Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
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AfterFast, Reliable Home Additions & ADU Across Dallas
A home addition or ADU in Dallas typically runs $45,000 to $130,000 for most room additions, while detached ADU construction generally falls between $90,000 and $220,000. The Dallas market has its own set of rules: post-tensioned slab foundations, black gumbo clay that moves more than any soil in Texas, and zoning questions that change block by block. If you’re weighing an addition or an ADU and want a straight answer about what’s possible on your lot, call us at (877) 610-1318. Tom Barrett and his sons will walk the property with you, and you’ll get a written scope and a written price before you commit to anything.
Why Barrett & Sons Construction Is Dallas’s Preferred Home Additions & ADU Company
Nobody wants to hand a six-figure addition to someone who disappears after the deposit. So let’s get the important thing out of the way: Tom Barrett’s name, his address, and his license number are published and verifiable. Look them up before you sign anything. Barrett & Sons has been owner-operated since 1998, and the crews are Tom’s sons and their teams, not a rotating cast of subcontractors. The permit inspector works for you, not for me, which is a long way of saying we pull permits and get inspections signed on every eligible job.
We work across Dallas from the Kessler Park bungalows to the teardown-and-infill lots around 75206. That matters because an addition on a 1940s pier-and-beam in Oak Cliff is a completely different job than a second-story addition on a post-tensioned slab in University Park. Our crew knows the difference. And our Home Additions & ADU team has the local reputation to back it up, a written 90-Day Done Right Promise, and a live person answering the phone around the clock. If something’s not right when the job’s done, Tom comes back and makes it right, one call.
Our Home Additions & ADU Services in Dallas
ADU Design & Permitting
Dallas allows ADUs in most single-family zoning districts, but the setbacks, height limits, and parking requirements shift depending on your exact block. We handle the design and the paperwork, from the first sketch through the signed-off inspections. The goal is a permit set that actually passes, which on a Dallas lot means the drainage and slab engineering are handled up front, not discovered at final inspection.
Garage Conversion ADU
Converting a garage in Dallas usually runs $30,000 to $80,000, and it’s often the fastest path to a rentable unit or a place for aging parents. Most garages in older Dallas neighborhoods were built with flatwork that ignores drainage, so our first step is always looking at the approach slope and where water travels when it rains 3 inches in an afternoon. A conversion that ignores the runoff will flood inside a year. We don’t build them that way.
New Detached ADU
A new detached ADU in Dallas ranges $90,000 to $220,000 depending on size, finishes, and site work. On Dallas’s expansive clay, the site work is the part that separates a structure that stays level from one that cracks at the corners. We deal with post-tensioned slabs and soil prep as a first step, which is the same standard you’d want on a primary house. If you’re building a detached unit, you’re effectively building a small house, and it needs to be engineered like one.
Junior ADU & Interior Conversion
A junior ADU or an interior conversion, like a finished apartment built out of a large den or a basement-adjacent space, is a way to add living area without expanding the footprint. These jobs in Dallas often mean working with existing plumbing and electrical that hasn’t been touched since the house was built. If the kitchen in that unit doesn’t exist yet, we also handle Kitchen Remodeling in Dallas, and if it needs a bath, Bathroom Remodeling in Dallas as part of the same scope.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Dallas
We install materials you can look up, not mystery brands off a van. On hardscape and paving work tied to ADU site prep and driveways, we regularly install Belgard and Techo-Bloc pavers, and for concrete-related work we use Quikrete concrete products. For kitchens inside your addition, we carry KraftMaid and Cambria. If you want a specific brand, tell us on the walkthrough and it goes in the written scope, line by line.
Common Home Additions & ADU Problems We See in Dallas Homes
- Post-tensioned slab complications. Most Dallas homes built after the 1960s sit on post-tensioned slabs with high-tension steel cables hidden inside. If a cable gets cut during a remodel or addition, it’s catastrophically dangerous, and locating and avoiding those cables before any saw-cutting is a non-negotiable step that most cities don’t deal with nearly as often.
- Black gumbo clay and foundation movement. The soil under Dallas swells and contracts inches seasonally as drought cycles break with heavy rain. An addition that isn’t designed with that movement in mind will separate from the original structure at the seam, so we plan for that movement rather than hoping it won’t happen.
- Pier-and-beam additions on older homes. Houses in Kessler Park and much of Oak Cliff sit on pier-and-beam foundations that have been shifting for decades. Bolting a new room onto a foundation that already leans is asking for trouble. The existing piers have to be assessed before the new framing goes up.
- Drainage conflicts on narrow lots. The infill lots around 75204 and 75206 are often long and narrow, with two or three feet of side yard. A room addition changes the way water sheets across the property, and without a drainage plan that water ends up in your slab. On a Dallas lot, drainage planning is the first step, not an afterthought.
Pricing for Home Additions & ADU in Dallas, TX
A room addition in Dallas generally runs $45,000 to $130,000, while a garage conversion ADU lands between $30,000 and $80,000. A new detached ADU typically falls between $90,000 and $220,000 once you factor in slab engineering, site work, utility runs, and interior finishes. What moves the number is the foundation work, the size of the addition, the current framing and electrical in the part of the house you’re tying into, and whether you choose off-the-shelf finishes or premium materials like Cambria counters and KraftMaid cabinets. We put every scope and every allowance in writing before any work starts, and if anything changes during the job, it comes as a written change order with a price attached, not a surprise line item at the end. Call (877) 610-1318 for a free estimate, and ask about the free second opinion on any written estimate you already have.
We Also Serve Cities Near Dallas
Our crews handle additions and ADU projects across the metro, including Highland Park, University Park, Richardson, and Irving, with the same written change orders and the same permit discipline we bring to Dallas proper. If you live within 30 minutes of Dallas, Tom will meet you on-site to walk the lot before you sign anything.
Serving Dallas, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Dallas area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Home Additions & ADU in Dallas
A room addition in Dallas typically runs $45,000 to $130,000 depending on size, foundation conditions, and finishes. A full detached ADU ranges $90,000 to $220,000, and a garage conversion starts around $30,000. These are real Dallas numbers, not national averages, and they include the site work and engineering that Dallas’s expansive clay demands. Call (877) 610-1318 for an exact written quote, no charge for the walkthrough.
Yes, we work across Dallas from 75221 through 75224, including the older bungalow streets of Oak Cliff, the teardown lots around 75206, and the newer construction zones near White Rock Lake. We schedule walkthroughs by neighborhood cluster so Tom or one of his sons can look at your exact lot and foundation before we talk price.
No, not without your signature on a written change order. We put the scope, the allowances, and the price on paper before anything starts, and if something changes during the job, you get a written change order with an exact price before we touch the work. An allowance that isn’t on paper is a surprise waiting for a date, and we don’t do surprises.
A garage conversion ADU usually takes 3 to 5 months start to finish, and a new detached ADU can run 6 to 9 months once permits are issued. Summer heat stretches of 100°F or more affect concrete cure times and trigger heat-safety protocols on the crew, which can add days to the schedule. We’d rather tell you an honest timeline up front than promise a fast one we can’t keep.
Every completed job comes with the written 90-Day Done Right Promise. If something’s not right after the work is done, one call to (877) 610-1318 brings Tom back to make it right. The warranty is in writing on every contract, not buried in fine print, and it applies the same way in Dallas as it does in Highland Park or Richardson.
Written by Tom Barrett, Owner at Barrett & Sons Construction. Tom lives twenty minutes from Dallas and has been answering his own phone since 1998.