About Bay State ADU Advisors

Independent ADU guidance backed by practical experience.

Bay State ADU Advisors was created to help Massachusetts homeowners make informed decisions about ADU projects—from the first question of feasibility through planning and construction.

Explore ADU Feasibility

Meet Your Advisor — Michael Aarons

I've spent much of my career helping people solve complicated problems. My background combines more than 25 years of residential construction and renovation experience with an earlier career in business and technology consulting. Those may seem like very different fields, but they require many of the same skills: understand the problem, gather the right information, recognize what you don't yet know, evaluate alternatives, and help someone make a sound decision.

My construction experience includes renovations, additions, rental-property maintenance, project supervision, contractor coordination, and working with municipal inspectors. I hold a Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License — Unrestricted — and am a registered Home Improvement Contractor, with additional education in home inspection. That combination shapes how I approach ADU projects today.

A Homeowner-First Perspective

Why Bay State ADU Advisors Exists

An ADU project involves more than deciding what to build. Zoning affects where you can build. Site conditions affect construction. Utilities affect cost. Design choices affect accessibility and energy use. And decisions made early in the process can have consequences much later. Homeowners often encounter each of these issues through a different specialist. Architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers, municipal officials, and licensed trades all have important roles. What can be harder to find is someone who looks across those specialties from the homeowner's perspective. That's the role Bay State ADU Advisors was created to fill.

Our Advisory Services

A Whole-Project Perspective

A generalist in a world of specialists.

ADU projects require specialists, and good advice includes knowing when one is needed. But they also benefit from someone who can see how the pieces interact. My role isn't to replace the architect, engineer, contractor, attorney, municipal official, or licensed trade. It's to help homeowners understand the larger project, identify the questions that need answers, evaluate the information they're receiving, and make informed decisions along the way.

How I Think Homeowners Should Be Advised

See the property firsthand

Every property is different. Online research is valuable, but it doesn't replace walking the property, looking at the existing house and utilities, and understanding the conditions firsthand.

Consider more than one answer

The first ADU idea isn't necessarily the best one. Internal, attached, detached, garage-conversion, prefab, and site-built approaches can have very different implications.

Keep the advice independent

Bay State ADU Advisors doesn't build or sell ADUs and doesn't accept commissions or referral fees from companies or professionals recommended to homeowners.

Experience & Credentials

25+ Years

Residential construction, renovation, project supervision, and property maintenance expertise.

MA CSL — Unrestricted

Current Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License — Unrestricted.

MA HIC Registered

Massachusetts Registered Home Improvement Contractor.

Home Inspection Education

Home inspection education, with successful completion of the National Home Inspector Examination.

Business & Consulting

Decades of business and technology consulting experience analyzing complex problems and advising clients.

Energy & Accessibility

Practical experience with energy efficiency, building-envelope improvements, aging-in-place, and future mobility considerations.

The homeowner is the client.

Bay State ADU Advisors does not build or sell ADUs and does not accept commissions or referral fees from builders, manufacturers, designers, or other professionals we recommend. Our role is to help you evaluate the options—not to steer you toward something we sell.

Let's Talk About Your ADU

Every ADU project starts with a different property, a different objective, and a different set of questions. Tell me what you're considering. We can start there.

Let's Talk About Your ADU