How is the old garage door opening closed?

The opening is framed in with an insulated wall, and a window or door is set into it. In Miami-Dade and Broward, new windows and doors need High-Velocity Hurricane Zone product approvals, so they are chosen before framing. Stucco is then feathered into the existing wall so the patch does not show.

Will a converted garage feel damp?

It can if nobody plans for it. Garage slabs and block walls were never built to be lived in, and Florida humidity condenses on cold surfaces. We insulate the walls, seal the floor assembly, tighten the door and window openings, and use cooling that also dehumidifies, so the room stays dry and mildew does not start.

Where can a washer and dryer go in a small conversion?

A stacked unit tucked into the kitchen run or a closet saves the most floor. It needs a drain box in the wall, a dryer vent to the exterior and, for an electric dryer, its own 240-volt circuit. The location is fixed before plumbing rough-in, because moving it later means opening finished walls.

Does my HOA have a say in the garage conversion?

Many associations review exterior changes, including garage door infill, paint colors and window style, and their rules can go beyond the city's. Get written approval before work starts. We can supply drawings and product data for the application. Association approval and the municipal permit are separate processes.

How long do impact windows and doors take to arrive?

They are usually made to order, and lead times can run several weeks, longer after a busy storm season. We order as soon as the opening sizes are confirmed, and the manufacturer's quote gives the real date. We will not promise a finish date until those lead times are known.

Mini-split or ducted air for a converted garage?

A ductless mini-split is the common choice because it needs no ductwork through the old garage ceiling, and it can be sized to the room alone. Extending the house's central system can work if the air handler has spare capacity. A load calculation settles it, not a rule of thumb.

Where do my belongings and car go while you work?

Plan to empty the garage before demolition starts. We set up a protected path from the street and a small staging area, and you keep the rest of the house. Cars usually park in the driveway or on the street for the duration, depending on local rules, so check those before work begins.

What does the final inspection check?

Inspectors typically sign off the rough framing, plumbing, electrical and insulation before walls close, then return for final building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical checks. They look at smoke alarms, GFCI protection and exits. Your municipality decides the exact sequence and the closing document, so we confirm it at permit.

Garage-to-ADU Conversion | South Florida

A garage is
a shell.
An ADU is
a dwelling.

Garage-to-ADU conversion across South Florida. Turning a slab, three walls and a roll-up door into a legal, insulated, permitted dwelling means solving height, moisture, insulation, egress, utilities and parking — in that order, before any of it is worth finishing.

Licensed, bonded & insured · CBC1265280

104 municipalities across 3 counties

Design-build: permitting & construction in-house

Questions we are actually asked

It depends entirely on your parcel. There are 104 municipalities across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach and accessory-dwelling rules are genuinely local — what is routine in one city is prohibited in the next. Setbacks, lot coverage, parking replacement and whether an association has jurisdiction all matter. We check your specific parcel before any design work starts, because that answer decides whether there is a project.

Often yes. Many jurisdictions require the off-street parking a garage provided to be replaced elsewhere on the lot. That usually means a new pad or a widened driveway, which is a real cost and can also interact with impervious-area and drainage limits. It is one of the first things we check.

That is the dimension that most often kills a conversion. Habitable rooms have a minimum ceiling height, and both the floor build-up and the ceiling insulation eat into what you start with. We measure it at survey rather than assuming, because discovering it at framing stage is extremely expensive.

Because the waste needs continuous fall to an existing main. On slab-on-grade construction that frequently means cutting and trenching the slab, and where the fall simply is not achievable a pumped arrangement may be the only route. It is usually the single largest variable in the budget.

Almost always. Garage slabs are poured lower than the house floor and deliberately sloped toward the door to drain. A dwelling needs a level, dry floor, so the slab is either self-levelled or a raised floor is built over it — and a moisture barrier goes in either way, because slab moisture is constant in this climate.

Yes. New exterior windows and doors in a conversion are regulated products exactly as in new construction: impact rated, carrying a current product approval, and installed to the anchor schedule that approval is conditional on. Cutting a new opening into a block wall also needs a lintel over it.

Sometimes, if a load calculation shows genuine spare capacity. Often it does not, and a panel or service upgrade is required. Whether you meter the unit separately is a separate decision — separate metering suits long-term letting, while sub-feeding from the house is usually fine for family occupation.

It is a common situation and it is resolvable, but it has to be dealt with honestly. Depending on what was built and how, the route may be a retroactive permit with opening-up for inspection, remedial work to bring it to code, or reversion. We will tell you what we find rather than building on top of it.

Why bring the conversion to us

Licensed general contractor

CBC1265280 — licensed, bonded and insured, and accountable for the permitted result, not just the finishes.

Feasibility before design

We check zoning, setbacks, parking and association restrictions on your parcel before anyone charges for a layout.

Permitting in-house

The same team that draws it files it and answers the review comments, across 104 municipalities.

We measure the hard things first

Ceiling height, slab fall, waste main and panel capacity — the four constraints that decide cost — are established at survey.

Product approval discipline

New windows and doors matched to current approvals and installed to their anchor schedules, exactly as on new construction.

Honest about unpermitted work

If a previous conversion was never permitted we will tell you what that means rather than quietly building over it.

One contract through to certificate

Design, permitting, construction and inspections under one contractor, ending with the certificate that makes the unit legal.

Documented handover

Approved drawings, product approvals, warranties and the certificate handed over as one file.

What clients say

Published reviews from the company Google Business Profile, quoted as written.

Redid my whole bathroom and kitchen. Great service - Great quality - very quick - very professional !! Highly recommended!

Adir Davidov

Amazing experience with the entire company! They did a great job in my house for some work that needed to be completed, and I am extremely happy with the result. Super professional & great service. I highly recommend Elbaz Construction.

Mia Zafrani

I highly recommend them for home improvement. They renovated my master bathroom and a few upgrades for other guest bathrooms. They are very professional, courteous and transparent. They are great at communicating and finding ways to streamline the work. Sean has impeccable project management and customer relationship management skills. Very pleased with the work!

Omri B

Needed remodeling of my master bathroom in my house. After calling around and dealing with a bunch of unexperienced companies I found Elbaz construction and gave them a call. Just from the ease of communication and friendly talk I've had with the owner I knew this was going to be the company I was going to hire. They came 2 days later and started remodeling my bathroom and knocked it out in a timely manner. Great service, great communication, and amazing work. Will definelty refer and reuse this company for any future remodeling I might need.

Itzick Manasherov

They are amazing! Very professional. Met my exact requests with so much patience and knowledge. They renovated my whole house and the whole process was such a breeze. I highly recommend them!

Lee Morali

We hired them to renovate our investment property and they provided exceptional quality service for an affordable price!

Shir Partush

Project files

Garage walls, finished as a home.

Three files: a detached backyard studio for exterior reference, and two interiors from converted garages. Open the photos and read what each one actually shows.

3Projects shown

11Photos

1Site videos

PROJECT 01

White stucco backyard studio with a cypress row

A detached backyard studio in white stucco with a brown shingle roof, a row of columnar cypress along the lawn and a wood deck at one corner. This is a new standalone unit, not a converted garage. It is here as the exterior standard a conversion should be held to.

Scope of work

White stucco finish over the full exterior
Shingle roof with a deep overhang
Large window set into the side wall
Entry door with wall lights at a narrow side path
Stepping-stone path and hedge along the wall
Wood deck edge meeting the lawn

Materials & finishes

White stuccoShingle roofVinyl windowWall sconcesStepping stonesWood deck

What to look for in the photos

Look at how the roof overhang, the window and the wall lights sit on one plain stucco wall. A converted garage wall has to read the same way, with no visible patch.

Elbaz Construction project photo · 5 photos

PROJECT 02

Converted garage: bedroom, closet and bath view

From outside, a gray stucco side wall with a white vinyl window. Inside, an empty bedroom with a mirrored sliding closet, an entry door, LVP flooring and recessed lights, with a bath visible through a doorway. Nothing in the finish reads as a garage.

Scope of work

Gray stucco finish on the former garage side wall
White vinyl window set into the side wall
LVP flooring laid through the room
Recessed lighting across the ceiling
Sliding closet with mirrored doors
Doorway opening into a bath
Entry door into the room

Materials & finishes

LVP flooringGray stuccoVinyl windowMirrored closet doorsRecessed lightsWhite paint

What to look for in the photos

Look up and down: one continuous LVP floor and flush recessed lights are what make a former garage read as a bedroom. Then check the side wall for the window.

Elbaz Construction project photo · 3 photos

PROJECT 03

Garage conversion kitchen with stacked laundry

A converted garage opened into one room with light LVP flooring, an entry door and a white shaker kitchen at the back. Brass pulls and a green glass tile backsplash sit above the range, and a stacked washer-dryer is built into the same run. A bath is visible beyond.

Scope of work

White shaker cabinets along the back wall
Green glass tile backsplash behind the range
Range and stainless appliances installed
Stacked washer-dryer built into the kitchen run
LVP flooring through the whole unit
Recessed lighting overhead
Entry door into the open room

Materials & finishes

White shaker doorsBrass pullsGreen glass tileLVP flooringStainless appliancesRecessed lights

What to look for in the photos

Find the stacked washer-dryer. In a one-room conversion, laundry has to fit inside the cabinet run, and that decision is made before the plumbing is roughed in.

Elbaz Construction project photo · 3 photos

A garage isa shell.An ADU isa dwelling.

The garage isthe cheapest partof the project.

What a garage is missing

Zoning & permittability

Floor level & moisture

Envelope & insulation

Egress, light & ventilation

Plumbing & drainage

Electrical, HVAC & metering

One conversion, inside and out

The new entry, where the door used to be

It should not look converted

One stucco finish, wall to wall

Windows placed by rule, not by symmetry

Level, dry and continuous

Built to the same standard as the house

The conversion explorer

Floor: level or raise

Ceiling height

Insulation strategy

Egress & new openings

Drainage strategy

Kitchen or kitchenette

Parking replacement

Four places the conversion shows, or does not

Where the door was

Where the floor was sloped

Where there was no bathroom

Where there was no bedroom

Ten stages, and the two that decide everything

Zoning & feasibility review

Survey & constraints

Layout & egress planning

Drawings & permit submittal

Demolition & opening closure

Slab preparation & moisture

Services rough-in

Insulation, boarding & inspection

Finishes & fit-out

Final inspections & certificate

Zoning, permits and the questions that come first

Does a garage conversion need a permit in Miami-Dade?

Questions that decide feasibility

Questions that decide cost

Rules vary by municipality

Change of use

Product approvals

Flood zone

Energy compliance

Association approval

Inspections

Closeout and legality

Three conversion decisions worth understanding

From garage wall to dwelling wall

Existing block wall

Furring & insulation

Air sealing & vapour strategy

Board, tape & finish

Slab, barrier & levelling

Finish floor

What moves the number, and what it becomes

What moves the number

Whether it is permittable at all

Bathroom drainage

Electrical capacity

Ceiling height

Envelope work

Kitchen specification

Parking replacement

Flood and elevation

What happens after issue

Expected life

What needs attention

Moisture

Insurance and valuation

Resale

What the finished conversion shows

No trace of the opening

Openings placed by code

A floor that is simply level

A garage is
a shell.
An ADU is
a dwelling.

The garage is
the cheapest part
of the project.

Send us the address.
We will tell you
if it is possible.