Additions
The hard part is the junction
Room additions, second stories, garage conversions and enclosures — documented where the new work meets the old, which is where additions succeed or go wrong.
Drawing a new room is straightforward. Drawing how that room attaches to a house built in 1978 by someone who is not available for questions is the actual job. Additions live or die on the connection: how the new roof meets the old one, whether the existing foundation can carry what you're putting on it, where the new load path goes, and how you get from old wall to new wall without a visible seam.
What we draft
- Room additions — bedrooms, primary suites, family rooms, in-law suites and offices
- Second-story additions — including the structural implications for everything below
- Garage conversions — turning unconditioned space into living space, with the envelope and egress changes that requires
- Enclosures — porches, lanais and carports converted to conditioned or screened space
- Bump-outs and expansions — kitchens, baths and closets pushed into existing footprint or beyond it
It starts with what's already there
Almost every addition begins with measured as-built drawings of the existing house. Original plans are often missing, and when they do exist they're frequently wrong — houses get modified, and the modifications rarely get drawn. Working from an inaccurate as-built is how an addition ends up an inch and a half off at the point where it matters.
We can measure and document the existing structure as part of the project, or work from measurements you've taken, provided they're the ones we need.
Making it look like it belongs
An addition that reads as an addition hurts the value of the house. Getting it to read as part of the original building is a design problem solved on the drawings: matching eave heights and roof pitches, carrying window proportions and head heights through, resolving material transitions somewhere they aren't conspicuous, and lining up the ridge so the roof looks intentional from the street.
We draw elevations of the whole building — existing and new together — so you can see how it will actually look, rather than approving the new part in isolation and finding out later.
Structural realities
Additions frequently expose things nobody planned for: an existing footing that wasn't sized for a second story, a load-bearing wall in the way of the opening you want, a roof structure that can't simply be extended. We identify these while they're still drawing decisions, and coordinate with a licensed engineer where the scope requires a seal.
Permitting and review
Additions are permitted work in every Central Florida jurisdiction, and they attract more scrutiny than most homeowners expect. Beyond structural review, your building department may look at setbacks, maximum lot coverage, impervious surface limits, and whether the resulting building still complies as a whole. Communities with an HOA often add an architectural review step before the county or city will process anything.
We prepare the set to be submittal-ready for your specific jurisdiction, and if plan review comes back with comments, we address them. See where we work for the counties we know best.
Common questions
Will the addition match the existing house?
That's largely a drafting and detailing question, and it's the one homeowners regret most when it's handled carelessly. Rooflines, eave heights, window proportions and material transitions all get resolved on the drawings before anyone orders material. We'll show you elevations of the combined building, not just the new part.
Do you need to measure my existing house?
Usually yes. Additions are documented against measured as-built drawings of what's actually there — original plans, where they even exist, are frequently wrong about what got built. We can produce the as-builts as part of the project or work from measurements you provide.
Does an addition need a permit?
Effectively always. Adding conditioned square footage is permitted work everywhere in Central Florida, and it typically triggers structural, electrical and sometimes mechanical review. Your building department may also look at setbacks, lot coverage and impervious area.
Can you help with HOA architectural review?
Yes. Many communities require submittal to an architectural review committee before the building department will even look at it. We produce the elevations and site documentation those committees ask for.