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Unilock Home Additions & ADU: The West Palm Beach Owner’s Guide
Unilock home additions and ADU construction in West Palm Beach typically runs $45,000 to $130,000 for a permitted addition, and $90,000 to $220,000 for a full detached ADU with kitchen and bath. We plan, permit, and build these projects on a written line-item price, with no numbers that move after the contract is signed.
Most owners land here because something has gone sideways. Sometimes it’s a previous contractor who framed a Unilock paver foundation over shifting sand without a proper base, and the addition is pulling away from the main house. Sometimes it’s a failed permit inspection that stalled the whole job. And sometimes the “finished” ADU won’t pass a hurricane-strapping review, which in West Palm Beach is a problem that does not go away on its own. If you’re standing in front of an addition or ADU that isn’t right, we walk it, quote it straight, and fix it so it stays fixed.
Key Takeaways:
- Unilock-compatible additions and ADUs in West Palm Beach cost $45,000 – $220,000 depending on scope, size, and whether it’s attached or detached
- Florida building code, hurricane strapping, and soil conditions in West Palm Beach decide what can be built, not the salesman’s opinion
- Every Bradford Remodeling project gets a written price before work starts and a full-year written guarantee when it’s done
- If your Unilock project failed due to improper base prep, bad framing, or skipped strapping, we correct it and document the fix
Which Unilock Models This Applies To
Unilock is not a single product line. It’s a manufacturer of concrete pavers, retaining walls, and outdoor living surfaces. When we build an addition or ADU that incorporates Unilock materials, the compatibility question is about which product series you have and how it interacts with the structure. The most common Unilock lines we see on West Palm Beach properties are the Beacon Hill paver, the Brussels Block, the Courtstone, and the Town Hall paver. Each one has different thickness and base requirements.
Here’s the thing most people don’t know: Unilock pavers used as an exterior walking surface around an addition are not structural. They are a finish layer. The load is carried by the compacted base underneath. If a previous contractor set Unilock pavers directly on sand or loose fill in West Palm Beach, where the water table is high and the soil is sandy, the pavers will shift, sink, and crack within two to three years. We see it regularly in the Northwood Village corridor, where Curtis Lane has walked more than a few jobs with pavers heaving away from freshly poured slab edges. The fix is not replacing the paver. The fix is pulling them, re-compacting the base to spec, and resetting them on a proper screed bed with edge restraint.
For additions and ADUs, Unilock matters at the transition points: door thresholds, walkway connections, patio tie-ins, and drainage. You match the paver series to what’s already on the property, or you spec a new series with a documented manufacturer warranty. We don’t guess here. We pull the spec sheet, confirm the series, and write the material into the line-item quote.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Unilock Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Separation at the wall-to-floor junction. If the addition’s slab is pulling away from the main house or the paver line is drifting, the base underneath was never compacted correctly. In sandy Florida soil, this shows up as a gap that widens after every heavy rain. That’s a structural settlement issue, not a cosmetic paver problem.
- Doors and windows that bind. A properly framed and strapped addition holds its openings square. When you have to shoulder the bedroom door open or the window won’t seat, the framing or the slab has moved. In West Palm Beach, soil settlement plus moisture cycling will find every corner that was cut.
- Water pooling at the foundation line. Unilock pavers need slope away from the structure. If water stands at the slab edge or runs back toward the wall, the base is failing or the grade was set wrong. Left alone, this rots sill plates and invites termites into the framing.
- Cracks in the stucco or drywall that keep reopening. A hairline crack that gets patched and comes back in six months is movement. It means the structure is settling unevenly, and the original footer or slab wasn’t sized for the load.
- Failed hurricane-strap inspection or missing anchors. If you bought a home with an addition or ADU and a permit search shows the strapping wasn’t signed off, you have a code problem that affects your insurance and your resale. We correct strapping retrofits all the time. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s the difference between a building that stays put in a named storm and one that doesn’t.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
Here’s the straight price picture for West Palm Beach. A permitted home addition runs $45,000 to $130,000. A detached ADU with a kitchen and bath runs $90,000 to $220,000. A garage conversion into living space runs $30,000 to $80,000. These are installed prices: materials, labor, permits, and the written guarantee.
| Project Type | Installed Price Range (West Palm Beach) |
|---|---|
| Home Addition (permitted) | $45,000 – $130,000 |
| Detached ADU with kitchen & bath | $90,000 – $220,000 |
| Garage Conversion to living space | $30,000 – $80,000 |
What drives the range? Square footage first. Then foundation type: slab-on-grade is less expensive than a raised foundation on helical piers, which some West Palm Beach lots with poor soil require. Then mechanicals: an ADU with a full kitchen, bath, and separate electrical panel costs more than a simple studio. And Unilock paving, retaining walls, and outdoor tie-ins add cost but also add durability when installed over a properly compacted base.
Every quote includes the permit fees, the engineering stamps where required, the material line items, and the labor. We don’t bury anything in allowances. The number on the quote is the number on the invoice unless you change the scope, and if something changes in the field, Curtis Lane calls you before we touch it. Every completed project comes with the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing: if any part of our work fails within one year, we return and correct it at no charge.
DIY or Call Us?
If your Unilock pavers are heaving or sinking, you can inspect the edge restraint yourself. Look for a gap at the paver border, check whether water drains away from the structure, and run a level across the surface. If the problem is confined to the pavers, a paver reset is a manageable job for a competent DIYer with the right compacting equipment and a willingness to pull up the whole area and start over.
But framing, foundation work, hurricane strapping, and anything touching the structure is not a DIY job in Florida. Get the strapping wrong and you’re betting your family’s safety on an inspection you won’t pass. Get the footer undersized and the whole addition moves. This is where we earn our money. We do it by the book because the book in West Palm Beach exists for a reason. If you’ve got an addition or ADU that isn’t right, call us at (728) 203-9809. We’ll walk it, quote it, and put the fix in writing.
FAQs
With proper foundation work, strapping, and materials, a home addition or ADU built in West Palm Beach should last 50 years or more as a structure, though finishes like stucco, roofing, and Unilock paver surfaces will need replacement or resetting on their own shorter cycles. The failure we see most often is not the building wearing out but the base or framing being wrong from day one, which shows up within the first five years.
Most failing additions and ADUs can be repaired rather than rebuilt, especially when the problem is settlement at the slab edge, paver base failure, or missing hurricane strapping. What determines the answer is whether the structural frame and foundation are sound. If they are, we correct the specific failures, document the fix, and the building stays. Call (728) 203-9809 for an exact assessment, and we’ll tell you straight whether you’re looking at a repair or a tear-out.
A typical home addition runs 4 to 8 months from permit approval to final inspection. A detached ADU typically runs 6 to 10 months. The timeline is set by West Palm Beach permitting, inspections, and weather windows, not by how fast a crew can frame. We don’t promise fast. We promise a schedule we’ll actually hit.
We source and supply everything through our documented brand roster, which includes Unilock pavers, KraftMaid and Wellborn cabinetry, Cambria and Silestone surfaces, Kohler and Moen fixtures, GAF roofing, and James Hardie siding. You don’t chase materials. We spec them, price them, and stand behind them with both the manufacturer warranty and our 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Need someone to walk the site and tell you what you’re really dealing with? Call (728) 203-9809 and ask for Curtis. Straight number, full scope, no surprises after the invoice.
Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling Co – West Palm Beach at Bradford Remodeling Co West Palm Beach, serving West Palm Beach and nearby areas.
