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Unilock Home Additions & ADU: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
If you’re planning a home addition or ADU in Fort Lauderdale and already love your Unilock pavers, retaining walls, or patio work, we can match new hardscape to your existing Unilock product line so the addition looks like it was always there. A full home addition in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $45,000 to $130,000, while an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) runs $90,000 to $220,000. Where Unilock comes in: the outdoor spaces, walkways, driveways, and wall systems that tie the new structure to the existing property. Most homeowners call us because they’ve got Unilock pavers installed years ago, the addition is going in, and they can’t find anyone who can source the same Unilock series to extend the hardscape without a visible seam or color mismatch. That’s the part most contractors get wrong – they’ll slap down whatever paver is on sale and call it close enough. It isn’t.
Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale is an independent general contractor, not a Unilock dealer or affiliate. But we source Unilock products directly through authorized distributors, and we’ve done enough additions and ADUs in Fort Lauderdale to know which Unilock lines hold up to salt air, heavy rain, and the summer sun.
Which Unilock Models This Applies To
Unilock makes several paver and wall lines, and the compatibility question matters more than most homeowners expect. The main series you’ll see in Fort Lauderdale include Thornbury, Brussels Block, Courtstone, Mattoni, Richcliff, and U-Cara Multi-Face Wall for retaining and accent walls. Each one has specific dimensional tolerances – Richcliff runs 4-1/2 x 9 inches, Brussels Block runs 3-1/2 x 7-3/4, and Mattoni comes in a 4 x 8 modular face. You can’t mix them across a clean sight line and expect the lines to match.
Here’s the gotcha we see regularly in Fort Lauderdale: a paver installed in 2015 may still be in production but the color lot will not match a new pallet in 2025. Unilock pigments shift slightly between production runs. If you’re extending a patio by 400 square feet next to an existing 600 square feet, you need to pull a sample from the existing install, match it against current stock, and in some cases we’ll do a controlled blend or pull pavers from a low-visibility area and lay new stock there so the transition is invisible. That’s the kind of thing a general contractor who only does additions will miss. Luca Romano has pulled Unilock pavers from under a pergola in Victoria Park and relaid them at the main entry just to keep the color story coherent. It takes a little longer. It looks right.
We also work with Unilock’s EnduraColor and Eco-Promenade lines, which use a finer aggregate face and hold salt and stain resistance better – a real consideration this close to the Atlantic. If your existing pavers are EnduraColor, you want the same manufacturing process in the new section, not a lookalike from another brand.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Unilock Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
The Unilock product itself almost never fails. What fails is the installation beneath it, or the integration between old and new work. Here’s what we see before a project reaches us:
- Edge creep at the old-to-new seam. When an addition’s foundation is poured next to an existing paver patio, the paver base along the seam gets disturbed. You’ll see pavers tilting or sinking within the first year. The cause is almost always an uncompacted base at the transition, not the paver.
- Water pooling against the new foundation. A poorly sloped paver addition sends stormwater toward the new slab instead of away. In Fort Lauderdale’s rainy season, that means efflorescence, algae, and eventually base washout.
- Retaining wall leaning or bulging. U-Cara walls hold up fine when the geogrid is installed correctly. When a contractor skips the grid or backfill drains, the wall rotates outward within 2 to 3 seasons. We’ve corrected several in Shady Banks and Sailboat Bend where the wall looked fine the first year and shifted by the second.
- Color mismatch at the extension line. It’s not a structural failure, but it reads as one. A new section that’s visibly lighter or darker than the original tells every visitor the property was patched, not planned.
- Pavers rocking underfoot near downspouts. Unilock pavers sit on a compacted base. If the base erodes around a downspout discharge, individual pavers start to rock. Early fix is re-setting that area and redirecting the downspout; late fix is a full base repair.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Fort Lauderdale, Unilock paver and wall work tied to a home addition or ADU depends on scope. Extending an existing paver patio 300 to 500 square feet with Unilock product typically runs $3,500 to $11,000 installed, including base prep, sand, edge restraint, and compaction. A new paver driveway in the same Unilock line runs $7,000 to $18,000. If the addition includes Unilock retaining walls or U-Cara feature walls, add roughly $40 to $65 per square foot of wall face, depending on height and drainage requirements.
The full home addition itself is the larger line item. A home addition in Fort Lauderdale runs $45,000 to $130,000 depending on square footage, foundation work, HVAC tie-in, and finish level. An ADU construction project runs $90,000 to $220,000. We give you a written price before any work starts. That price includes the Unilock material, base, labor, permit coordination, and haul-off. What it does not include: change orders we never mentioned. If the number on the invoice is different from the number you approved, that’s on us. It doesn’t happen.
Every project carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right, we make it right – in writing, on every job.
DIY or Call Us?
This is not a DIY part. Unilock installation isn’t dangerous the way high-tension springs or live electrical is, but it’s unforgiving. The base has to be compacted in lifts, the slope has to move water away from your new foundation, and the edge restraint has to be spiked into something structural. Get any of that wrong and the pavers shift within a year. You’ll spend more fixing a bad DIY base than the original install would have cost.
What you can do safely: measure your existing paver area, take photos of the Unilock product up close, and note which direction water flows when it rains. That gives us a head start on matching series and lot. Then call us. Luca and the crew will walk the site, flag any transition issues between old and new, and give you a written number before we touch a shovel. Call (754) 354-7423 to schedule your free estimate.
FAQs
Unilock pavers themselves will outlast the house – 30 to 40 years is realistic in the Fort Lauderdale climate, which is the problem. The base underneath usually fails before the paver. In our coastal humidity and rain, expect the base to need re-compaction or repair within 10 to 15 years. The paver itself will still be fine.
Usually yes. If the issue is a failed base, we pull the affected pavers, fix the base, and reset the same paver. Unilock pavers are modular and designed to be lifted and relaid. If the issue is color lot mismatch, repair is harder – you’ll typically blend or replace a larger section. Call (754) 354-7423 and we’ll tell you which path applies to your situation. Estimates are free.
A paver extension of 300 to 500 square feet typically takes 3 to 5 working days once the addition’s foundation is in place. Retaining wall work adds time depending on height and drainage. The full addition or ADU is a separate schedule – generally 3 to 6 months depending on scope and permitting.
We order Unilock directly from authorized distributors; we don’t warehouse pallets. That means a slight lead time, but it also means you’re getting current production with a matched color lot, not a sun-faded pallet that’s been sitting in a yard for years. We’ll pull your sample, order the match, and confirm the lot before installation. Call (754) 354-7423 to get started with a free estimate.
Written by Luca Romano, Owner & Lead Contractor, Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale at Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
