Terms

These terms cover the use of this website and the referral service it provides. Please read them before you send a request.

What this site is, and what it is not

This site is a referral service. It takes requests from people across Tampa Bay who want to add living space for a parent, a grandparent or their own later years, whether an in-law suite joined to the house, a ground-floor bedroom and bath, a detached backyard cottage or a garage conversion, and it connects them with independent local contractors who do that work.

We are not a contractor, a designer, an architect, an engineer, a surveyor or a tax adviser. Florida law treats anyone who, for compensation, undertakes, bids on or carries out the construction of an addition for someone else as a contractor, and forbids anyone to offer that service without a state registration or certification. We hold no such license and offer no such service. We do not design, bid, price, contract, build, supervise or inspect any work, we do not apply for permits, variances or zoning approvals, and we do not warrant any outcome.

The contractors we introduce

The contractors we introduce are independent businesses. They are not our employees or agents, and they contract with you directly. Where this site says licensed and insured, it means the license and the insurance the work requires, held by the business that carries it out, not by us. Florida requires a contractor's registration or certification number to appear on every bid, proposal, contract and advertisement it uses, and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation publishes a license search at myfloridalicense.com. Check the number yourself before you sign anything.

Prices and contracts

Nothing on this site and nothing we tell you is a quotation, a bid or an offer to do work. The price is the one the contractor gives you, and the agreement for the work is between you and them. Florida law gives you some protections in that agreement that are worth knowing: a residential contract over $2,500 must include a written notice about the Florida Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund, a direct contract over $2,500 for a one to four family home must carry a construction lien law notice, and a contractor who takes more than 10 percent of the price as an initial payment must apply for permits within 30 days and begin work within 90 days after they are issued, unless you agree otherwise in writing. If you choose to act as your own builder under the owner-builder exemption, you must supervise the work yourself, and selling or leasing the structure within a year of completion is presumed to mean it was built for sale or lease.

Zoning, kitchens and permits

Whether a suite, a cottage or a conversion is allowed on your lot, how large it may be, whether it may have its own kitchen, who may live in it and whether it may ever be rented are decided by your city or county, and sometimes further limited by a homeowners' association or deed restrictions. We tell you which rules are likely to apply so the right questions are asked early. That is general guidance to help you plan, not a determination. The building and zoning departments for the property, and any association that governs it, decide what the work requires.

Flood rules

In a flood zone, an addition whose cost reaches the substantial improvement threshold can require the whole house to be brought up to current flood requirements, which can include elevation. The threshold is 50 percent of the structure's value in most of the area and 49 percent in unincorporated Pinellas County and in St. Petersburg, and how cost and value are measured, and over what period, is set by the local building department. Any figure we mention is to help you plan and is not a determination of how your project will be treated.

Property tax

New space is assessed at full value from the first January 1 after it is substantially completed. Some counties offer a reduction for living quarters built for a parent or grandparent aged 62 or older, and the rules and the area it covers differ from county to county. Nothing on this site is tax advice, and nothing we say is a statement that any reduction will be granted. The county property appraiser decides. The application must be filed before March 1, and Florida law provides for back taxes, a penalty and interest where the reduction is found to have been taken without entitlement, so read the appraiser's requirements yourself before relying on it.

Not medical or care advice

This site talks about space, not health. Nothing on it is medical, therapy or care advice, and nothing on it is a statement that any design will prevent an injury or meet anyone's medical needs. If the person the space is for needs care, the people responsible for that care are the right ones to say what the space should include.

The information on these pages

The regulatory, tax, flood and housing statements on this site carry a visible source and the date it was checked. They are published as general information to help you work out what to ask next. They are not a substitute for the building department, the property appraiser, a licensed contractor, or legal or tax advice. Codes are amended and sources move, so where a statement matters to a decision you are about to make, follow the link and read it yourself.

Limits of our responsibility

We are responsible for making the introduction and for handling your details as the Privacy Policy describes. Responsibility for the design, the price, the standard of the work, the timetable, permits and inspections, zoning and flood compliance, and anything that goes wrong in the course of the job rests with the businesses that carried it out and with the agreement you made with them. Where the law allows a limit to be set, our liability in connection with this site and with any introduction made through it is limited to the amount we received in connection with your request.

Acceptable use

Send requests only for a property you own, occupy or are acting for with the owner's knowledge, and only with contact details that are real. Do not use the form for commercial solicitations. We may decline to pass a request on.

Governing law

These terms, and any dispute arising out of them or out of the use of this site, are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, and the courts of Florida have jurisdiction.

Changes

These terms may be updated. The version published on this page is the one that applies.