What a Junior ADU & Interior Conversion in Plantation really costs and how long it takes
A Junior ADU (JADU) & interior conversion in Plantation is typically a $45,000-$130,000 project that converts existing square footage inside your home into a self-contained living unit with its own entrance, kitchenette, and bathroom. Most of these jobs take 10 to 16 weeks from permit submittal to final inspection, depending on whether you’re touching exterior walls or moving plumbing stacks. Call (844) 638-7249 for a free on-site estimate that accounts for your specific floor plan and the building code requirements Broward County enforces here.
What separates a great junior ADU conversion from a headache in Plantation
We see two patterns in Plantation, both tied directly to the city’s housing stock. The first is a CBS ranch built between 1962 and 1978 where the owner wants to wall off a back bedroom, add an exterior door, and run a small kitchenette off the existing wet wall. That job is straightforward. The second pattern is the one that blindsides people: a two-story CBS home from the early 1980s where the lower-level flex space looks perfect for a JADU until you open the walls and find the electrical panel is a Federal Pacific or Zinsco unit that Broward County won’t pass for a permitted addition, or the slab-on-grade floor means any new drain line requires cutting and patching concrete. Both scenarios are common here. The difference in cost between them can be $40,000 or more, and the only person who catches it early is the contractor who has done this in Plantation subdivisions built during the same development phase.
When homeowners pair a junior ADU conversion with a kitchen remodel, they often bundle the permitting and rough-in work to save weeks of downtime. We coordinate that with our Small & Partial Kitchen Remodels in Plantation crew, which keeps the same superintendent on both scopes. For properties where the JADU is part of a wider property reconfiguration, this fits under our broader Home Additions & ADU in Plantation workstream, and we’ll structure the contract so you’re not paying duplicate mobilization costs on separate jobs.
How we build a junior ADU conversion, start to finish
Every JADU in Plantation follows the same permit path: Broward County’s Building Safety Division reviews the plans, and the city’s zoning office confirms the unit meets the definition of a junior ADU under Florida’s accessory dwelling statute. We’ve carried projects through this process enough times to know where the desk reviewers ask for additional fire-separation detail or egress window calculations, so we front-load those into the submittal rather than waiting for a correction letter.
Stage 1: Floor plan lock and structural assessment (days 1-5)
We laser-measure the existing space, mark every bearing wall and wet wall, and map the electrical panel rating and available breaker slots. If the panel is undersized or obsolete, we flag it here because the county inspector will flag it at rough-in and stop work until it’s replaced. Your decision point: keep the JADU on existing circuits with a subpanel, or upgrade the main panel to support the added load. The cost difference is typically $3,200-$6,800 depending on whether we need to relocate the service mast.
Stage 2: Permit drawings and Broward County submittal (days 5-21)
Our draftsperson produces floor plans, electrical layouts, plumbing riser diagrams, and the wind-load compliance schedule the county expects. Plantation falls under Broward’s jurisdiction, which sits between Miami-Dade’s HVHZ rules and Palm Beach’s lighter documentation requirements. The sweet spot is a complete wind-mitigation spec that doesn’t over-engineer the submittal with Miami-level product approvals the county doesn’t require. Permitting takes three to five weeks depending on the season; hurricane-season backlogs can push that to six.
Stage 3: Demolition, rough-in, and first inspection (days 22-50)
We frame the separation wall, cut the exterior door opening if the JADU needs independent access, and rough in the kitchenette plumbing, the bathroom group, and the dedicated electrical circuits. If you’re converting a garage, we strip the slab, cap the vehicle opening per code, and insulate to Florida Energy Code minimums. The rough inspection covers framing, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical. This is the phase where jobs on older Plantation slabs run into cast-iron drain lines that have rusted thin over four decades and need replacement, adding $4,000-$9,000 to the budget.
Stage 4: Insulation, drywall, and finishes (days 50-85)
Closed-cell spray foam goes into exterior walls to meet Broward’s energy compliance; drywall is hung, taped, and textured. We trim the kitchenette with your selected cabinet line, install the countertop, hang the bathroom vanity, and set the shower pan or tub. Flooring goes in last to avoid trade damage. Your decisions here are all finish-level: cabinet door style, counter material, backsplash tile, flooring type. We provide samples and lead times at the start of this phase so nothing delays close-in.
Stage 5: Final inspection, punch list, and walkthrough (days 85-105)
The county inspector verifies the JADU meets all conditions of approval: independent entrance, smoke and CO detection interconnected with the main dwelling, minimum ceiling height, and bathroom-kitchenette separation. We schedule a punch-list walkthrough with you and Derek Hollenbeck personally to make sure every drawer face, outlet cover, and door sweep is right. The 730-Day Done Right Promise starts the day you sign off.
The finishes and systems you’ll choose between for a junior ADU
Every JADU needs a kitchenette, a bathroom, a sleeping area, and a dedicated entrance. The range in feel and longevity comes from what you spec in those four zones. Here’s what we walk homeowners through, with the honest trade-offs:
- Kitchenette cabinet grade: Stock thermofoil cabinets keep the budget tight at $2,200-$4,000 and clean up easily, but the finish won’t forgive a hot pan set on a shelf. Semi-custom maple with dovetail drawers runs $5,000-$9,000 and lasts twenty-plus years in a rental setting. For a JADU that will house an aging parent, we often spec soft-close hardware across the entire run.
- Counter surface: Laminate is $800-$1,600 and fine for a tenant unit. Quartz runs $2,500-$5,000 and handles the humidity of a Plantation summer without sealing. Butcher block looks warm but needs re-oiling every six months in South Florida’s moisture, so we steer rental owners away from it.
- Bathroom waterproofing system: A fiberglass shower pan and acrylic surround is the most affordable path at $1,800-$3,200 installed and it’s nearly leak-proof if maintained. A tiled shower with a Schluter waterproofing membrane costs $5,500-$9,000 and is what we recommend for owner-occupied JADUs where longevity matters more than upfront cost. We use Quikrete polymer-modified thinset and grout on every tile installation to handle the slight slab movement common on Plantation’s limestone shelf.
- Flooring type: Luxury vinyl plank at $4-$7 per square foot installed handles the water that will inevitably get tracked in during a summer downpour. Tile is cooler underfoot, lasts forever, and costs $7-$14 per square foot. We avoid laminate in any room with a wet source.
- Entry door and hardware: An impact-rated fiberglass door with a multipoint lock runs $2,800-$5,200 and meets Broward’s wind-load requirements without needing shutters. A standard steel entry door costs less upfront but adds a separate shutter obligation that the county will flag at final inspection if it’s missing.
What a Junior ADU & Interior Conversion costs in Plantation, FL
Junior ADU and interior conversion costs in Plantation land between $45,000 on the low end and $130,000 on the high end, with most falling in the $65,000-$95,000 range. The number moves on five variables that are specific to your house, not generic market rates.
The largest swing factor is whether the conversion uses existing wet walls or requires new plumbing runs. Tapping a kitchenette sink and bathroom group into a bathroom that already sits on the other side of a shared wall keeps the plumbing budget under $8,000. Cutting a slab-on-grade floor to run a new drain line to the other side of the house pushes plumbing to $12,000-$22,000 and adds a week of cure time before flooring goes in.
Electrical panel capacity is the second-biggest driver. A 200-amp panel with eight open breaker slots handles a JADU’s load with a subpanel. A 100-amp panel from 1967 needs replacement before the county will sign off on a new dwelling unit, and that’s $4,500-$7,800 depending on whether the service drop needs re-routing.
Finishes account for the rest of the spread. A laminate-counter, fiberglass-shower, vinyl-plank unit with stock cabinets hits the low end. A quartz-counter, tiled-shower, impact-door unit with semi-custom cabinetry lands at the high end. The difference is $30,000-$45,000 in materials and labor, and it shows up in both the immediate feel and the ten-year durability.
Our written estimates for Plantation JADU conversions include the permit fees, the drawings, the rough and finish materials, all labor, and the county inspection coordination. They do not include sewer lateral replacement (if the cast-iron line between the house and the street connection fails a camera inspection), main panel upgrade (if required beyond a subpanel), or owner-supplied appliances. We walk you through every line item at your free on-site estimate so you know exactly where your number lands before you sign anything. Groundwork Construction Co. operates on upfront pricing, no surprises, and every JADU we build is covered by our 730-Day Done Right Promise.
What Plantation homes specifically do to a junior ADU conversion
Plantation was developed as a master-planned community almost entirely between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s, and the CBS construction that defines it creates a very specific conversion environment. The city wasn’t built in patches by different developers over different decades the way much of Broward was. Entire subdivisions like Plantation Gardens, Lauderdale West, and the neighborhoods east of University Drive share the same construction vintage, the same slab-on-grade foundation type, and the same cast-iron drain lines that are now 45 to 65 years old. When we open a wall in one of these homes to rough in a JADU, we know what we’re going to find before we cut the drywall because we’ve done the same job two blocks over. That repeat familiarity means our permit submittals for Plantation projects move faster than those from contractors who don’t know the city’s housing stock block by block.
The other reality specific to Plantation is the Broward County inspection backlog during hurricane season. From June through November, the same inspectors who sign off on a JADU rough-in are the ones pulled for post-storm damage assessments, and a planned three-week inspection window can stretch to five. We build that buffer into our schedules upfront and communicate it before the contract is signed so you’re not staring at an unfinished wall wondering where the inspector is. Plantation also has an active HOA landscape, particularly in the gated communities off Broward Boulevard and Pine Island Road, and any JADU that creates a new exterior entrance triggers an architectural review that adds ten to fourteen days to the front end of the job. We handle the submittal directly with the association so you don’t get bogged down in committee calendars.
Serving Plantation, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
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Frequently asked - Junior ADU & Interior Conversion in Plantation
Most JADU conversions in Plantation take 10 to 16 weeks, with permitting eating the first three to five weeks and construction running seven to eleven weeks. Jobs that require main panel upgrades, slab cutting for new drain lines, or HOA architectural review add one to three weeks to the front end. Call (844) 638-7249 to get a timeline built around your specific floor plan.
Yes, absolutely. Broward County requires a building permit for any interior conversion that creates a secondary dwelling unit, and the city of Plantation’s zoning office must confirm the unit meets the JADU definition before the county will issue the permit. The work is inspected at rough-in and at final, and skipping the permit will get flagged if you ever sell the property. We pull the permits, schedule the inspections, and handle every piece of documentation so the unit is legal, insurable, and appraisable.
Sometimes. If the garage shares a wall with an existing bathroom or laundry room, you can often wet-tap the kitchenette and bathroom off that plumbing without running new lines across the slab, which keeps the job in the lower end of the $45,000-$130,000 range. If the garage is detached or sits on the opposite side of the house from any wet wall, you’re cutting concrete to run drain lines, and that pushes the plumbing budget up by $8,000-$14,000. We’ll tell you which scenario applies during the on-site estimate.
A basic JADU conversion in Plantation that uses existing plumbing, a fiberglass shower, laminate counters, and a standard entry door can come in around $45,000-$55,000. A high-end conversion with quartz counters, a tiled shower with a waterproofing membrane, semi-custom cabinets, an impact-rated entry door, and a main panel upgrade can reach $110,000-$130,000. Most homeowners with Plantation’s CBS homes land between $65,000 and $95,000. For an exact quote on your space, call (844) 638-7249. Estimates are free.
Every JADU conversion built by Groundwork Construction Co. is covered by our 730-Day Done Right Promise. If something isn’t right within two years of your final walkthrough, we make it right. This is not a prorated, conditional warranty with carve-outs buried in fine print. Derek Hollenbeck stands behind the work personally. If you call (844) 638-7249, a live person answers, 24/7, and we schedule the fix.
Get a free estimate for your junior ADU conversion in Plantation
If you’re planning a Junior ADU & Interior Conversion in Plantation, the first step is a free on-site estimate where we measure the space, check the panel, trace the wet walls, and give you a written, line-item price that doesn’t change once work starts. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule yours. Derek Hollenbeck or one of our Home Additions & ADU superintendents will walk the property with you, answer your questions about timeline and finishes, and leave you with a firm number. For homeowners who are also rethinking the main kitchen as part of a larger remodel, we often coordinate the JADU rough-in with our Kitchen Design & Layout in Plantation team to save time and drywall work. 0% financing for 18 months is available, and projects over $10,000 qualify for $1,000 off.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Plantation with permitted, warranted junior ADU conversions built to last.