Second Story Addition in Cary, NC
Twice the house, on the same lot.
NC License #100043 · Fully Insured · Building in the Triangle Since 2021
Twice the house, on the same lot.
NC License #100043 · Fully Insured · Building in the Triangle Since 2021
You like where you live. The schools, the neighbors, the ten-minute drive that would become forty somewhere else. What you do not like is that the house has four rooms and five people in it, and the lot has nowhere left to go.
A second story keeps the yard and the address. Bedrooms upstairs, the main floor back to being the main floor, and a house that finally fits.
Full second story. A new floor across the entire footprint. The biggest change you can make to a house without moving.
Partial second story. A floor over one section, often the back half or over an existing garage. Less structural work and a smaller number.
Over the garage. Uses a footprint you already have. See garage additions if the bays are part of the project too.
Bedrooms and a suite. Most second stories become sleeping space. If that includes a primary bedroom with its own bath, see master suite additions. If it is a bedroom and nothing more, a room addition may be the simpler build.
The house has to be able to hold it. An engineer checks the foundation and the walls below before anything gets drawn, because carrying a roof and carrying a floor are different loads.
The roof comes off. That is the part nobody pictures, and it is why weather timing and temporary protection get planned before the first day.
Stairs cost you a room. A staircase takes floor area out of the level below, and where it lands changes the main floor as much as the new floor changes the house.
Plumbing and ductwork have to reach the second level, which usually means opening walls downstairs.
Full costs more than partial, because a full second story means the whole roof and the whole footprint.
What the engineer finds sets the rest. Foundation work or reinforced walls below change the number, and you find that out at the start.
Where the stairs go matters more than people expect, since it can mean reworking rooms on the floor you were not planning to touch.
The estimate breaks out every line before we start.
Abdallah Atieh • Founder
Abdallah Atieh founded AG-CM in 2021 and runs each project himself, coordinating a small group of trusted trade partner companies for framing, electrical, HVAC, painting, and cabinetry.
AG Construction Management holds North Carolina General Contractor License #100043 and carries insurance through Builders Mutual. We are members of NCHBA, the HBA of Raleigh-Wake County, and NAHB.
Older Triangle neighborhoods are where this comes up most, on lots that were generous with trees and stingy with square footage.
Second story addition contractors have to know what each city allows overhead, and we build in all seven.
The house you already love, with room for everyone in it.