Home Additions & ADU in Margate - One Fixed Price, Permits Handled

Fast, Reliable Home Additions & ADU Across Margate

A home addition or ADU in Margate typically runs $45,000-$130,000 for a room addition and $90,000-$220,000 for a detached ADU, and the work is usually permitted and built within a few months. Margate’s older CBS homes from the 1960s and 1970s were built before Hurricane Andrew changed Florida’s building code, so the real cost driver here isn’t square footage, it’s what’s hiding inside those concrete block walls once we open them. Call (877) 610-1318 for a free estimate on your addition or ADU, and we’ll walk the scope with you in writing before anything gets touched.

Call (877) 610-1318

We’re not a franchise that reads a script. We’re Home Additions & ADU builders who’ve been opening up Margate homes long enough to know what’s behind the drywall on Winfield Boulevard, the Oriole neighborhood, and the grid of single-story blocks off State Road 7. When you build here, you build on former Everglades marsh, and you build under Broward County’s enforcement of post-Andrew wind-load rules. Both facts matter more than most people realize, and both are why we handle Margate jobs the way we do.

Why Barrett & Sons Construction Is Margate’s Preferred Home Additions & ADU Company

Tom Barrett founded this company in 1998, and his sons run the crews that work in Margate today. That’s not marketing language. That’s the business model. When a Margate homeowner calls about a second story addition or a garage conversion ADU, the person who answers the phone can talk through the permit process, the high water table, and the change order system because he’s the one who signs off on the job. Tom publishes his name, his address, and his license number, so you can look it up before you sign anything.

Margate homeowners keep calling us back for one reason, and it isn’t a low bid. It’s the fact that a written change order arrives before any price moves. When our crew opened an exterior CBS wall on a room addition in the Oriole neighborhood and found the original 1972 jalousie framing had no continuous load path, just single-wrap straps and rusted clip connections, we didn’t send a surprise invoice. We wrote the structural upgrade into a change order, installed the permitted Simpson ties, and got inspection sign-off before closing up. That’s how we work in Margate, and that’s how we’ve built our name here.

Every job gets the 90-Day Done Right Promise, written on the contract. If something isn’t right after we finish, one call brings Tom back. And every eligible job includes permits pulled and inspections signed, because the last contractor most Margate customers used told them permits were optional. We don’t do optional permits. The inspector works for you, not for me, and that’s exactly why we want him on the job.

Our Home Additions & ADU Services in Margate

Here’s what we build most often in Margate, and how the local conditions shape each one.

ADU Site Prep & Utilities

Before any foundation goes in, Margate’s ground has to be dealt with. The city sits on fill over former Everglades marsh, and the water table is often just 12 to 24 inches below grade. That means any slab, footer, or utility trench likely requires dewatering during excavation, especially from May through October. We plan for this in the estimate, not as a surprise mid-dig. A crew that doesn’t plan for it pours a wet, unstable base that cracks later.

Room Additions

Most room additions in Margate attach to single-story CBS homes built between 1960 and 1985. When we open the exterior wall to tie the new framing in, we’re looking at what the original builder left behind. Pre-1994 roof-to-wall connections, old jalousie window framing, and non-impact glass all show up, and Broward County’s inspectors enforce retrofit rules aggressively. We write those upgrades into the change order before work proceeds, so you’re never surprised at the end.

Second Story Additions

A second story in Margate isn’t just a framing job. It’s a structural upgrade to the entire ground floor. The existing walls have to carry new load, and the existing roof has to tie into the new upper level under current wind-load standards. Given the city’s dense grid of 50 to 60-year-old homes, we spend more time on the existing structure than on the new walls. That’s not scope creep. That’s the job.

Garage Conversion ADU & Junior ADU

Converting a garage into an ADU in Margate runs $30,000-$80,000, and the permit is not optional. The city enforces Broward County’s minimum housing standards for dwelling units, which means the conversion has to meet current code for electrical, egress, and insulation. We pull the permit, we build to code, and we get the inspections signed. A garage conversion that skips permits is an illegal unit, and Margate’s code enforcement will flag it.

We also handle new detached ADUs, junior ADUs inside existing homes, and sunrooms or enclosed patios on the back of those single-story Margate blocks.

Trusted Brands We Service in Margate

We’d rather show you the materials than ask you to trust a logo. On Margate ADU and addition jobs, we regularly install Techo-Bloc and Cambridge Pavers for driveways, walkways, and paver patios that tie an ADU to the main house, and we use Quikrete products for footers, slabs, and grout work. You can look up every material we name. We don’t install mystery brands off a van, and we don’t stock parts that need to be explained. If you’re adding a second story or a detached ADU, ask us which brands hold up in South Florida’s humidity and storm cycle. We’ll tell you straight.

Common Home Additions & ADU Problems We See in Margate Homes

• No continuous load path in pre-1994 homes. When we open an exterior CBS wall on a 1970s Margate home, we routinely find single-wrap hurricane straps or rusted clip connections instead of the continuous ties current code demands. The inspector will flag it, and your quote moves.
• High water table wrecking foundations. Groundwater sits 12 to 24 inches below grade across most of Margate. A slab or footer poured during the May-October rainy season without dewatering will crack and settle, and that failure shows up years later as a cracked addition wall.
• Permit-triggered structural retrofits. A simple room addition often forces a roof-to-wall connection upgrade once the city inspector sees the original framing. If that upgrade isn’t written and signed as a change order before work resumes, you’ve got a cost dispute in the middle of your job.
• Water-damaged framing under old flat and low-slope roofs. Many original Margate homes have low-slope or flat roofs that leaked for years before visible damage appeared. Once we open the wall, we find undersized or water-damaged framing that has to be replaced before the addition can tie in.

Pricing for Home Additions & ADU in Margate, FL

We Also Serve Cities Near Margate

If you’re just outside Margate, we cover Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach, North Lauderdale, and Coral Springs with the same written change order system and the same 90-Day Done Right Promise. Crews serve Margate locally from our South FL scheduling office, and each nearby city gets the same permit-first approach.

Key Takeaways

• Room additions in Margate run $45,000-$130,000; detached ADUs run $90,000-$220,000; garage conversions run $30,000-$80,000.
• Margate’s high water table, often 12-24 inches below grade, requires dewatering on most foundation and utility work.
• Broward County inspectors enforce post-Andrew wind-load retrofits aggressively, so opening a pre-1994 wall often triggers a required structural upgrade.
• Every price change arrives as a written change order before work resumes, and every job carries the written 90-Day Done Right Promise.
• Permits are pulled and inspections signed on every eligible Margate addition and ADU.

FAQs - Home Additions & ADU in Margate