What a Junior ADU and Interior Conversion Actually Looks Like in Tice, and What You’ll Pay
A junior ADU and interior conversion in our Tice service area is a permitted living space built entirely within your home’s existing footprint, most often by converting an attached garage, oversized utility room, or a section of the house with its own exterior entry. You’re not adding square footage. You’re reworking what’s already under roof into a code-compliant unit with a kitchenette, a bathroom, a separate entrance, and independent climate control. In Tice, these projects typically land between $45,000 and $130,000 and run four to seven months from design to final inspection. The spread is wide because no two existing floorplans present the same set of constraints. Call (844) 638-7249 to have us walk your specific home, and we’ll give you a line-item price before you commit to anything.
How We Move a Junior ADU From an Idea to a Signed-Off Unit
The process has five distinct stages, and every one of them is driven by decisions you make. We don’t push a standard spec on anyone. Here’s how it unfolds on a Tice home.
Stage 1: Site walk and as-built verification. This happens week one, often within a few days of your call. We measure the entire space and open a small section of wall and ceiling at one corner to confirm framing type, slab condition, and whether any Ian-era moisture got trapped behind drywall where nobody cut it out after the storm. In Tice’s older CBS homes, that exploratory cut tells us more about the real scope of the job than any set of blueprints from forty years ago. You decide here whether to move forward. No charge for the estimate and design consultation.
Stage 2: Code-path selection and design lock. This takes two to four weeks. Because Tice is unincorporated Lee County, every permit flows through the county building department in Fort Myers, and the pre-2022 homes we most often work on almost always trigger a structural review under the current Florida Building Code. We sit down with you and map exactly what compliance upgrades the scope requires: hurricane straps, impact-rated openings, hardened roof decking if we’re touching the roof assembly for a Roof Repair service in Tice. You’ll choose your kitchenette layout, bathroom fixtures, flooring, and finishes here. We produce the stamped drawings your permit package needs.
Stage 3: Permitting and inspection scheduling. We submit to Lee County the day the drawings are signed off. This stage runs three to six weeks in Tice right now. The post-Ian inspection backlog is real, and we schedule every rough-and-final inspection slot at the moment of permit application, not after drywall is hung. That’s a Tice-specific habit that saves you weeks of idle time. You’re not making design choices here; you’re waiting on county turnaround while we order long-lead materials.
Stage 4: Construction. Most interior conversions take eight to fourteen weeks of active build time. We start with demo and moisture remediation, then rough in the new plumbing, electrical, and HVAC mini-split, frame any partition walls, hang and tape drywall, set the bathroom fixtures, install the kitchenette cabinets and countertops, lay flooring, trim out, and paint. The separate entrance goes in early, so the unit is physically sealed from the main house by the time finish work starts. You’ll walk the space with us at rough-in and again before trim, and we don’t move past either gate without your sign-off.
Stage 5: Final inspections and closeout. Lee County sends an inspector for the building final, the electrical final, and the plumbing final, usually across two visits. Once the green tags are posted, we do a walkthrough with you, hand over any appliance manuals and finish-care guides, and register your 730-Day Done Right Promise. From first cut to closeout, you’ve added a self-contained living unit without adding a single square foot of new foundation. That’s the core logic of an interior conversion, and in Tice it’s often the most cost-effective way to create rental income or house a family member on the same lot.
For homeowners tackling a wider set of upgrades at once, our Home Additions & ADU in Tice team can sequence the interior conversion alongside other structural work so you’re not permitting the same house twice.
The Options You’ll Choose Between When We Build Your Interior ADU
Every finish decision on a junior ADU comes down to a trade-off between upfront cost and long-term durability in Tice’s humidity-and-hurricane climate. These are the real choices our clients weigh.
- Kitchenette layout: wet-bar depth or full galley. A compact wet bar with a sink, undercounter refrigerator, and microwave bay keeps plumbing runs short and cost low. A full galley with a two-burner cooktop and a 24-inch dishwasher adds roughly 40 percent to the kitchenette budget but makes the unit rentable long-term. Most Tice homeowners who plan to lease the space go galley from day one.
- Flooring: luxury vinyl plank versus tile. LVP installs faster and costs less, but Florida slab moisture will telegraph through any cheap underlayment within two years. A properly sealed porcelain tile floor over a vapor barrier costs more upfront and lasts the life of the house. We spec Schluter Ditra or an equal decoupling membrane on every Tice slab pour; we won’t warranty LVP installed directly on grade without it.
- HVAC: mini-split versus tapping the main trunk. A dedicated mini-split heat pump gives the ADU independent temperature control and doesn’t pull conditioned air from the main house. Tapping the existing central system costs less to install but means the unit’s comfort depends on the main-home thermostat. For a rental, go mini-split. For a guest suite, the shared system works.
- Bathroom fixture grade. A standard Kohler or Delta builder-grade package keeps the bathroom under $5,000 in fixtures. Upgrading to a comfort-height toilet, a walk-in shower with a frameless glass panel, and a solid-surface vanity top pushes the bathroom closer to $9,000. Both paths are built to the same code; the difference is how the space feels to live in.
- Impact-rated entry door and window choices. Code won’t let us install anything else in a Tice opening. You’re choosing between a flush steel door with a single sidelight or a fiberglass door with integrated blinds between the glass. The price gap is about $1,200, and the fiberglass door holds up better against salt-laden air drifting inland from the coast.
What a Junior ADU and Interior Conversion Costs in Tice, FL
A junior ADU and interior conversion in Tice runs $45,000 to $130,000. That range is broad for a reason. The low end, around $45,000, is a straightforward garage conversion where the slab is sound, the electrical panel has spare capacity, and the plumbing stack is on the adjacent wall. No structural upgrades beyond strapping the existing trusses. Drywall, tape, paint, a compact kitchenette, a simple bathroom, LVP flooring, and a mini-split. At $85,000 you’re usually relocating drain lines to reach the new bathroom location, upgrading the electrical service to 200 amps, and installing impact-rated windows where none existed before. At $130,000 you’re doing all of that inside a home that also needs Tice Roof Replacement & Installation and full truss-to-wall strapping because Ian’s winds torqued the original framing.
The five variables that move your number the most are: the condition of the existing slab and whether it needs grinding or leveling, the distance from the nearest drain stack, whether the main electrical panel needs a service upgrade, the chosen finish grade for flooring and cabinets, and the number of new impact-rated openings required by the compliance review. We put every line item in writing before you sign. No change orders unless you add scope mid-build. Our home additions and ADU team carries the same upfront pricing discipline across every project type we build.
What Tice Homes Specifically Do to This Job
Tice’s housing stock, predominantly 1950s-to-1970s concrete-block homes on slab, directly shapes the scope of any interior ADU conversion here. These homes were built under codes that no longer govern anything. The moment we pull a permit with Lee County for an interior conversion that touches framing, electrical, or plumbing, the review triggers a full Florida Building Code compliance check. That means a job that starts as “convert the garage” routinely expands to include hurricane straps on the existing trusses, impact-rated replacements and Tice Sliding & Patio Doors for every jalousie window in the converted space, and hardened roof decking if the permit package includes any roof-assembly modification. Contractors who haven’t worked Tice since Ian don’t always price that layered compliance, and the homeowner finds out when the county reviewer sends the plans back marked up.
Moisture is the other variable. Tice sits in a high-water-table zone where post-rain standing water is common, and the sustained humidity accelerates rot inside older wall assemblies. We’ve opened walls on Sunset Road and Tice Street homes and found mold colonized behind drywall nobody touched after the storm, because the water sat inside the block cavities for weeks before power returned. Every interior conversion here starts with a moisture assessment that tells us whether we’re hanging new drywall or remediating first. It’s not a complication. It’s just the reality of building inside Tice’s housing era, and we budget for it from day one. Some homeowners choose to pair this work with a Kitchen Design & Layout in Tice refresh in the main house while we’re already on site.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Junior ADU and Interior Conversions in Tice
Four to seven months for a typical Tice interior conversion. Design and as-built verification run two to four weeks, permits take three to six weeks with Lee County, and construction runs eight to fourteen weeks. The biggest variable is the county inspection queue; we pre-schedule every inspection at permit application to avoid the multi-week delays that hit contractors who wait until the work is done to call for an inspector.
Yes. Any conversion that adds a kitchenette, a bathroom, or a separate entrance requires a building permit through Lee County’s Community Development department. Because Tice is unincorporated, there is no municipal overlay to navigate, but the county review will enforce current Florida Building Code on the converted space, even if the rest of the house remains grandfathered. We handle every page of the permit package, including the structural calculations and the energy compliance forms.
Yes, and it changes the cost dramatically. When the bathroom stays on the same wall as an existing drain stack, plumbing rough-in costs stay low. When you want the bathroom on the opposite side of the garage and the slab has to be trenched to move the drains forty feet, plumbing alone can add $8,000 to $14,000 to the job. We’ll show you both layouts during design so you can decide what the convenience is worth.
Every line we can see: demolition, moisture remediation if needed, framing, drywall, insulation, electrical rough and finish with a dedicated subpanel if required, plumbing rough and finish, HVAC mini-split with the line set, impact-rated door and windows, kitchenette cabinets and countertop, bathroom fixtures, flooring, trim, paint, permit fees, and the county inspection schedule. What’s not included is any hidden condition we haven’t exposed yet, and the moment we open a wall, we show you exactly what we found before we spend another dollar. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule the walkthrough; estimates are free.
Every interior conversion we build in Tice is covered by our 730-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right. That applies to the framing, the finishes, the mechanical systems, and the weatherproofing. It’s one of the longest workmanship guarantees in residential construction, and it’s in writing.
Schedule a Free Estimate for Your Tice Junior ADU
If you’re thinking about converting an attached garage or an underused interior space into a permitted living unit in Tice, the next step is a phone call. We’ll walk the space, measure everything, open a small section of wall to check what we’re really working with, and hand you a written, line-item price. No obligation. No high-pressure pitch. Just real numbers from a crew that’s done this exact job on the same generation of CBS homes you’re living in. Call (844) 638-7249 to set it up, and ask about 0% financing for 18 months if the project qualifies. Some homeowners also use the same window of construction to tackle a Small & Partial Kitchen Remodel in Tice in the primary house.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Tice and greater Lee County since 2014.