Garage conversion in Orlando. Same house, different life.
You don't need a bigger house. You need one more room. A bedroom for the mother-in-law, an office with a door that closes, a suite for the kid who came back from college. The square footage is already there, under a roof you own, holding two bikes and a Christmas tree.
I'm Johnny Kaplan. Kaplan Remodeling & Construction is a family business in Lake Mary, and we convert garages across Seminole County and Central Florida. When you call, you get me. I look at the garage, write one number, and my own crew does the work.
This is the one with real rules
A garage conversion isn't a big paint job. You're turning unconditioned space into conditioned living area, and that changes how the space is classified. It requires a permit — and depending on the jurisdiction, plans, an energy calculation, and inspections for framing, insulation, electrical, mechanical and final.
That's not a reason to avoid it — it's the reason to do it right. Done to permit, the square footage counts. Done in a weekend by somebody's cousin, it surfaces at closing, and I've been called in to fix plenty of those.
What's actually included
- Plans, energy calculations, the permit, and every inspection through close-out
- Floor leveled or built up to the house floor, with moisture control
- Framing and insulating the block walls and ceiling
- Closing in the garage door opening, or framing windows and doors into it
- Egress window where the room will be a bedroom
- Electrical — new circuits, receptacles at code spacing, lighting, panel work when needed
- Heating and cooling sized for the space, ducted or mini-split
- Interconnected smoke and CO alarms, fire separation where garage remains
- Drywall, matched texture, trim, doors, paint, flooring
- A 1-year workmanship warranty, plus all manufacturer warranties
What it actually takes in a Central Florida garage
The floor is lower than the house — on purpose
Garage slabs here are poured below the interior floor and sloped toward the door so water runs out. Both have to be dealt with. Depending on the drop, we either pour a self-leveling topping over the slab or build a raised floor over sleepers, with a vapor barrier and treated material where wood meets concrete. Which one is right depends on the drop, the ceiling height you'd give up, and the threshold into the house.
Bare block walls and a 16-foot hole
Garage block walls in these houses have no insulation. To become conditioned space they get furred out and insulated — rigid foam, batts, or foam applied to the block — plus insulation at the ceiling or roofline. The energy code sets the values; framing depth sets what's practical.
Then there's the door opening. Closing it in means a proper foundation or knee wall under the new framing, exterior finish that matches the house, and windows or doors meeting the wind-load requirements for openings here. Done right, it reads like the house was always built that way.
If it's going to be a bedroom, it needs egress
A room only counts as a bedroom if it has an emergency escape and rescue opening — a window with a minimum clear opening size and a sill no higher than code allows — plus a closet, in most appraisers' eyes. In a block wall that means cutting an opening and setting a header. Skip it and you have a bonus room, and an appraiser will call it one.
Your A/C probably wasn't sized for this
You generally can't just run a duct off the existing system and call it done. It was sized for the original square footage. Add 400 feet without checking capacity and you get a room that never quite cools and a house that's less comfortable everywhere else. We run the load calculation first. Sometimes there's headroom and we extend ducts with a proper return. Often the honest answer is a mini-split — dedicated, efficient, its own thermostat.
Electrical
A garage has a couple of GFCI outlets, an opener, maybe a laundry circuit. Living space needs receptacles at code spacing, proper lighting and switching, often a dedicated circuit. In 80s and 90s homes the panel is usually full, so we add a sub-panel or upgrade the service.
Parking and zoning
Some jurisdictions require a minimum number of off-street parking spaces per home, and converting the garage can affect whether you still meet it. Usually the driveway satisfies it, but the rules differ between Lake Mary, Sanford, Winter Springs, unincorporated county and Orlando.
Your HOA gets a vote too
Plenty of associations restrict changes to the front elevation — and the garage door is the front elevation. Some prohibit it, some require architectural review, some approve it if the street side keeps a door-like look. Better to know in week one than after framing.
The part that matters at resale
Permitted, conditioned, and finished to the standard of the rest of the house, a converted garage can be counted as gross living area by an appraiser. Unpermitted, it's the opposite: a lender can balk, a buyer can demand it be restored, the county can require an after-the-fact permit on work behind drywall. One path adds value. The other adds a liability with a closing date.
How long it takes
Plan on four to eight weeks on site, plus two to six weeks up front for plans, HOA approval and permitting. What drives the variance: how much the floor has to come up, how the door opening gets closed in, whether we're cutting block for egress, whether the room needs plumbing. HOA review moves more start dates than anything else.
What it costs — ranges, not quotes
Every garage is different. These are ranges for permitted work with licensed trades — not a quote:
- One-car, simple room — office or gym; floor leveled, insulated, mini-split, no plumbing: often $25,000–$45,000.
- Two-car conversion — bedroom with closet and egress window, door opening closed in to match, full electrical: commonly $45,000–$80,000.
- Suite — add a full bathroom or a kitchenette for an in-law setup: $80,000 and up, mostly because of plumbing.
Biggest movers: plumbing, the floor build-up, closing in the door opening, the HVAC approach, and the panel. It still comes in well under a home addition the same size, because the slab, walls and roof already exist.
One clear number, and permits are my problem
You get one written proposal with one price. Labor and construction are fixed; finishes sit in a written allowance, itemized. Change your mind on flooring or a window and we handle it with a written change order. The labor stays the same.
We pull every permit this project requires and handle all inspections from start to finish. As a licensed Florida General Contractor (CGC#1540583), that's part of our job, not an add-on or an upsell.
We build. You live your life.
The good news about a garage: we work with the door closed and the house sealed off, so daily life barely changes. Your house stays your house, even mid-project.
Conversions often pair with other work — a bathroom for the new suite, built-in cabinetry, or a whole-home remodel under one permit. Finished projects are in our gallery, plus more on remodeling in Lake Mary and Heathrow.
Things people ask before hiring us
Do I really need a permit to convert my garage?
Yes. You're changing unconditioned space into living space, which changes how it's classified, and it involves electrical, mechanical and structural work. We pull it and handle the inspections.
Will it count as living space when I sell?
If it's permitted, conditioned, and finished to the standard of the rest of the house, an appraiser can include it in the square footage. Unpermitted, it usually gets excluded and becomes a negotiation item at closing.
Can I keep the garage door so the house still looks normal?
Sometimes. Some homeowners keep the door in place and build the insulated wall behind it, which satisfies HOAs that care about the street view. Others close it in with matching stucco and windows. The association usually decides.
Can my air conditioner handle the extra room?
Maybe — we check instead of guessing. If the load calculation shows headroom, we extend ductwork with a proper return. If not, a mini-split is the honest answer: dedicated, efficient, and it doesn't make the rest of the house worse.
Can it be a legal bedroom?
Usually, but it needs an egress window meeting minimum opening size and sill height, plus a closet if you want an appraiser to count it. That means cutting block and setting a header, so we price it separately.
What happens to my washer, dryer and water heater?
They either stay in a framed utility closet with proper venting and drainage, or they move. Moving them means plumbing and possibly gas work, so it's one of the bigger swing items. We'll lay out both.
Will my HOA let me do this?
Depends on the association. Many restrict changes to the front elevation. We get you through architectural review before designing something they'd reject. If they say no to closing in the door, there's usually a version that gets approved.
My garage was converted before I bought the house, without a permit. What now?
Common, and fixable. We look at what's there, figure out what has to be opened up to be inspected, and pursue an after-the-fact permit so it's legal on paper. Sometimes it's minor. Sometimes the floor or insulation gets redone. Either way you get a straight answer.
From handshake to housewarming
If you've been looking at that garage thinking there's a room in there, you're right. Let's look at the floor level, the wall, the panel and the HOA rules, and see what it really takes. One clear number, no pressure.
Same house. Different life.
Talk to the owner, not a call center.
Kaplan Remodeling & Construction · Licensed Florida General Contractor CGC#1540583 · Lake Mary, FL