Professional Speaking and Consultations

Speaking

I speak and consult at municipal, building, planning, affordable housing, financing, real estate, appraising, and design events about specialized aspects of the ADU market. As a leading national expert on ADUs, I provide insights and context for ADU market dynamics, policy and regulations, zoning code nuances, and best practices for cities and organizations.

• Speaking, workshops, and consultations lasting 2-8 hours start at $2,000.
• Professional consultations are priced separately.
• Client covers travel costs, and provides event marketing, promotion and logistical support, including the venue, classroom, projector, and web connection.
• Payment arrangements for bulk Backdoor Revolution book purchases can sometimes be made in conjunction with speaking fees.

Testimonials

Kol’s week-long ADU roadshow for New Hampshire Housing was a success, helping launch important dialogue about the value of  ADUs for homeowners as well as the possibilities they offer to expand the availability of affordable housing in NH. His community presentations around the state as well as at a conference spotlighted his depth of knowledge about and passion for ADUs, and his willingness to engage in discussion on the issues involved

Grace Lessner
New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority

Wow! What a presentation!

Bria Smith
Portland Home Builders Association

Kol’s presentation told a compelling story about how and where ADUs fit into the greater housing affordability picture. After Kol’s presentation, local leaders in New Hampshire and Maine left equipped with the information they need to create sound policy as they write local ADU ordinances and craft and amend statewide laws. Homeowners left feeling empowered and inspired to take control of their own financial situations and use their home to generate an income.

Sarah Wrightsman
Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast

Nothing but positive feedback on our end! We are really happy with how it went and loved your presentation. Think the local panel was super helpful as well. We really hope this is a catalyst for some ordinance changes and will be providing a copy of the book to every one of our 38 members!

Catherine Marinelli
Metro Mayors Caucus

Denver, Colorado

Kol’s presentation demystified the options that real homeowners have for addressing a variety of common issues – downsizing, expanding family structure, and using your home to generate revenue.

North Sturtevant
JSA Inc Architecture Planning Interiors

Kol just gave a keynote at our own ADU convening is the best speaker I know on the subject.

Heather Peters
Department of Housing, County of San Mateo, California.

Thanks you so much for sharing your weekend and wisdom within Boulder and cheers to more ADU freedom. 

John Tayer
Boulder, Colorado, Chamber of Commerce

Previous speaking engagements include:

• Build Small-Live Large conferences
• Rail~Volution
• American Association of Retired Persons
• American Planning Association- Oregon Chapter
• Congress for New Urbanism- CNU28
• Journal of Light Construction Live
• American Institute of Architects | DC
• United Way
• Invest Health- An initiative of Reinvestment Fund in partnership and with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Home Builders Association’s BuildRight Conference
• Oregon Association of Realtors
• Oregon Tax Assessors conference
• New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority
• BayREN Codes & Standards Program

• Community-Engaged Design Symposium at UNC-Greensboro
• Better Boulder
• Action Annapolis
• Winston-Salem Association of Realtors
• San Mateo County
• Housing Trust Silicon Valley
• City of Berkeley
• Charlottesville, VA
• Kirkland, WA
• Monterey, CA, United Way

• Portland’s City-wide ADU Tours and Book Talks
• Portland affordable housing groups, land use organizations, real estate firms, real estate developer groups, and architectural interest groups.

Professional Consultations

• Work with, and consult for, municipalities and organizations wishing to audit and update their local ADU codes and program to induce more ADU type development to meet housing policy goals. Zoning, financing, municipal ‘ADU program’, tours, stakeholder collaboration.

Thank you for an excellent ADU Tour and commentary that connected various projects with the interests of the teams and for your many contributions to the sessions.

Robert Liberty
Portland State University’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions

Classes

• Teach ADU homeowner workshop- over 2,000 homeowners taught

• Instruct Earth Advantage’s All About ADUs classes.
• Over 250 ADU Specialists certified
• Instruct the national ADU OnlineEd class for Realtors. Learn more and register here.