Home Additions in Charleston, SC

On the barrier islands, most of the homes we are asked to add onto are already elevated. That changes the whole job. The addition has to carry its own load down to new pilings or piers, its finished floor has to land at exactly the same height as the existing floor, and the connection between old and new framing has to be engineered so the two structures move together in wind.

The space under an elevated house has its own rules, so what you can enclose, park under, or store below the new floor is decided early, not after framing. Above the floor, we detail the envelope the way we detail a new coastal home: impact-rated openings, hurricane straps, stainless fasteners, and finishes that stand up to salt air.

Sullivan's Island adds strict height, elevation, and setback rules on top of that, and Isle of Palms has its own permit process. We design the addition to fit those rules from the first sketch so the drawings do not have to be redone after review.

A second story is the addition that gives you the most room without taking any of your yard, and it is also the one that depends most on what is already there. Before anyone draws a plan, we look at whether the existing foundation and wall framing can carry another floor, and what it would take to make them able to.

The build itself means the roof comes off. How that is sequenced, how the house below is protected from weather, and how the new roof line meets the rest of the home are the decisions that separate a second story that looks original from one that looks stacked on. Those are framing and roofing decisions, which is where Jason started.

We build second-story additions across the area, including the older neighborhoods in Mount Pleasant, Hanahan, and Summerville where a starter home is being turned into a forever home.

Most ground-floor additions are one of three things: a master suite, an in-law suite, or a porch. A master suite addition is usually a bedroom, bath, and closet off the back or side of the house, which means a new foundation, a floor height that matches the existing house exactly, and a roof line that ties in cleanly.

An in-law suite is a master suite with more independence: often its own entry, sometimes a kitchenette, always a bath designed for how the person will actually use it. Screened porches and covered porches are the Lowcountry addition, and on the coast they get the same storm-rated and salt-air detailing as the rest of the house.

Whatever the room, the finish carpentry is done by the same crew that did the framing, so trim, casing, and cabinetry inside the addition match what is already in your home.

Adding onto a house on the peninsula means working inside Board of Architectural Review approval and historic district guidelines, on a tight lot, sometimes against a party wall. The addition has to respect the architecture that is already there while quietly upgrading the mechanical systems and envelope around it.

We design and detail to those constraints from the start, and we handle the permit work as part of the design and pricing phase rather than treating it as someone else's problem.

It starts with a conversation and a site walk of your existing home. We talk through structural realities, elevation requirements, and the rough scope, and you leave with a clear picture of what is actually involved. Then come plans, permits, allowances, alternates, and an open-book budget so you can see exactly what is driving the number before you commit.

During construction we protect the rest of your house every day and keep the disruption to the part of the home we are working on. When it is done, the walkthrough is with the builder who built it.