A garage is the cheapest structure you will ever build and the suite above it is the cheapest bedroom. Put them together and one slab, one roof and one set of services do the work of two buildings — which is why this has quietly become the most requested thing on our board. It is still a dwelling, though: separation, egress, services and zoning all apply, and they are decided before the massing is.
Before the finishes
Nobody goes looking for a contractor in the abstract. These are the three things we hear first, and what we do about each of them.
Allowance for attached living quarters, height, setbacks, easements and parking, in writing before design.
A side-loaded or angled bay needs room to turn into. We study the geometry against your existing drive.
A suite over a garage adds both. We establish what the lot has left before the massing is drawn.
Doors turned off the street wherever the lot allows it, with the approach designed rather than left over.
A wing wall, a planting bed or a change of plane, so the bay is not the first thing you see.
Door style, hardware and lighting specified to match the house rather than the catalogue.
Between garage, residence and the dwelling above — assemblies drawn, not assumed.
The floor system detailed so a car door at eleven at night does not wake the room above it.
Stair geometry, guards, bedroom egress, smoke and CO, plus whether the existing panel can carry a second kitchen.
Three ways to do it
A suite over the garage, a suite beside it, or a motor court with no suite at all — the same trades, three different buildings. The photographs are references for a treatment rather than our own projects; bring us the one you keep coming back to.
Our process
Six stages, in order, with what you get at the end of each one. Nothing here starts until the stage before it is finished and signed off — which is the whole reason the schedule holds.
Zoning and HOA allowance for attached guest living quarters, building height, setbacks, easements, parking and the geometry of the motor court. Some of these are yes-or-no and worth knowing on day one.
A written answer on whether the suite is permitted, and how big.
Garage doors facing the street is the fastest way to make a good house look like a storage unit. We study a side-loaded, angled or screened orientation against the existing drive, and how the new massing reads from the kerb.
A site plan and massing you have chosen between, not been handed.
Garage level and upper level drawn together: bay width and depth, the stair, and above it the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living-dining area. The stair is usually what decides the footprint.
A complete plan set for both floors.
Foundations, framing, the floor system over the bays, the roof tie-in to the house, lateral resistance, drainage and any retaining or grading. Then the fire separation between garage, residence and the dwelling above, with the sound control and waterproofing that go with it.
Engineered drawings, stamped where the structure requires it.
Stair geometry and guards, bedroom egress, smoke and CO protection, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, kitchen exhaust and whether the existing service has the capacity for another dwelling on it.
A permit-ready set with the life-safety items resolved.
Stucco, stone, roof, trim and fascia and the carriage-door style all specified against the main house rather than approximated. Field verification of the attachment points before the exterior is closed.
A garage suite that reads as original to the house.
What’s included
Need inspiration?
Bring us the pictures you keep coming back to and our designers take it from there — working from the exterior style of the house, its proportions, its era and its materials, so every room reads as part of the same building rather than a set of separate good ideas.
One vision, carried through, inside and out. The image here is a reference for a treatment, not a photograph of one of our own projects.
Talk to a designer →What it takes
Every job is priced from its own drawings, so what follows is scope rather than a menu: what falls inside each level, in the order the decisions actually get made. The same three names run through our finish levels below, because the two questions — how much work, and to what standard — are answered together.
Priced at design
Priced at design
Priced at design
Same Queen Boss craftsmanship at every level. Scope and finish are what move the number, never quality of workmanship — and you get an exact figure for your own project after the walk-through and the drawings, not before.
Define the finish
Two rooms of exactly the same size can cost dramatically different amounts, and the difference is selections. Cabinetry, countertops, tile, fixtures, lighting, appliances, doors, trim and hardware all move the number. These three tiers give us a shared language, so when you say “a $50,000 kitchen” we can talk immediately about what that realistically includes.
A clean, well-built home using quality builder-grade materials — the right choice when maximising budget toward square footage and structure matters most.
Upgraded materials and brands throughout that elevate everyday livability and long-term durability — without moving into full custom pricing.
A full custom finish package with premium brands, natural materials, and designer detailing — built for clients who want the home to be a showpiece.
Per square foot, finishes only — excludes land, site work and structural. Same Queen Boss craftsmanship at every tier: the difference is customisation and material investment, never quality of workmanship.
Pre-construction investment
| Pre-construction stage | Scope | Investment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Design & Architectural | Complete plan set: layouts, selections, construction drawings & renderings | $2,000 – $4,000 |
| 2 — Structural Engineering | Site evaluation, calculations & engineer’s stamp (if required) | $2,000 – $4,000 |
| 3 — City Permit | Plan submission & city stamp · permit fees billed at cost | At cost |
| Total pre-construction | Final range confirmed once scope & areas are set | $2,000 – $8,000+ |
Design, engineering and permit are priced separately from the build, so you can stop at any stage with a set of drawings you own outright.
Financing
A renovation is usually worth more than the house was before it. RenoFi is built on that: their lending partners underwrite against your home’s after-renovation value rather than what it is worth today, which is why the number they can reach is so often larger than a standard home-equity offer.
RenoFi is not a lender; it works with lending partners who make the loans. Queen Boss Construction is not a lender or a broker, does not arrange credit and takes no part in the application or the decision — we point you at them because clients keep asking who to talk to. All terms, rates and eligibility are between you and the lender.
What moves the number
We do not publish prices, because a price quoted before the drawings exist is a number that changes. These are the four things that decide it, so you know what you are choosing between.
Attached shares a wall, a roofline and sometimes a service run, and brings a fire-separation requirement with it. Detached avoids the separation and adds a foundation, a roof and a trench.
An exterior stair is cheaper and eats no floor area; an interior one is better in February and costs you a bay. It is the single decision that moves this plan most.
A second kitchen, a second bathroom and a second HVAC zone on a panel sized for one house. Sometimes it is a subpanel; sometimes it is a service upgrade.
Stone that matches, stucco that matches and a roof that matches cost more than the nearest available equivalent. It is also the whole difference between an addition and an outbuilding.
In their words
Robert is a great communicator and we love working with him and his team.
Adam Peter S.They are always professional and strive to provide exemplary customer service.
Shannon L.Common questions
That is a zoning and, often, an HOA question rather than a building one, and the answer changes by jurisdiction and sometimes by whether you occupy the main house. We check it before design, because it can change the design.
A separate private entry is the point of it — guests, family or a tenant coming and going without walking through your house. It also usually simplifies the egress and separation requirements.
Usually, and usually they should. Side-loaded or angled bays need more motor court to turn into, so it becomes a question of what the lot and the setbacks will give you.
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A conversation and a walk through the rooms you are thinking about — no charge, and no obligation at the end of it.
