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 The Colony
Home additions and ADU construction in The Colony run anywhere from $45,000 for a smaller room addition to $220,000 for a fully permitted detached ADU, and the timeline depends heavily on one local step most out-of-area contractors miss: a structural engineer’s assessment before the city will even look at your permit. If you live in The Colony’s original 1970s-1990s planned-community tract homes along Paige Road, Blair Oaks, or The Tribute, you’re almost certainly building on post-tension slab foundations that have shifted over decades on North Texas’s expansive clay. Barrett & Sons Construction has worked these neighborhoods long enough to know what the City of The Colony building department will ask for before you ever put a shovel in the ground. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll walk you through what your specific project needs, before you spend a dime.
Why Barrett & Sons Construction Is The Colony’s Preferred Home Additions & ADU Company
We’re the owner-operated crew that shows up with a name on the truck, not a dispatcher’s guess. Tom Barrett founded this company in 1998, and his sons run the crews that work The Colony. When you call, a live person answers at (877) 610-1318, day or night. That matters in The Colony because this is a city where the building department has its own way of doing things, and you need someone who’s already been through it enough times to know what’s coming.
The Colony’s housing stock is overwhelmingly single-family tract homes built from roughly 1975 to the late 1990s. Those homes sit on post-tension slabs, and anyone who’s lived here through a few drought-and-rain cycles knows the ground moves. The City of The Colony has responded by requiring a licensed structural engineer’s assessment before issuing permits for any load-bearing wall work on those original subdivisions. Out-of-area GCs get caught flat-footed on this constantly. We build that assessment into our bids from day one. That’s not us being thorough, that’s us knowing The Colony. Ask anyone we’ve worked with off North Colony Boulevard or Main Street. Or look up our license number yourself. Tom publishes his name, address, and license number so you can verify everything before you sign.
Our Home Additions & ADU Services in The Colony
Here’s what we actually do in The Colony, week in and week out. These four services cover most of the calls we get from homeowners in 75056.
Garage Conversion ADU
Garage conversions are the most popular ADU route in The Colony because the existing slab and roofline already exist, which keeps costs down compared to new construction. You’re looking at $30,000 to $80,000 depending on whether you’re doing a straight interior conversion or adding plumbing for a kitchenette and full bath. The catch in The Colony is the wind-load requirement on the new end-wall shear when you replace a garage door with a framed wall. We engineer that from the start so your final inspection doesn’t stall.
New Detached ADU
A detached ADU in your backyard gives you rental income or a private space for family, and in The Colony it runs $90,000 to $220,000. That range covers everything from a compact one-bedroom to a full two-story unit. Detached ADUs here must meet specific wind-load ratings for North Texas exposure, and if you’re anywhere near Lewisville Lake’s southern shoreline, you may need floodplain review and an elevation certificate before the city will release a permit. We handle the permit sequence, the engineering, and the inspections from start to finish.
Junior ADU & Interior Conversion
A junior ADU, or JADU, converts existing interior space, like a finished basement or oversized bedroom wing, into a self-contained living unit with its own entrance and efficiency kitchen. It’s the most affordable way to add rental or multi-generational capacity in The Colony, often running on the lower end of the $45,000 to $130,000 home addition range. But interior conversion on an older tract home almost always touches at least one load-bearing wall, and that means the structural engineer’s assessment we mentioned earlier. We schedule that before demo so you’re never waiting on paperwork.
ADU Design & Permitting
Even if you’re not ready to pour concrete, we can start with design and permitting. We prepare plans that meet The Colony’s wind-load standards and structural review requirements, we submit the permit package, and we schedule the engineer’s assessment for any load-bearing work on your post-tension slab. You get a permit-ready set of drawings and a written line-item scope of work before construction begins. That scope, every allowance, every price change, arrives as a written change order before anything happens, because an allowance that isn’t on paper is a surprise waiting for a date.
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 The Colony
When you’re spending $45,000 or more on an addition, the materials should be ones you can look up. We build with brands that carry documented wind-load ratings and that stand up to North Texas heat and clay-driven movement. We install GAF roofing systems on additions and ADUs in The Colony, along with Schluter waterproofing in any kitchenette or bath built into a junior ADU or garage conversion. We use Grohe plumbing fixtures for their durability and water efficiency. These aren’t mystery brands off a van. If a product fails or underperforms, we know exactly who to call, and so do you.
Common Home Additions & ADU Problems We See in The Colony Homes
These aren’t hypotheticals. These are the calls we get from The Colony homeowners who started with someone else.
- Starting a room addition without the structural engineer’s assessment. The original tract homes in The Colony sit on post-tension slabs that have settled unevenly on the expansive clay. A contractor who doesn’t know the city’s requirements will open up a wall, the building department will halt the permit, and you’ll sit for two weeks waiting on an engineer’s report that should have been scheduled before demo.
- Quoting a garage-conversion ADU with no wind-load calc for the new end-wall shear. The Colony lies in North Texas’s wind zone, and the city checks the engineering on any structural modification. Without that calc, the final inspection fails and you get a change order for engineering you thought you already paid for.
- Using windows and doors that don’t meet wind-load ratings. If you can’t produce compliance documentation when your insurer asks after a storm claim, your claim gets complicated. We specify rated products and keep the paperwork.
- Post-tension slab surprises. On a 1987 tract home off Paige Road near the lake, our crew opened up a load-bearing wall for a garage-conversion ADU and found the post-tension slab had settled 1¼ inches at the rear corner, shifting the top plate out of square. We paused, brought in a structural engineer for the required assessment, and revised the scope to include helical piers and a steel beam before framing the junior ADU. The city signed off only after that engineering report was in hand. That’s what a price that’s been thought through looks like.
Pricing for Home Additions & ADU in The Colony, TX
Here are the numbers we quote in The Colony, straight and honest. No national-call-center pricing games, no bait on the phone and a different number at the door.
| Project Type | Typical Range in The Colony |
|---|---|
| Home Addition | $45,000 - $130,000 |
| ADU Construction | $90,000 - $220,000 |
| Garage Conversion | $30,000 - $80,000 |
What moves the price? Square footage, plumbing and electrical density, the engineering your specific slab requires, and whether the city needs floodplain review based on your location relative to Lewisville Lake. A garage conversion off Main Street is a different job than a garage conversion off Lakeshore Drive near the flood zone. You’ll get a written scope with the exact line items before we ever swing a hammer. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll put a number on paper for your specific property.
We Also Serve Cities Near The Colony
Our crews cover The Colony and the surrounding corners of Denton and Collin counties. If you’re in Frisco, Little Elm, Carrollton, or Lewisville, you get the same written change orders and the same structural-engineering-first approach we bring to Home Additions & ADU in The Colony. Different city hall? Different permit quirks? We know them too. Call (877) 610-1318 and ask for an estimate in your city.
Serving The Colony, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the The Colony 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 The Colony
North Texas exposure requires that detached ADUs in The Colony meet wind-load ratings specific to your lot’s exposure category, which your engineer calculates from the city’s adopted wind speed maps for Denton County. Proof comes through manufacturer-specified products with documented ratings, structural drawings that show the load path, and a final inspection sign-off that confirms the installed products match the plans. Keep that paperwork. Your insurer will ask for it after a storm claim. If you’re not sure what your lot requires, call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll explain it in plain English before you spend anything.
The Colony requires it because the city knows its own ground. The original 1970s-1990s tract homes sit on post-tension slabs that have settled unevenly on expansive clay, and removing a load-bearing wall changes the load path on a slab that’s already moved. The engineer’s assessment tells the city, and you, what reinforcing the job needs before framing starts. Contractors who skip this get their permits halted. We schedule the engineer before demo so you never sit waiting. Call (877) 610-1318 to see exactly what your specific wall requires.
It can, especially for properties bordering Lewisville Lake’s southern shoreline. The Colony checks floodplain designations on any ground-level construction, and sections of the city carry FEMA flood zone designations even where the house itself sits above the mapped zone. If your garage conversion touches the slab at grade, the city may require a floodplain review and possibly an elevation certificate. We determine that early so it doesn’t surprise you at the permit counter. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll check your address before you budget.
It gives you documentation that could lower your out-of-pocket after a wind event, and some insurers discount premiums for documented wind-resistive construction. Conversely, an addition built without rated products and without an inspection trail becomes a liability when you file a claim. The City of The Colony’s inspection sign-off plus manufacturer documentation is the paper trail your insurer wants. We hand you that paperwork in a folder at the end of the job, not leave you to chase it.
A compliant quote includes the structural engineer’s assessment for load-bearing work on your post-tension slab, wind-load engineering for any new structural walls or openings, the permit fee, the inspection schedule, and the specific rated products, by name, that will be installed. A cheap bid often leaves out the engineer, assumptions that the existing slab is fine, and products pulled from a distributor’s bargain bin. That’s how a $52,000 quote becomes $63,000 after the permit stalls. We put everything in writing before work begins, with written change orders if anything changes. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll send you a scope you can hold us to.
Get Your Free Estimate in The Colony - No Games, Just Numbers
If you’re planning a Home Additions & ADU project in The Colony, the first step is a conversation, not a contract. We’ll ask about your lot, your home’s build era, your plans for the space, and we’ll tell you honestly what it will take to get permits through the City of The Colony. Then we’ll put it in writing. Free estimate, no trip charge inside the county, and a $40 credit on any repair over $200 if you mention it when you call. We also offer a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans.
Call (877) 610-1318. A live person answers, 24/7. And if something isn’t done right, Tom comes back and makes it right. That’s the 90-Day Done Right Promise, written on every contract, and Tom lives twenty minutes away, so he wants to know about it.
Written by Tom Barrett, Owner at Barrett & Sons Construction, serving The Colony since our founding in 1998.