More home without leaving the Key.

Nobody is making more Key Biscayne. The island built out decades ago, which is why families who outgrow a three-bedroom Mackle house near the Village Green rarely find a bigger one two streets over — they build up or build back instead. Second-story additions turn 1950s footprints into modern family homes; rear extensions push kitchens and family rooms toward the pool; garage conversions become in-law suites for the grandparents who visit in November and leave in May. On the waterfront streets of Smugglers Cove and Mashta Island, additions run larger and lean harder on engineering.

An addition on the Key answers to more reviewers than most Miami projects. The Village of Key Biscayne's Building, Zoning and Planning Department checks setbacks, lot coverage, and height before structure is even discussed. Because most of the island sits in a FEMA flood zone, new habitable space must meet base flood elevation requirements, and the substantial-improvement rule can pull the existing house into compliance if the project's value climbs near half the structure's worth. Add High-Velocity Hurricane Zone engineering — tie-beams, uplift connections, approved openings — and the design phase earns its keep. We run these numbers in the first meeting.

Additions are structural work first and finish work second, which suits us. PGX has delivered more than 150 remodels and additions over 20-plus years in South Florida, all permitted and inspected, and the hard-won lesson is that a good addition disappears: the new tie-beam carries like the old one, the stucco texture matches, the roofline looks original. We keep a written fixed scope, a daily site supervisor, and a plan for the family living in the house while the crane is in the driveway. Your neighbors on a quiet island street will judge us; we plan for that too.