Permit-Ready Garage Apartment Plans
Budget: $750 – $1,500 USD
I’m looking for a designer who can consider my basic ideas for a 2-3 car garage with a 1/1 apt over it and find stock plans to start with or previously drawn “garage with apartment above” plans, tailor them to my lot in St Augustine, Florida, and turn the final design into a permit-ready package.
All three categories of revisions—structural, aesthetic, and functional—are on the table. I want a coastal, porch-friendly feel that fits our beach town, yet everything still has to meet the current Florida Building Code and St. Johns County requirements for wind, flood, and energy. This garage apartment will be for my personal use, so long-term durability, low maintenance, and efficient space planning matter more than squeezing in extra rentable square footage.
You’ll need to adjust the foundation, framing, and roof details as needed for local loads, update elevations to capture that relaxed “beach house with porches” look, and refine the layout so the upstairs apartment flows naturally for daily living. When the revisions are set, I’ll need a full construction set—site plan, architectural, structural, and any supporting calculations—ready for immediate submission to the county’s permitting portal.
Deliverables:
• PDF and CAD of stamped (or ready-to-stamp) drawings suitable for permit review
• Any structural or energy calcs the building department will request
• One round of post-submittal tweaks in case the reviewer asks for clarifications
If you have recent experience getting small residential projects approved in Northeast Florida, let me know; that practical know-how will move this along much faster.
All three categories of revisions—structural, aesthetic, and functional—are on the table. I want a coastal, porch-friendly feel that fits our beach town, yet everything still has to meet the current Florida Building Code and St. Johns County requirements for wind, flood, and energy. This garage apartment will be for my personal use, so long-term durability, low maintenance, and efficient space planning matter more than squeezing in extra rentable square footage.
You’ll need to adjust the foundation, framing, and roof details as needed for local loads, update elevations to capture that relaxed “beach house with porches” look, and refine the layout so the upstairs apartment flows naturally for daily living. When the revisions are set, I’ll need a full construction set—site plan, architectural, structural, and any supporting calculations—ready for immediate submission to the county’s permitting portal.
Deliverables:
• PDF and CAD of stamped (or ready-to-stamp) drawings suitable for permit review
• Any structural or energy calcs the building department will request
• One round of post-submittal tweaks in case the reviewer asks for clarifications
If you have recent experience getting small residential projects approved in Northeast Florida, let me know; that practical know-how will move this along much faster.