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Wellborn Home Additions & ADU: The San Antonio Owner’s Guide
Wellborn home additions and ADU projects in San Antonio typically run $45,000 to $130,000 for a completed addition, and $90,000 to $220,000 for a full accessory dwelling unit with site work, foundation, and finishes. We plan, permit, and build these projects from first stake to final walkthrough, and we carry Wellborn cabinetry for kitchens, baths, and built-ins inside the new square footage. Most San Antonio owners call us after realizing the addition they want is two projects in one: the structure itself, and the finished interior that makes it livable. We price both in writing before any work starts.
This page is for homeowners who already know they want Wellborn cabinets and finishes in a new or expanded space. You’ll find what the process costs, what drives the number up or down on a San Antonio lot, and how we handle the build from foundation to cabinet hardware. If you’ve got spec books spread across the kitchen table and a HOA packet in the mail pile, this is the page that tells you what actually happens next.
Which Wellborn Models This Applies To
Wellborn builds three cabinet lines that matter for additions and ADUs in San Antonio: Select (framed, value-driven, solid for rental ADUs), Semi-Custom (framed or frameless, most of what we order for kitchens and built-ins), and Estate (full custom, inset options, furniture-grade finishes). Each line changes the installed price per linear foot, the lead time, and how the cabinet boxes handle San Antonio’s humidity swings. The cabinet tag inside the drawer box tells you the line, color code, and door profile. If the tag is gone, the hinge style and drawer construction usually identify the series fast.
A compatibility point most owners don’t know: Wellborn’s frameless Semi-Custom boxes run in 3-inch width increments, while the framed Select line runs in standard 3-inch and some 6-inch increments. That matters when you’re matching existing cabinets in a partial addition, or building a new island that needs to align with a wall run. We’ve also mixed Wellborn boxes with Cambria and Silestone tops on dozens of San Antonio additions, so countertop overhang specs and cabinet depth get coordinated before the order is placed, not after. Aftermarket cabinet hardware and soft-close retrofit kits work fine on Wellborn boxes, but we recommend OEM drawer slides and hinges for the Estate line, where tolerances are tighter.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Wellborn Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
Additions fail differently than cabinet boxes, but the warning signs are consistent across San Antonio’s clay-heavy soil and summer heat:
- Doors that stick or rub months after the addition is built. The foundation has shifted, or the framing dried and settled unevenly. Wellborn cabinet door alignment inside the addition usually follows the same shift, pushing cabinet reveals out of plane.
- Hairline cracks at the corner where the new roofline meets the existing house. The tie-in is a common failure point in San Antonio when the addition’s foundation was poured on expansive clay and the original slab was not. The crack is telling you movement is happening.
- Humidity or a musty smell inside the addition every summer. The HVAC duct run wasn’t sized for the new conditioned square feet, or the wall insulation was compressed during install. San Antonio’s August dew point finds a weak envelope fast.
- Cabinet doors inside the addition that warp or finish that hazes over. Moisture is entering somewhere, or exhaust ventilation is weak. Wellborn finishes hold up well, but they can’t fight standing humidity indefinitely.
- Floors that slope or bounce near the addition’s exterior wall. Floor joists were undersized for the span, or the pier spacing was too wide. This is structural, and it won’t fix itself.
None of these are cosmetic problems. Each one has a root cause, and leaving it unaddressed means the next repair bill is bigger than the first one.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For San Antonio pricing on this scope of work, a home addition runs $45,000 to $130,000, and an ADU runs $90,000 to $220,000. The line items that swing you toward the top of the range: site prep on a slope, pier-and-beam foundation work, upgraded HVAC, Wellborn Estate cabinetry with stone tops, and any electrical service upgrade. A straightforward room addition with Wellborn built-in storage in the entry and a clean bath build sits near the middle of the range.
Every price we deliver is written, line-itemed, and fixed before the first tool is unpacked. That means the number on the estimate is the number on the final invoice, unless you change the scope mid-project, in which case we price the change in writing before we proceed. No verbal estimates, no surprise line items at closeout. Our 365-Day Done Right Promise covers the addition and every cabinet, fixture, and finish inside it for a full year from completion. If something isn’t right, we come back and make it right at no cost.
DIY or Call Us?
If you’re swapping cabinet pulls, adjusting a Wellborn hinge, or touching up finish on a door edge, that’s homeowner work. If you’re dealing with foundation movement, roof tie-ins, load-bearing wall removal, electrical runs, or any framing decision, that’s a call to us. The dangerous part of an addition is rarely the cabinet box. It’s the structural and mechanical work that surrounds it. Undersized beams, wrong header spans, and improper tie-downs fail slowly and expensively, and San Antonio’s soil and heat don’t forgive shortcuts.
We’d rather walk your lot, look at your existing slab, and tell you what’s actually needed before you spend money on plans. Call (254) 269-5071 and we’ll schedule a time that works. Isaac Pruett usually walks most San Antonio site visits personally, and he’ll tell you straight what the property can and can’t support.
FAQs
A properly built San Antonio addition should last 40 to 60 years before major structural work, assuming foundation soil was handled correctly at the start. Wellborn cabinets inside that addition typically last 20 to 30 years with normal use, with hinges and drawer slides being the first replaceable components. Call (254) 269-5071 for a free site evaluation if your existing addition is showing its age.
Some failures can be repaired: foundation piers can be added, roof framing can be sistered, and tie-in flashing can be redone. But when a San Antonio addition was built on uncompacted fill or with undersized framing throughout, a full teardown and rebuild in place is often cheaper than chasing individual failures for years. We’ll always present the repair option first when it makes sense, and we’ll tell you when it doesn’t.
Plan on 4 to 8 months from permit application to final walkthrough for a typical single-room addition, and 6 to 12 months for a full ADU, depending on site conditions and plan review timelines. Wellborn cabinet lead times add 6 to 10 weeks, which we order early in the build to keep the schedule moving. Call (254) 269-5071 and we’ll give you a realistic timeline for your specific project.
We stock common Wellborn replacement hardware on the truck: hinges, drawer slides, shelf pins, and touch-up kits for most active finishes. Full cabinet boxes and door fronts are ordered directly from Wellborn with the standard lead time, so we can’t pull a full replacement cabinet same-day. If you need one door or drawer front matched to an existing run, call (254) 269-5071 and we’ll spec it from the cabinet tag.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co San Antonio at Mason Remodeling Co San Antonio, serving San Antonio and nearby areas.
