A vendor-independent ADU feasibility consultancy.

Why this exists

There are two problems homeowners run into when they start thinking about an ADU. The first is information. The rules vary by town, by district, sometimes by parcel, and the answers aren't sitting on any one website. You can spend a weekend reading code and still not know whether your lot is buildable.

The second is execution. Once you do have the information, the people who help you build are the same people selling you the build. Architects, builders, and modular companies are good at what they do, but they're also trying to make a sale. That isn't a moral failing — it's the structure. And it means the person guiding your decision usually has an answer ready before they've looked at your site.

Rootd's frame is different. The work is feasibility consulting, not engineering or architectural services. I get paid to look at your parcel and tell you what's possible, not to sell you what comes next. If the answer is "this doesn't work" or "this works but only with these three caveats," that's the answer.

Who's behind this

I'm John Olsson. I live in Kingston, NY. My day job is Project Manager at Turner & Townsend, where I work on AEC project delivery. I have a Master's in engineering management from Clarkson University, and before that I studied architecture at SUNY Delhi (undergraduate, not licensed). I'm a member of the Kingston Housing Task Force.

None of that makes me a licensed engineer or architect. Engineering management is a graduate management discipline taught in engineering schools; it isn't equivalent to a Bachelor's or Master's in a regulated engineering discipline, and it confers no engineering licensure under NY Education Law Article 145. Same for the architecture coursework — coursework is not licensure. When a project needs stamped drawings, those drawings come from a licensed PE or RA, not from me.

What the background does give me is fifteen years inside AEC project delivery, which is most of why Rootd exists in the shape that it does. I've seen what the information gap and the execution gap cost homeowners, and the work here is the version of feasibility that I wished existed when I was helping family and neighbors think through their own projects.

What Rootd is, and what it isn't

Rootd Modular Homes LLC is a feasibility and planning consultancy. The deliverables are a $99 ADU Planning Workshop, a $99 ADU Planning Toolkit (launching August 25, 2026), and a $499 Site Feasibility Study. Workshop fee credits toward the study; net cost after credit is $400. The toolkit is included free with workshop registration.

Rootd is not a builder, architect, or engineer. We don't produce stamped drawings, we don't pull permits, we don't perform boundary surveys, and we don't carry liability insurance for construction. Where the work crosses into a regulated scope, we name the right licensed professional and step back rather than pretend the scope is in-house.

The vendor-independent posture is the differentiator. We don't take referral fees that vary by which professional we recommend, and we don't carry partnerships that compromise the feasibility answer. The structure is built so the answer can be honest.

Where we work

Ulster, Dutchess, Greene, and Columbia counties for the first wave of paid feasibility studies. The free tools on this site cover a sample of Hudson Valley municipalities (the matrix is explicit about which ones). Requests from outside the immediate service area are welcome — we'll let you know when we can reach you.

How to get started

If you're early in your thinking, the workshop is the right entry point. Ninety minutes, four households, hybrid in-person and virtual, last Thursday of each month. If you already know your parcel and want a real answer for it, the Site Feasibility Study is the version of the work that produces a written outcome and the next steps.