ADU construction and home additions in Central Florida
Need more room without leaving the street you love? We plan and build home additions and handle accessory dwelling unit construction across Central Florida, with the layout drawn and approved before any concrete is poured.
Free Design Consultation
Should you add on, build an ADU, or move?
If you love the lot and the neighborhood, building usually wins. Moving means closing costs, a new mortgage rate, and giving up a location that already works. An addition keeps all of that and adds what you are missing, whether that is a primary suite, a bigger kitchen, or a second floor.
An accessory dwelling unit is a different tool. Orange County describes an ADU as a separate dwelling with its own kitchen, sleeping area, and full bathroom, either attached to the main house or standing on its own on the same single family lot. Families here build them for aging parents or a grown child saving for a first home.
Guy studied architecture, so the first question we ask is not how big. It is how the new space connects. Where does the door land? Does the roofline read as one house from the street? Those choices cost nothing on paper and a fortune once the slab is poured, which is why every project starts with a design consultation.
What do county rules allow for ADU construction?
It depends on which side of a city line your lot sits on, so we check before we draw. Unincorporated Orange County keeps its ADU design standards, including size limits, in its land development code. Cities like Orlando, Kissimmee, and Lakeland write their own rules.
In unincorporated Osceola County, the code allows one accessory living unit per conforming lot. Published summaries of that code also tie renting it out to a homesteaded main house and long term tenants, so a backyard cottage there is not a short term rental play. Polk County and its cities set their own limits on size, setbacks, and parking. A lot with room for an attached addition can still be too tight for a detached unit once the setbacks are drawn.
None of this should be guesswork. Before we price anything, we pull the zoning for your parcel, confirm setbacks and height, and check for HOA review, which planned communities like Celebration add on top of the county's. Then you choose knowing what is actually allowed.
What goes into building an addition the right way?
Most of the hard work on an addition happens where new meets old. Tying a new roof into an existing one decides whether the house leaks in its first August storm or stays dry for decades. The framing has to meet the original walls square, and the new floor has to land at the same height as the old one so nobody trips at the doorway.
On the Lakeland addition in the photo, we framed the new rooms and roof sections, dried them in under sheathing and house wrap, then tied the rooflines together before any interior work started. Utilities come next. An addition or ADU with a kitchen and bath often needs a larger electrical service, new plumbing runs off the existing lines, and its own air conditioning or a properly sized extension of the system you already have.
Florida law requires a licensed contractor to build an addition or a new structure, and every phase gets permitted and inspected. We pull those permits through Osceola, Orange, or Polk county, schedule the inspections, and leave you with a clean permit record for the day you sell. If the kitchen is due for an update too, our kitchen remodeling work often rides along with an addition.
What does a finished addition look like?
Like it was always there. That is the test we hold every addition to, and the Butler House in Lakeland is the clearest example. The home dates to about 1910 and sits on South Missouri Avenue under a historic designation, which limited what could change on the outside.
We added real living space, rebuilt the interior, and finished the exterior in a blue and white modern farmhouse style with a covered porch. The finished home runs about 1,700 square feet. Inside are an open kitchen, a staircase to the upper rooms, and a primary bath with a freestanding tub and a glass walk in shower. Historic Lakeland, Inc. and the City of Lakeland's Historic Preservation Board gave it a 2026 Residential Historic Preservation Award for Outstanding Rehabilitation.
That board judges whether a house kept its character, so the award says more about an addition than any photo. Walk through every room on the Lakeland home and addition project page, then picture your own lot. The planning that worked on a 1910 house in Lakeland works just as well on a 1990s slab home in Kissimmee.
What drives the cost of an addition or ADU?
Size matters, but it is rarely the whole story. Site work, utilities, and how the new space ties into the old one move the number just as much. Guy walks the lot and measures before any price is set.
Site and Foundation
Clearing, soil, drainage, and the slab or footings. A detached ADU needs its own foundation, while an attached addition has to match the floor height of the house it joins.
Utilities and Systems
A kitchen and bath mean new plumbing, a possible electrical service upgrade, and cooling sized for the new rooms. These costs hide until someone plans them.
Free Written Estimates
We do not quote additions over the phone. You get a written, line by line estimate after we check the zoning and walk the property, at no charge.
Why do homeowners choose Guy A Remodeling to add on?
An addition has to work with a house that is already standing. Here is what we bring to that job that a typical builder does not.
Architecture Driven Expertise
Guy studied architecture, then spent years buying, rebuilding, and flipping homes. His Lakeland addition earned a historic preservation award from the city.
Licensed, Insured and Local
The business is licensed and insured, based at 100 Grinnell Pl in Kissimmee. We know how Osceola, Orange, and Polk counties review additions.
Honest Process
You get a real plan, a written estimate before work starts, and a clear answer when something needs to change, from the slab to the final punch list.
Common questions about this service
Have a question that is not here? Send it our way and we will give you a straight answer.
Are you ready to bring the magic home?
Free Design ConsultationLet's Plan Your Addition or ADU
Ready to add space to your home? Contact our team to talk through your lot, your layout, and what your county allows. We are here to answer your questions and give you a clear, written estimate.
- 100 Grinnell Pl, Kissimmee, FL 34747
- [email protected]
- (407) 460-8588