A second address
on the same lot.
Built to be rented.

It is set by your municipality, not by the county alone, and it varies more than people expect across the tri-county area. What is permitted, at what size, with what setbacks and what parking condition, all depend on your specific address. We look up the current rule for that address before we draw anything.

In unincorporated Miami-Dade an accessory dwelling unit may be rented, but the ordinance sets a minimum one-month lease term and prohibits short-term or vacation rental of the unit itself — which is a different rule from the county's separate short-term rental ordinance covering a whole property. Broward and Palm Beach have no single county-wide standard; individual municipalities set their own, and some have not addressed ADU rental specifically. This is the first thing to confirm, because it decides the whole model.

It does not always have to, but it should. Independent electric and water meters — or at minimum a sub-metering setup — let you bill actual usage rather than guess or absorb it into rent, and they give you a cleaner accounting picture. Retrofitting metering after construction is far more expensive than designing it in.

Whether the unit is detached, attached, or a conversion of existing space; how far services have to run from the main house; whether the lot needs fill to reach flood elevation; and the finish level. We will give you an itemised estimate against your actual lot rather than a per-square-foot rule of thumb.

A full building permit with the trade sub-permits behind it, plus any zoning approval your municipality requires first, and any HOA architectural review in parallel. We submit, track and answer corrections. Review durations are set by the building department.

It depends on size, on whether it is new construction or a conversion, and on how much site work the lot needs. We will give you a construction sequence with real durations once we have seen the lot — and municipal review sits on top of that and is outside anyone's control.

Yes, and not by finishing it worse. Luxury vinyl plank rather than hardwood, tougher paint sheens, easy-clean counters and cabinet fronts — materials chosen for a different use pattern and for turnover, not for a lower budget.

Some lenders will count projected ADU rental income toward qualification for the construction financing. Whether yours will, and on what evidence, is a question for your lender early in the process rather than late. We will not put a rent figure in writing for you — that is the appraiser's and the market's job.

That is a design decision made at plan stage: where the entrance sits, which windows face the main house, and what the separating wall and floor assemblies are. It is very hard to add afterwards, which is why it is on the drawings rather than left to landscaping.

Often, yes — a garage or an attached portion of the house can become a compliant unit, and it is usually the faster route because the shell already exists. Whether it works comes down to ceiling height, egress, separation and whether the resulting unit meets the size rules for your municipality.

Wind load and flood elevation drive the engineering, humidity and salt drive the material choices, and the ADU rules themselves vary municipality by municipality in a way they do not in many other markets. All of it is normal here; none of it is optional.