90 FT BASE MINIMUM and 80 ft only WITH CLUSTERING. Anyone sizing a lot off the attachment rather than the section is 10 ft short. Every figure recorded here is taken from § 153-10, not from the attachment. Special Note 1 applies here as it does in C: abutting an R-1 parcel imports R-1's side and rear setbacks. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153.) | 0.31 ac | 25 / 0 / 20 ft | 45 ft | No |
| M-1 Industrial Zone (a 21,780 SQ FT — exactly HALF-ACRE — minimum lot with a 12 ft front yard, a 20 ft rear yard, 12 ft single and 24 ft combined side yards, a 100 ft minimum width, a 200 ft minimum depth, 60% coverage and THE TALLEST LIMIT IN THE VILLAGE BY A WIDE MARGIN: 3 STORIES AND 80 FT, nearly double the 45 ft allowed in either commercial district and more than twice R-1's 30 ft. The 3-story-but-80-ft pairing is unusual — it implies tall single-storey volumes (warehouse, manufacturing bays) rather than more floors. Light industrial, assembly, treatment, packaging and warehousing are permitted with site plan review, expressly excluding uses that by odor, noise, dust or smoke would be a nuisance or endanger neighbouring property; research and laboratory uses and distribution plants are also permitted, and OUTDOOR STORAGE is a special use. THE 12 FT FRONT YARD IS THE SHALLOWEST IN THE VILLAGE ALONGSIDE THE C DISTRICT, so the deep 200 ft lot is meant to be used front-to-back. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153, and no dwelling use is listed here.) | 0.5 ac | 12 / 12 / 20 ft | 80 ft | No |
| RC-1 Resource Conservation Zone (a 43,560 SQ FT — ONE ACRE — minimum lot with THE DEEPEST FRONT YARD IN THE VILLAGE AT 80 FT, a 50 ft rear yard, 25 ft single and 50 ft combined side yards, a 150 ft minimum width, a 200 ft depth, and A 10% MAXIMUM LOT COVERAGE — a quarter of the residential districts' 40% and a sixth of the commercial 60%. It also lists NO accessory uses whatsoever — an em-dash in that column.) | 1 ac | 80 / 25 / 50 ft | — | No |
| ARC-1 Aquifer Resource Conservation Zone (a 3-ACRE minimum lot — nearly TEN TIMES the residential minimum and the largest in the Village — with 25 ft front and rear yards, 25 ft single and 50 ft combined side yards, a 200 FT base minimum lot width dropping to 90 FT WITH CLUSTERING, a 200 ft depth, A 10% MAXIMUM LOT COVERAGE and a 2 1/2-story, 30 ft height. ARC-1 IS A USE-BORROWING DISTRICT, NOT A USE-DEFINING ONE: § 153-9 provides that all principal permitted uses and all permitted accessory uses in an ARC-1 Zone 'shall be restricted to' those provided for in an R-1 Zone — so the USE list is R-1's (one-family detached dwellings, public schools, parks and playgrounds) while the DIMENSIONS are ARC-1's own. Read the two sections together; neither alone gives the answer. RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IS THEREFORE PERMITTED HERE, unlike in RC-1, but at roughly one tenth the density and one quarter the coverage of R-1. Special uses are a parking area for more than five vehicles (excluding driveways) and a motor vehicle repair garage — both aquifer-recharge concerns, which is the point of the district. NOTE THE SEPARATE APD AQUIFER PROTECTION DISTRICT listed as the Village's eighth zone in § 153-4: it is an overlay with no row in § 153-10 and no dimensional standards of its own, and it is omitted here rather than stubbed. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153.) | 3 ac | 25 / 25 / 25 ft | 30 ft | No |
Size limits on record in South Glens Falls
Where the code states a size cap, it decides which row of the cost table above actually applies to you. These are the caps recorded for South Glens Falls:
- R-1 Residential Zone (the Village's low- to moderate-density single-family district: a 13,500 SQ FT minimum lot — just under 1/3 acre — with 25 ft front and rear yards, a 10 ft single side yard and 20 ft combined, a 90 FT minimum lot width, a 150 ft minimum lot depth, 40% maximum lot coverage and a 2 1/2-story, 30 FT height limit. THE 30 FT HEIGHT IS THE LOWEST IN THE VILLAGE and the only figure that separates R-1 from R-2 on the dimensional table — the two districts are otherwise identical, so the difference between them is entirely about USE (R-2 adds two-family dwellings, churches, libraries and schools) and about the 10 ft of height. THE ATTACHED SUMMARY SCHEDULE UNDERSTATES THE LOT WIDTH — USE § 153-10. Attachment 3 ('Schedules I and II') carries its own note saying it is a summary 'included for reference purposes only' and 'not part of Ch. 153', and it is in fact WRONG on lot width: it prints 80 ft for R-1 and R-2 where the definitive § 153-10 table gives a 90 FT BASE MINIMUM and 80 ft only WITH CLUSTERING. Anyone sizing a lot off the attachment rather than the section is 10 ft short. Every figure recorded here is taken from § 153-10, not from the attachment. § 153-10 states lot width twice — a base minimum and a lower 'with clustering' figure — so clustering in this Village buys FRONTAGE RELIEF, not lot-area relief. Minimum lot area, yards, depth and coverage are unchanged by clustering; only the width moves. Note that under § 153-10's Special Note 1, any proposed use in the C or C-2 Districts on a parcel ABUTTING an R-1 parcel must meet R-1's side and rear yard setbacks rather than its own — so R-1's 10/20 and 25 ft figures reach ACROSS the district line and govern the commercial neighbour. No accessory apartment or accessory dwelling unit exists anywhere in Ch. 153.)At least 500 sq ft of habitable dwelling space per unit
- R-2 Residential Zone (dimensionally IDENTICAL to R-1 except for height — a 13,500 SQ FT minimum lot, 25 ft front and rear yards, 10 ft single and 20 ft combined side yards, 90 FT minimum width, 150 ft depth, 40% coverage — but 2 1/2 stories at 40 FT rather than 30 ft. THE WHOLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN R-1 AND R-2 IS USE AND TEN FEET OF HEIGHT. R-2 is the Village's density district: § 153-6B states it is intended to 'conserve, maintain and allow two-family residential dwellings' and to accommodate new and existing residential development at moderately high densities with a mixture of housing types, and TWO-FAMILY DWELLINGS ARE A PRINCIPAL PERMITTED USE here — not a special use. THE ATTACHED SUMMARY SCHEDULE UNDERSTATES THE LOT WIDTH — USE § 153-10. Attachment 3 ('Schedules I and II') carries its own note saying it is a summary 'included for reference purposes only' and 'not part of Ch. 153', and it is in fact WRONG on lot width: it prints 80 ft for R-1 and R-2 where the definitive § 153-10 table gives a 90 FT BASE MINIMUM and 80 ft only WITH CLUSTERING. Anyone sizing a lot off the attachment rather than the section is 10 ft short. Every figure recorded here is taken from § 153-10, not from the attachment. § 153-10 states lot width twice — a base minimum and a lower 'with clustering' figure — so clustering in this Village buys FRONTAGE RELIEF, not lot-area relief. Minimum lot area, yards, depth and coverage are unchanged by clustering; only the width moves. No accessory apartment or ADU provision exists in Ch. 153; the two-family conversion is the route to a second unit here.)At least 500 sq ft of habitable dwelling space per unit
- C Commercial Zone (the Village's central-business and highway commercial district and BY FAR ITS SMALLEST LOT — 4,000 SQ FT, less than a tenth of an acre and under a third of the residential minimum — with only 12 ft front and rear yards, a 40 FT minimum lot width, a 100 ft minimum depth, 60% maximum coverage and a 45 ft height with NO STORY LIMIT STATED. BUT READ SPECIAL NOTE 1 BEFORE SIZING ANYTHING: any proposed use on a C or C-2 parcel ABUTTING an R-1 parcel must meet R-1's SIDE AND REAR YARD SETBACKS — 10 ft single side, 20 ft combined, 25 ft rear — instead of its own. On a small downtown lot that backs onto R-1, the zero side yard and 12 ft rear yard evaporate and the envelope collapses; check the abutting district before assuming the C figures. Mixed-use buildings are a SPECIAL USE here (any combination of residential and commercial), and Ch. 153 defines a MIXED-USE BUILDING as a multistory structure using street-level interior space for retail, service or office with upper-level residential occupancy in the same building — so the residential floor must sit ABOVE the commercial one; a side-by-side arrangement does not qualify. Motels are a principal permitted use with site plan review. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153.)At least 500 sq ft of habitable dwelling space per unit
- C-2 Mixed-Use Zone (13,500 SQ FT minimum lot — the same as the residential districts and more than three times the C district's 4,000 — with a 25 ft front yard, a 20 ft rear yard, NO single side yard requirement but a 10 FT COMBINED side yard, a 90 ft minimum width, a 150 ft depth, 40% coverage and 45 ft of height with no story limit. ITS SIDE YARD RULE IS UNIQUE IN THE VILLAGE: a 10 ft COMBINED requirement with no single-side minimum means the whole 10 ft may be taken on one side and the building may sit on the opposite lot line. Mixed-use buildings are the special use here. THE COMBINATION OF A 13,500 SQ FT LOT AND 45 FT OF HEIGHT AT 40% COVERAGE IS THE VILLAGE'S LARGEST BUILDABLE ENVELOPE BY VOLUME — roughly 5,400 sq ft of footprint over four-plus storeys — which makes C-2, not C, the district to look at for a multistorey mixed-use building on a single lot. THE ATTACHED SUMMARY SCHEDULE UNDERSTATES THE LOT WIDTH — USE § 153-10. Attachment 3 ('Schedules I and II') carries its own note saying it is a summary 'included for reference purposes only' and 'not part of Ch. 153', and it is in fact WRONG on lot width: it prints 80 ft for R-1 and R-2 where the definitive § 153-10 table gives a 90 FT BASE MINIMUM and 80 ft only WITH CLUSTERING. Anyone sizing a lot off the attachment rather than the section is 10 ft short. Every figure recorded here is taken from § 153-10, not from the attachment. Special Note 1 applies here as it does in C: abutting an R-1 parcel imports R-1's side and rear setbacks. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153.)At least 500 sq ft of habitable dwelling space per unit
- M-1 Industrial Zone (a 21,780 SQ FT — exactly HALF-ACRE — minimum lot with a 12 ft front yard, a 20 ft rear yard, 12 ft single and 24 ft combined side yards, a 100 ft minimum width, a 200 ft minimum depth, 60% coverage and THE TALLEST LIMIT IN THE VILLAGE BY A WIDE MARGIN: 3 STORIES AND 80 FT, nearly double the 45 ft allowed in either commercial district and more than twice R-1's 30 ft. The 3-story-but-80-ft pairing is unusual — it implies tall single-storey volumes (warehouse, manufacturing bays) rather than more floors. Light industrial, assembly, treatment, packaging and warehousing are permitted with site plan review, expressly excluding uses that by odor, noise, dust or smoke would be a nuisance or endanger neighbouring property; research and laboratory uses and distribution plants are also permitted, and OUTDOOR STORAGE is a special use. THE 12 FT FRONT YARD IS THE SHALLOWEST IN THE VILLAGE ALONGSIDE THE C DISTRICT, so the deep 200 ft lot is meant to be used front-to-back. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153, and no dwelling use is listed here.)At least 500 sq ft of habitable dwelling space per unit
- RC-1 Resource Conservation Zone (a 43,560 SQ FT — ONE ACRE — minimum lot with THE DEEPEST FRONT YARD IN THE VILLAGE AT 80 FT, a 50 ft rear yard, 25 ft single and 50 ft combined side yards, a 150 ft minimum width, a 200 ft depth, and A 10% MAXIMUM LOT COVERAGE — a quarter of the residential districts' 40% and a sixth of the commercial 60%. It also lists NO accessory uses whatsoever — an em-dash in that column.)At least 500 sq ft of habitable dwelling space per unit
- ARC-1 Aquifer Resource Conservation Zone (a 3-ACRE minimum lot — nearly TEN TIMES the residential minimum and the largest in the Village — with 25 ft front and rear yards, 25 ft single and 50 ft combined side yards, a 200 FT base minimum lot width dropping to 90 FT WITH CLUSTERING, a 200 ft depth, A 10% MAXIMUM LOT COVERAGE and a 2 1/2-story, 30 ft height. ARC-1 IS A USE-BORROWING DISTRICT, NOT A USE-DEFINING ONE: § 153-9 provides that all principal permitted uses and all permitted accessory uses in an ARC-1 Zone 'shall be restricted to' those provided for in an R-1 Zone — so the USE list is R-1's (one-family detached dwellings, public schools, parks and playgrounds) while the DIMENSIONS are ARC-1's own. Read the two sections together; neither alone gives the answer. RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IS THEREFORE PERMITTED HERE, unlike in RC-1, but at roughly one tenth the density and one quarter the coverage of R-1. Special uses are a parking area for more than five vehicles (excluding driveways) and a motor vehicle repair garage — both aquifer-recharge concerns, which is the point of the district. NOTE THE SEPARATE APD AQUIFER PROTECTION DISTRICT listed as the Village's eighth zone in § 153-4: it is an overlay with no row in § 153-10 and no dimensional standards of its own, and it is omitted here rather than stubbed. No accessory apartment provision exists in Ch. 153.)At least 500 sq ft of habitable dwelling space per unit
Costs an ADU adds that a house does not
- Septic and water A second dwelling adds bedrooms to the design flow, which on an unsewered parcel often means expanding or replacing the existing system rather than tapping it. This is the single most common reason an ADU budget moves after design, and it is site-specific enough that no model should quote it - get it evaluated early.
- Utility service National Grid territory. A detached unit needs power run to it, and whether it goes on its own meter or subfeeds the main house changes both the cost and the permit path.
- Access and parking Many codes require an added parking space for the accessory unit, and a detached unit usually needs a driveway extension or a path, both of which count against a lot-coverage or impervious-surface cap.
- Short-term rentalsNo local short-term-rental law on record - which is not the same as permission. NO SHORT-TERM-RENTAL PROVISION EXISTS IN THE VILLAGE OF SOUTH GLENS FALLS ZONING LAW. A full-text read of Chapter 153 as amended in its entirety in 2019 returns NO occurrence of 'short-term rental', 'bed-and-breakfast', 'tourist home', 'transient' or any equivalent — the Village has legislated on the subject not at all, and unlike most of its Saratoga neighbours it does not even carry a bed-and-breakfast use to reason from. THE ONE TRANSIENT USE IN THE CODE IS THE MOTEL, a principal permitted use with site plan review in BOTH the C and C-2 districts, which tells you the Village accommodates lodging commercially but has never addressed it in a dwelling. Recorded 'unknown' rather than 'prohibited': whole-house rental of a permitted one-family dwelling is arguably the residential use itself, and absence of a found provision is NOT permission. Note the interaction with § 153-19A(2) — conversions to two-family and multiple-family dwellings are authorised in R-2 with a 1.5-space-per-unit parking requirement, so a conversion done for short-stay rather than lease occupancy would still have to satisfy that parking standard. Get a written answer from the Building Inspector at (518) 793-1455 x105 before underwriting short-term rental income here. Separately, New York State has required every short-term-rental host to register the unit with the State through the county registry since 2025 regardless of what the municipality allows, and Saratoga County HAS adopted a county-level short-term-rental programme: a 3% occupancy tax and a MANDATORY county registry, covering any room or space in a dwelling let for under 30 consecutive days. Registration runs two years, an unregistered host faces fines of up to $500, and the booking platform is separately liable for processing an unregistered listing — so Airbnb and Vrbo will delist. The City of Saratoga Springs runs its own registry alongside it. Separate question from whether you can build the unit.
- Building dept(518) 793-1455
Sizing up a specific parcel in South Glens Falls?
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Building a full house instead?
A standard-finish house in South Glens Falls runs $204–268/sq ft, about $370k–480k at 1,800 sq ft . See what it costs to build a house in South Glens Falls.
ADU cost in nearby towns
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More on South Glens Falls: Can you build an ADU here? · Zoning for new construction · Saratoga County build cost
ADU cost in South Glens Falls: common questions
How much does it cost to build an ADU in South Glens Falls, NY?
An 800 sq ft accessory dwelling unit in Village of South Glens Falls runs roughly $200k–260k at a standard finish, general-contractor margin included. A 400 sq ft studio runs about $130k–175k. Those are structure costs on an easy site and do not include the septic, water or electrical service work a second unit often triggers.
Why does an ADU cost more per square foot than a house in South Glens Falls?
Because a lot of a dwelling's cost is per dwelling, not per square foot. One kitchen, one bath group, one service panel and one heating plant cost about the same in an 800 sq ft cottage as in a 1,800 sq ft house, so on the smaller unit they get spread over less than half the floor area. That is why an ADU here prices at $249–327/sq ft against $204–268/sq ft for a full house, even though it is the same trades doing the same work.
Are ADUs allowed in South Glens Falls?
Village of South Glens Falls has 7 districts. All districts prohibit ADUs. Check the specific address with the free ADU checker or confirm with the building department at (518) 793-1455 before you spend money on design.
Can I rent an ADU in South Glens Falls short term?
No local short-term-rental law on record - which is not the same as permission for Village of South Glens Falls. ADU rules and short-term-rental rules are set separately, so a unit you are allowed to build is not automatically one you are allowed to rent nightly. Confirm both before you underwrite the build on short-term-rental income.
ADU costs are modeled estimates in current 2026 dollars at the Saratoga County regional index, general-contractor margin included, derived from Offsite's cost engine with a stated adjustment for the equipment a dwelling needs one of regardless of size. They are planning numbers for decision-support only - not a bid, quote, or guarantee, and not legal, architectural or engineering advice. They cover the structure and exclude septic expansion, utility service runs, site work beyond a flat and clear pad, and permit fees. ADU eligibility, size, owner-occupancy and permit conditions in the Village of South Glens Falls vary by district and often carry exceptions this page does not show; zoning last reviewed 2026-08-02; verify with the building department at (518) 793-1455 before relying on any answer. Sources: Offsite / Aldo cost engine (costEngine.js + constants.js); zoning dataset (municipalData.js).