In-law suite conversion in Tampa, FL.
An in-law suite is a bedroom, a bathroom and a door of its own. It can be a spare room, the garage, or one end of the house. Done right a parent lives close and still has a private life. Done wrong it is a bedroom with a hot plate that the City calls something else. The size and who can live there are set by code. So the plan starts there, not with the tile.
Priced by written scope, never by the hour.
The 600 square foot line and who can live there.
In-law suite pages show bedrooms and grab bars. None of them prints the size limit or the family rule that the City writes into the code. Here is what to ask before you hire anyone, including us.
In the city, a family suite is 600 square feet
Tampa calls it an extended family residence. It is limited to 600 square feet. The people living in it are family by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship. The owner lives on the lot. Bigger than that, or for a tenant, only works inside the City's ADU area.
It can be inside the house or in a garage that meets code
The suite can be part of the house, with a separate entrance. Or it can be a detached building that follows the setback rules. It cannot go in a garage that was built too close to the lot line. We check that on the walkthrough.
In unincorporated Hillsborough the line is 900
Brandon, Riverview and Valrico are county, not city. There the lot has to be at least 7,000 square feet. The unit can be up to 900 square feet of living space. The owner lives in the main house. One unit per lot.
A kitchen is what turns a bedroom into a dwelling
A bedroom with a bath is a bedroom. There is no zoning question and no size limit beyond the room. Add a place to cook and it is a second dwelling, with the rules above. Decide that before the plans, because it changes what gets drawn.
The bathroom decides the price. The kitchen decides the rules.
Two suites the same size can price far apart. Here is what actually moves the number on an in-law suite.
Where the bathroom goes
A bath next to an existing bathroom shares its drain and its vent. A bath on the far side of the house needs a new drain cut through the slab. So does one in a garage. That is the biggest line, and the licensed plumber prices it after seeing the floor.
Kitchenette, kitchen, or neither
A sink, a small fridge and a microwave is a kitchenette. A range and a hood is a kitchen, with a circuit, a vent and, often, the second dwelling rules. No kitchen at all keeps the job a bedroom. Each is its own line.
The door and the path
An exterior door in an existing wall is a window sized opening made bigger, with a header. A step free path from the driveway is concrete or pavers. Both are lines, and both matter more for a parent with a walker.
What the room is now
A spare bedroom already has a floor, a ceiling and power. A garage has a sloped slab, no insulation and no ducts. The same suite costs more in the garage, and that is where the other page of this silo starts.
What gets measured before anything is built.
A suite built for the wrong person is rebuilt in a year. So the measuring comes first, and each answer goes into the scope.
Who will live there, and how they move
A parent with a walker needs 32 inches clear at every door and a shower with no step. Someone who may need a wheelchair later needs more. It is cheaper to frame it now than to widen it later. We ask before we draw.
The zoning answer, by address
Family suite in the city, ADU area, or county. It sets the size and whether a kitchen is allowed. We look it up before anything else. If the address does not fit the plan, we say so here.
The exit window
A sleeping room needs a window you can climb out of. The code asks for 5.7 square feet of clear opening, 24 inches high and 20 inches wide. The sill can be no more than 44 inches off the floor. A room without one is not a bedroom until it has one.
The floor and the ceiling
In a garage the slab gets leveled or a raised floor gets built. The ceiling still has to be 7 feet after that. In a bedroom we check the floor for level where the shower will sit. A shower with no step needs a drain below the floor line.
Fire separation, if a garage stays a garage
If one bay keeps a car, the wall to the suite gets half inch gypsum on the garage side. The door between them is solid, 1 3/8 inches thick or rated for 20 minutes, and closes on its own. It is drawn before framing.
What is included, and where it ends.
A written scope is only worth something if it says where it stops. These are the lines we put in writing before anything is ordered.
How long the rooms are a job site.
Most in-law suites inside the house run 3 to 6 weeks of work after the City approves the plans. In a garage it is 4 to 8, because of the slab and the wall. That review comes first and the City sets that clock. The rest of the house stays in use. Your scope has the dates.
When we tell you not to do it
An in-law suite is sold on the picture of a parent close by. That picture is real. So is the code, and it decides a few cases before we do. Here is where we say no, and why.
It is for a tenant, not for family
Outside the City's ADU area a family suite is for family. A tenant there is a code case. If you want rent, read the garage apartment page and check the address first. We do not build a family suite and call it a rental.
The room has no window that can be an exit
A bedroom needs a window you can climb out of. An inside room with no outside wall cannot get one. It can be a den or an office, not a bedroom. We say so before it is drawn as one.
The garage floor is below the flood line
Below the base flood elevation, a garage can only be parking and storage. Nothing on a plan changes that. A suite inside the house, above the line, may still work, and that is where we would point you.
The HOA says no to a second unit
Many do, even for family. Read the CC&Rs and get the board's written yes first. A bedroom and a bath with no kitchen often passes where a unit does not. We will say which one you are asking for.
Lifetime warranty on our workmanship.
If the work we did fails, we come back and fix it. That holds for as long as you own the home. On an in-law suite it covers what we built and finished. The walls, the floor, the doors, the trim and the paint prep.
A warranty is only worth what its exclusions say. Ours are above, in the same size type as the promise. Ask whoever you are talking to how long theirs runs, and get the number in writing.
Questions we actually get asked
What is the difference between an in-law suite and an efficiency?
An in-law suite is a bedroom and a bath for family, with or without a place to cook. An efficiency is one room with a kitchenette and a bath, and it is usually meant to rent. In Tampa the rules follow the kitchen and the address. A suite with no kitchen is a bedroom, and a bedroom has no zoning limit.
Do I need a permit for an in-law suite?
Yes, for the parts behind the wall. Plumbing, electrical, new walls and a new exterior door. If it is a second dwelling, the City reviews it as one. The building permit is pulled by the contractor licensed for it, named in your scope. Paint and trim alone do not need one.
Can I rent the in-law suite later?
Only where the address allows a rental unit. Inside the City's ADU area, yes. In the rest of the city, a family suite stays for family. In unincorporated Hillsborough the county code does not forbid it. If renting later matters to you, say so now, and we check the address first.
Does it need its own entrance?
If it is a second dwelling, yes. If it is a bedroom and a bath inside the house, no. Most families want one anyway, so a parent can come and go without crossing the living room. An exterior door in an existing wall is a normal line in the scope.
How big can it be?
As a family suite in the city, 600 square feet or less. In unincorporated Hillsborough, up to 900 square feet of living space on a lot of 7,000 square feet or more. Inside the City's ADU area, up to 950. A bedroom and a bath with no kitchen has no size rule beyond the room it is in.
How long does it take?
Most suites inside the house run 3 to 6 weeks of work after the City approves the plans. In a garage it is 4 to 8. That review comes first and the City sets that clock. The rest of the house stays in use, behind a dust wall. Your scope has the dates.
The other garage conversion services
Where we work
Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties. If your town is not on this list, call and ask: the answer is often yes.
A walkthrough, then a written scope with one closed price.
Never hourly, never a verbal figure, and our workmanship carries a lifetime warranty. Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties.