Garage Conversion ADU in West Palm Beach - Plans, Permits & Build, One Fixed Price

Fast, Reliable Garage Conversion ADU Across West Palm Beach

Garage conversion ADUs in West Palm Beach typically run $180,000 to $320,000 all-in, drawings through final inspection, with detached conversions on the higher end of that range. The single biggest cost driver here isn’t finishes. It’s the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone code: every conversion must meet 170-mph wind design with impact-rated windows and full roof-to-wall strapping, and many older slabs lack the footings and steel to pass uplift. That’s the West Palm Beach reality, and it’s why we write a fixed price before any work starts, not a ballpark that shifts once the building department gets involved. Call (971) 497-2402 and we’ll walk you through what your specific garage will actually take.

Call (971) 497-2402

We work throughout West Palm Beach weekly, from Flamingo Park and El Cid up through Northwood and out toward the western corridors. Our crews know the difference between a 1920s CBS garage in a historic district and a mid-century ranch slab on a 50×100 lot, because we’ve opened up both. That local familiarity shows up in the permit set, the foundation scope, and the final walkthrough.

Why Ellery ADU Studio Is West Palm Beach’s Preferred Garage Conversion ADU Company

Since 2015, we’ve designed, permitted, and built 900+ ADUs. Every one of them carried a written price before work began, per Haven Standard Clause 1. West Palm Beach homeowners tend to research harder than most, because the permitting path here is genuinely different than in Lake Worth or unincorporated Palm Beach County. A garage conversion in Flamingo Park needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Board before the building department will even look at the permit set. That means roofline, fenestration, and stucco finish must be reviewed for compatibility with Mediterranean Revival character. We prepare those elevation drawings as part of the package, not as an add-on change order.

We’re a design-build studio, not a contractor. The drawings, the permit set, and the construction are one contract at one written price. When a conversion stalls here, it’s usually because the designer and the builder aren’t in the same room, or because the original estimate quietly excluded the hurricane strapping. Both problems disappear when the scope is locked at signing and the price is written down. Our West Palm Beach clients also get a documented photo record on every visit, so they can see what we found inside the existing walls and what we did about it. And under the 365-Day Done Right Promise, if the finished ADU doesn’t match the permitted drawings, we make it right in writing, before you ever sign.

Nadia Ellery leads the studio, and every West Palm Beach project gets the same standard: a live person answers calls 24/7, no voicemail queue. If you already have a written estimate from another builder, bring it in. We’ll give you a free second opinion on the scope and the price.

Our Garage Conversion ADU Services in West Palm Beach

Detached Garage Conversion

Detached garages are the most common ADU candidate in West Palm Beach’s older neighborhoods, and also the most complicated from a foundation standpoint. A 1940s detached garage behind a Flamingo Park home was built as a car shelter, not a dwelling. The slab often has no footings and no steel. Under HVHZ uplift requirements, that slab doesn’t pass. The fix is a partial demolition and a new engineered stem-wall foundation, which adds $20,000 to $40,000 depending on the size of the original footprint and how much of the slab can be salvaged. We flag this on day one, not halfway through framing.

Garage Partition & Bathroom Add

Not every conversion needs to turn an entire garage into a full ADU. In West Palm Beach, where lots run narrow and setbacks are tight, partitioning a single-car garage into a studio with a full bath is often the cleanest path to rental income or extended family housing. You keep a storage bay, we build the dwelling unit within the existing footprint. The plumbing line is usually the biggest variable: how far the existing sewer lateral runs from the garage, and whether the city’s flat water table forces a lift station. We scope that before quoting, in writing.

Garage JADU

A JADU, or junior ADU, converts part of an existing attached structure into a small unit with its own entrance, a kitchenette, and either a shared or separate bath. Florida code treats JADUs differently than full ADUs, and West Palm Beach’s building department has its own interpretations on occupancy and utility service. If you live north of downtown where mid-century CBS ranch homes have attached single-car garages, a JADU conversion can run $130,000 to $190,000 all-in, depending on whether you’re adding a full bath or linking to the main house plumbing.

Carport Conversion

Carports are common in the central corridors of West Palm Beach, especially on lots where a detached garage was never built. Converting a carport into an ADU means building new walls and usually a new roof structure, because an open carport roof rarely meets HVHZ wind design on its own. You’re essentially building a small house inside a concrete footprint. The good news: the slab under a carport is often in better shape than a garage slab, because it was poured for vehicles with drainage in mind. We’ll core it to confirm before we write the price.

How West Palm Beach’s Hurricane Code Changes Your Garage Conversion Scope

West Palm Beach sits in a High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, which is a specific designation under the Florida Building Code. Every garage conversion must meet 170-mph wind design. That’s not a suggestion, and it doesn’t matter if your garage has stood through three hurricanes. The code applies to the new dwelling unit, not the original structure. Impact-rated windows, impact-rated doors, and roof-to-wall strapping are all mandatory. A garage built before 1990 almost certainly has no hurricane strapping, which means the existing roof has to be opened up completely and re-strapped before insulation and drywall go in. That alone typically adds $8,000 to $15,000 to a conversion, and it’s a line item you should see on any bid from any builder working in West Palm Beach.

Beyond the wind load, much of West Palm Beach sits in FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas, particularly near the Intracoastal, the Lake Okeechobee drainage, and the flat water table that runs under most of the city. Detached ADUs in AE flood zones frequently require engineered stem-wall or pile foundations to meet minimum base flood elevation. That’s a foundation spec, not a suggestion. If your garage is near the Intracoastal, the foundation cost can exceed the framing cost. We identify the flood zone on the front end using the same flood insurance rate maps the building department uses, and we scope the foundation accordingly.

Common Garage Conversion ADU Problems We See in West Palm Beach Homes

In West Palm Beach, some problems are just more common than they are inland. Here’s what we regularly open up and find:

• Reused slabs that fail uplift. Homeowners assume the existing garage slab can be reused. Many slabs in West Palm Beach’s older neighborhoods have no footings and no steel, which means they fail HVHZ uplift review. The fix is a new stem-wall foundation, and it’s a $20k to $40k line item that should never be a surprise. We core slabs before quoting.
• Historic district review delays. Conversions in El Cid and Flamingo Park can stall for months waiting on a Certificate of Appropriateness because the proposed window pattern or roof pitch doesn’t match Mediterranean Revival character. We prepare COA drawings as part of the original permit set, not after the board raises the question.
• Missing hurricane strapping. Garages built before 1990 rarely have roof-to-wall strapping. The existing roof has to be opened up and re-strapped before any insulation or drywall can go in. That’s non-negotiable, and it’s not optional if the conversion is inspected under HVHZ.
• Plumbing runs through dense CBS walls. Many West Palm Beach garages are concrete block structure, or CBS. Running new plumbing through CBS means cutting and patching block, which is slower and more expensive than opening a wood-frame wall. The cost is real, and it should be in the written scope, not discovered mid-job.

Pricing for Garage Conversion ADU in West Palm Beach, FL

Brands We Work With in West Palm Beach

We specify and coordinate prefab and modular systems from Abodu, Cover, Dvele, and Mighty Buildings within the same single contract. For West Palm Beach, where HVHZ wind design and flood elevation requirements add complexity to site-built framing, a factory-built shell can sometimes get the structure to code faster and with less exposure to weather delays. We don’t push prefab if it doesn’t fit the lot or the historic district review. We write the spec that works, then price it once.

We Also Serve Cities Near West Palm Beach

Our crews handle garage conversions in Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington, Lake Worth, and Boynton Beach, with the same written-price standard and the same documentation package. If you’re in any of those areas, you’re still inside our normal service radius. You can see the full scope of our work at Garage Conversion ADU in West Palm Beach.

FAQs - Garage Conversion ADU in West Palm Beach