Build out, build up, build once.

A home addition at this level is not a bonus room. It is a rear extension that finally gives a 1958 house the kitchen and family room it was never drawn with, a second story over a lot that is already full, a garage or screened terrace turned into real conditioned space, or a suite for parents who now spend half the year here. People who build an addition are rarely short of options. They already have the street, the school, the dock or the tree canopy they wanted, and moving would cost more than building.

What changes here sits under the finishes. Miami-Dade and Broward together are Florida's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ), so every new window, door and roof assembly needs an approval valid there, backed by large-missile impact and pressure-cycling testing. Near saltwater the code stops treating corrosion as a finish question, which is why coastal connectors and anchors get detailed in stainless. In a flood zone, crossing FEMA's substantial-improvement threshold pulls the entire structure into compliance, not just the new part. The two counties are not one market: each layers a county Board of Rules and Appeals over its municipal building departments, with its own code amendments and certified inspectors, and Miami-Dade spreads across thirty-four municipalities plus a large unincorporated county.

An addition can be priced honestly only after it has been engineered. So we start with a survey, a structural evaluation and a hard look at setbacks, easements and flood data, before anyone puts a number on a finish. What you sign is a fixed written scope: the work, the allowances, the sequence, and the inspections it has to pass. A supervisor is on site every working day, the occupied half of the house stays sealed and livable, and the permit is closed out rather than left open for a future buyer's title search to discover. One accountable team, from estimate through warranty.

The same service looks different from one end of this market to the other. In Coral Gables and Miami Beach, an addition has to satisfy design review before an engineer ever sizes a footing. On the Broward waterfront, in Rio Vista, Harbor Beach, Las Olas Isles and Lighthouse Point, elevation and what the county allows near the water decide the footprint. In Weston, Parkland and Southwest Ranches, the platted envelope, the drainage easement and the septic system decide it instead. We build additions in forty-two areas across both counties. Each has a page of its own here, with the local rules spelled out. Find yours.