Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Cambridge Pavers Home Additions & ADU: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
Adding a home addition or ADU to a Fort Lauderdale property with an existing Cambridge Pavers patio, driveway, or walkway typically runs $45,000 – $130,000 when the paver integration is handled correctly from the first excavation. That’s the installed range we quote most often, and it includes matching the new pavers to your existing Cambridge Pavers color, pattern, and age so the transition doesn’t look patched together. What most owners discover the hard way is this: the pavers themselves rarely fail. What fails is the base underneath, or the edge restraint, or the grading around the new structure. You’ll see it as a sunken tile line, water pooling against the new wall, or a walkway that suddenly tilts toward the addition. We’ll walk through exactly what’s happening, what it costs to fix or build correctly the first time, and when you’re looking at a simple repair versus a full base rebuild.
Here’s the short version if you’re pricing this right now: a Cambridge Pavers home addition or ADU project in Fort Lauderdale is a structural job first and a paver job second. The concrete, framing, plumbing, and electrical carry the load. The pavers carry the curb appeal and the drainage. Skip either one and you’ll pay for it twice.
Key Takeaways
- Price range: $45,000 – $130,000 for a home addition with proper Cambridge Pavers integration; $90,000 – $220,000 for an ADU.
- What actually fails: the base, the edge restraint, and the drainage grading – not usually the paver itself.
- Compatibility matters: Cambridge Pavers run in specific series, sizes, and color lots. Old pavers won’t match new ones perfectly unless someone knows what they’re looking for.
- Do not DIY the structural side: this is concrete, framing, and possibly electrical – a bad build is dangerous and expensive to undo.
- You can inspect safely: check for pooling, sunken lines, and cracked edges before calling. We’ll tell you what those mean.
Which Cambridge Pavers Models This Applies To
Cambridge Pavers manufactures multiple product lines, and not every line behaves the same way under a home addition or ADU build. The two you’ll see most in Fort Lauderdale are the Maytrx and Ledgestone series for patio and walkway surfaces, and the Sherwood and Hollandstone lines for driveways and higher-traffic areas. Here’s the compatibility gotcha most homeowners don’t know: Cambridge Pavers are sized by nominal dimensions, not exact ones. A “6×9” paver isn’t precisely 6 inches by 9 inches. The manufacturing tolerance means older pavers, even from the same series, may sit a few millimeters differently than new ones. If your addition crew pulls up a section and reinstalls it next to new pavers, you’ll feel the height difference with your shoe before you see it with your eye.
Identifying your specific paver takes about two minutes if you know where to look. Flip over a loose or lifted paver. Cambridge stamps most lines with a series code on the underside or along the short edge. If that’s worn off, measure the paver face in inches and note the surface texture – tumbled, smooth, or shot-blasted. Also check the color name. Cambridge uses names like “Onyx,” “Harvest,” and “Riviera,” not just generic gray or tan. That color name matters because different manufacturing batches will never match perfectly after years of Florida sun. We work with multiple Cambridge distributors in the Fort Lauderdale area to source the closest available match. When an exact match isn’t possible, we’re honest about it and give you options: redo a defined section so the slight variation looks intentional, or use a complementary border that makes the transition look designed.
One more note: we are an independent remodeling contractor. We install and integrate Cambridge Pavers, and we also work with other brands like KraftMaid cabinetry and Cambria or Silestone countertops when a project goes beyond the exterior. We’re not a Cambridge corporate entity or an exclusive dealer, and we’ll never pretend to be.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Cambridge Pavers Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Water pooling against the new foundation wall after a rain. This usually means the finished grade wasn’t sloped away from the addition before the pavers went back down. Fort Lauderdale’s rainy season will expose this in the first six months. Left alone, it works water into the slab edge and the base material below the pavers.
- Sunken paver lines near the addition’s edge. If the backfill around the new foundation wasn’t compacted in lifts, it settles. You’ll see a visible dip running parallel to the wall, sometimes two or three inches deep. The pavers are fine; the base under them is gone.
- Edge restraint pulling loose along the walkway. Cambridge paver systems rely on a solid perimeter restraint (plastic, aluminum, or concrete) to keep the pattern locked. When that restraint flexes or fails, the outer rows drift and the gaps open up. You’ll notice it first as a wobbly paver at the edge.
- Interlocking gaps widening over time. Cambridge pavers interlock because of their shape, not glue. If the gaps grow from hairline to the width of a nickel, the base has shifted. That’s a structural problem below the surface, not a cosmetic one on top.
- New pavers next to old pavers looking like two different products. This happens when a crew replaces a damaged section without matching series, size, texture, or color. It’s not a structural failure, but it tanks curb appeal and tells every visitor something was patched, not repaired. Some owners only discover this after the job’s already done.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
In Fort Lauderdale, a full home addition or ADU project that includes Cambridge Pavers site work runs $45,000 – $130,000 depending on square footage, foundation type, roofing, electrical, plumbing, and how much existing pavement needs to come out and go back. If you’re only repaving an existing Cambridge patio or walkway as part of an addition cleanup, that portion typically falls in the $3,500 – $11,000 range for the paver work alone. What drives the top end: second-story additions, ADUs with separate utility connections, hurricane-rated windows and doors, and extensive base rebuilds when the old subgrade wasn’t done right.
Here’s what we put in writing before we start, every time:
- Excavation and base prep: we remove old pavers, dig to the proper depth, and install a compacted stone base. This is the part that determines whether your pavers settle in year one or year fifteen.
- Cambridge Pavers matching and sourcing: we identify your existing series and color, source the closest match from local distributors, and show you the difference before we install anything.
- Installation with edge restraint: proper bedding sand, proper compaction, proper edge locking. No shortcuts.
- Grading and drainage correction: we slope the finished surface away from your new foundation and any structures so Fort Lauderdale rain goes where it should.
- The Relay Visibility Guarantee: live arrival time, photo updates before and after, and a written price before a single tool is picked up.
- 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the paver work isn’t right, we make it right. In writing, on every project.
No change orders at the door. No price surprises at the invoice. The number you approve is the number you pay, unless you ask us to add scope mid-project, and then we’ll agree on that number in writing before we touch it.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterDIY or Call Us?
Here’s the honest split. You can absolutely inspect your Cambridge pavers and diagnose the likely problem. Walk the surface after a rain. Look for pooling, gaps, sagging edges, and mismatched patches. That tells you whether you’re dealing with a cosmetic issue or a base failure. You can also check your paver color and series by flipping one over and looking for the stamp. That gives us a faster head start when you call.
What you should not do yourself is excavate near a new foundation, build a base, or reinstall pavers around a load-bearing wall. The risk isn’t just uneven pavers. You can undermine the foundation backfill, hit a utility line, or create a drainage slope that sends water toward your house instead of away from it. And if the project involves an ADU with its own electrical or plumbing, no homeowner should be opening that wall without a licensed contractor on the hook for the work. Luca Romano is the one who answers our phone, and he’ll tell you the same thing: the work either holds up or it doesn’t – we make sure it does.
If you’re not sure whether you even need a full repair, call (754) 354-7423. We’ll walk through what you’re seeing and tell you straight whether it’s a fix we need to do, a fix you can live with, or something that needs eyes on it before we quote.
FAQs
With a properly compacted base and intact edge restraint, Cambridge Pavers in Fort Lauderdale routinely last 25 – 40 years before the surface needs more than a clean and re-sand. The Florida climate works against the base more than the paver: our heavy rains, sandy soil, and the occasional tropical storm mean a bad base shows up within one to two years, while a good base is a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. Call (754) 354-7423 and we’ll tell you honestly which one you have.
Yes, if the failure is localized. We can lift a section, re-compact the base, and reset the same pavers without buying new material. The catch is that this only works when the original pavers are in good shape and the problem hasn’t spread. If the base has failed across a wide area or the edge restraint is compromised, patching it will look worse in a year. We’ll quote you the honest path, not the cheap one that makes us money twice.
For a typical Fort Lauderdale home addition or ADU, the paver removal, base rebuild, and reinstallation takes three to seven working days depending on square footage, drainage corrections, and whether we’re matching new pavers to old. The full addition or ADU build is a separate timeline we’ll lay out before anything starts. Call (754) 354-7423 for a schedule based on your specific project.
We stock common base materials, bedding sand, edge restraint, and tools on the truck. For Cambridge Pavers themselves, we source from local distributors on a per-project basis so we can match your exact series, size, texture, and color rather than carry a guess. That’s the difference between a transition that looks planned and one that looks patched. Tell us your paver stamp and color name when you call – it speeds everything up.
Get Your Free Estimate in Fort Lauderdale
If your Cambridge Pavers patio, walkway, or driveway is shifting, pooling water, pulling apart, or just looking wrong after an addition, don’t guess. Luca Romano and the Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale crew will come out, inspect the base and the surface, match your pavers, and give you a written price before any work starts. No change orders at the door. No four-hour window. No ghosting between visits. Call (754) 354-7423 to schedule your free estimate, and we’ll tell you exactly what’s wrong, what it costs, and what’s worth doing now versus what can wait.
Written by Luca Romano, Owner & Lead Contractor, Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale at Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
