My brother-in-law's 640 foot ADU has four different price tags depending on who asks

He finished a 640 square foot detached unit last year and I've been trying to get a real all-in number out of him for about eight months.

First answer was $160k, which is what the general contractor's contract said. Second answer, after I asked about permits, was $178k, because the city's impact and connection fees came separately and stung. Third answer, after I asked about the driveway, was $191k, since they had to widen it for access and then repave the whole thing because the patch looked terrible. Fourth answer came when his wife walked past and said he'd forgotten the $14k they spent on the fence and the little patio, because you can't rent a backyard cottage with no privacy from the main house.

$205k. He tells people $160k. He isn't lying, he just genuinely thinks of the contract as the cost and everything else as separate life expenses.

Unit rents for $1,750. He's thrilled and he should be, the thing's beautiful and it covers most of his mortgage payment. But if I'd underwritten his project off the number he says out loud at parties, I'd have been off by 28 percent, and I'd have blamed myself for it.