Ask anybody who builds small houses in Helena what slows them down, and design and plan review will come up fast. The city is trying to take a chunk of that out of the process.
On Oct. 16, the City of Helena issued a request for informal proposals for a new Ready-to-Issue Residential Model Plan Library. According to the city's announcement, the library will offer residential building plans the city has already reviewed, so people can start from a proven design instead of paying for one from scratch.
"Helena needs more housing choices, and we are looking for practical ways to make it easier to add homes to our community," said Chris Brink, the city's community development director. "A pre-reviewed plan library can help reduce some of the cost, time and complexity involved in getting smaller housing projects built."
Phase 1 focuses on accessory dwelling units and small homes. A possible Phase 2 could add "missing middle" housing such as duplexes, cottage courts, townhouses and small multiplexes.
What the city is asking for
The detailed request for informal proposals is aimed at architects, engineers, residential designers and design-build firms. A city selection committee may pick up to 10 designs to move on to full construction-document review. Once those plans pass review, at no cost to the designer, they become City of Helena Model Plans and go into the library. Each firm can submit up to three designs, and the first round of scoring will be blind, with names and logos stripped from the drawings.
The first round has three categories:
- ADUs: generally 400 to 1,000 square feet, with detached units preferred.
- Small detached homes: generally 600 to 1,200 square feet, one to three bedrooms, one or two stories, with a focus on low construction cost.
- Alternate or innovation designs: ideas like expandable homes, zero-step cottages or adaptable intergenerational layouts.
The city spells out Helena's building conditions: Climate Zone 6, a 30 psf minimum snow load, a 42-inch frost depth (with frost-protected shallow foundations allowed), seismic design category D0 and ice-and-water barrier on roofs. Plans have to be designed to the city's adopted codes, including the 2024 IRC and IECC.
The document leans hard on buildability. Designers are told to use simple forms, efficient spans, standard dimensions and common materials, stack plumbing where practical, avoid excess glazing and specialty products, and name at least three strategies that cut cost or construction time. Each submittal also needs a preliminary Helena-area construction cost range. Electric-ready design is required, and all-electric designs are encouraged where they make financial sense.
Designers keep the copyright and can charge homeowners a capped fee to use a plan: up to $2,000 for an ADU, $3,000 for a small home and $4,000 for the innovation category. Plans stay in the library for at least three years.
The fine print
A model plan isn't a building permit. The city says each project will still need a site-specific permit, with zoning, setbacks, grading, utilities, foundation and other site reviews and fees. The building official can still require changes, and the city doesn't guarantee construction costs or contractor performance.
Written questions are due by noon Nov. 12, and an optional invitation-only pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Nov. 5 at the City-County Building. Proposals are due by noon Dec. 3. The city's estimated schedule targets final approval and a library launch about five to seven months after designs are selected.
The plan library is one of three new affordable housing efforts the city is developing, along with a specialty license plate to raise money for the Affordable Housing Trust and an Affordable Housing Showcase.
Why it matters for Contractors
For small builders and remodelers, a library of ADU and small-home plans that have already cleared Helena plan review could mean fewer redesign rounds, faster permits and easier conversations with clients who want a backyard cottage but balk at architect fees. It could also mean more of those jobs overall, since lowering soft costs is the whole point. Design-build firms have a chance to get their own plans into the library, with their contact information listed for every homeowner who browses it. Even if you don't design, it's worth watching which plans get picked. Those simple, repeatable designs could become the ADUs and small homes Helena contractors are building over and over in the next few years.