Rear additions, two-story wings, primary suites, and second-story work for Montclair’s 1880s to 1930s homes. Designed to the lot, sequenced through the town, built lead-safe.
Temprano Construction is a licensed and insured New Jersey general contractor building custom home additions throughout Montclair: rear additions, two-story rear wings, primary suites, second-story additions, and porch and mudroom additions on the township’s Queen Anne, Shingle-style, Foursquare, Tudor, and Colonial Revival houses. Ray Temprano leads every project personally, from the first walk-through through the final inspection, and our shop is four miles away in Belleville.
An addition in Montclair has three things to get right before the floor plan means anything: what the lot will allow, whether the Historic Preservation Commission has to see the drawings first, and how a pre-1978 house gets opened up without spreading lead dust through the rooms you still live in. We settle all three before we write the proposal, so the number you sign is the number you signed up for.
For the statewide picture, start with our home additions in New Jersey page. Parent hub: General Contractor in Montclair, NJ.
Every one of these starts with the walk-through. The lot, the zone, and the landmark map decide which type makes sense before anyone sketches.
The most common Montclair addition, because the lots run deep and the original kitchens sit at the back of the house. A family room, expanded kitchen, and mudroom off the rear, tied into the existing roofline so it reads as part of the house. On a landmark-district property, a rear addition is often the least visible from the street, which matters at the Commission.
Living space below, a primary suite or two bedrooms above, built as one structure off the back of a Foursquare or Colonial Revival. It’s the way to add real square footage on a narrow lot without touching the side setbacks, and it’s the addition type that most rewards getting the eave line and window proportions right.
A true primary bedroom, bath, and closet built as one coordinated scope: structure, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and finishes. In a 1900s house this is usually the answer to a second floor that has four small bedrooms and one bath. We route new plumbing and a new HVAC zone without tearing up the original rooms you’re keeping.
Building up when a side or rear setback stops you from building out. On a 120-year-old house this needs a full structural assessment first: full-dimension framing, sometimes balloon framing, and a foundation that was never designed for the load. See our add-a-level vs. rear addition guide and what to look for in a second-story contractor.
Montclair porches are original, load-bearing, and often rotting from the inside where you can’t see it. Rebuilding one, enclosing one, or adding a side mudroom is exterior work visible from the street, so on a landmark-district house it goes to the Commission. We handle the structure, the millwork match, and the application.
If the addition gets a full foundation anyway, finishing the space under it and connecting it to the existing basement is the cheapest square footage in the project. On the hill we deal with water first, then egress, insulation, and ceiling height. See how to finish a basement in NJ.
Before the floor plan
Most Montclair lots were laid out for streetcar-era commuters: 50 to 75 feet wide, 150 feet or more deep, with the house pushed toward the street. That shape does two things to an addition.
It sends you backward. Side yards are already at or near the setback on a lot of these houses, so there’s no room to grow sideways. The depth is where the square footage is, which is why rear additions and two-story rear wings are the bread and butter here. What limits them is lot coverage and impervious cover, and both vary by zone. We pull the zoning table on the first visit so you know the buildable envelope before you pay for drawings.
It puts you on a hill. Montclair climbs First Mountain from east to west, and a lot of backyards fall away from the house or rise toward it. A rear addition on grade like that needs a stepped or deeper foundation, retaining where the cut is, and drainage that carries water around the new footprint instead of into the old stone basement. Get that wrong and the addition is dry and the original house isn’t.
None of this is exotic. It’s the normal condition of building in Montclair. The only question is whether your contractor priced it before you signed or discovered it after excavation.
Montclair has four local landmark districts (Town Center, Upper Montclair, Pine Street, and Watchung Plaza) plus individually designated landmark houses. Inside them, an addition that can be seen from the street needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission before the construction permit is issued. The Commission hears applications once a month.
That changes the order of operations, not the outcome. Three things we do differently on a district house:
Outside the districts, none of this applies and the project goes straight to the Township’s construction permit. Either way, you know which path you’re on before the architect starts.
What often gets built alongside a Montclair addition. Once the back of the house is open and the crew is on-site, adjacent work costs less and finishes cleaner than sequencing separate contractors months later: the kitchen the addition opens into, a second-floor bath, window replacement, roofing, siding, and electrical service upgrades on a panel that was never sized for a bigger house. We scope it together and present it in one itemized proposal so you can decide with real numbers.
Why choose us in Montclair?
An addition on a 1900s house is judged by the tie-in: rooflines, eave depth, trim profiles, and how the new siding meets the old. Ray is second-generation construction with 40+ years of combined family experience in Northern New Jersey.
You hear about scope, schedule, and cost from Ray directly, before anything changes. When we find something behind the plaster, you know that day, with a number and a recommendation.
Structure, materials, and workmanship built to the standard a Montclair home is worth. The original house has stood for 120 years; the addition should be able to say the same.
NJ Home Improvement Contractor #13VH11462700. EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm NAT-F321755-1 and Ray’s individual Lead Renovator certification, both valid through 2031 (for purposes of Section 402 of TSCA). 5.0 stars on Google across 20+ project locations in 6+ counties.
| Scope | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Rear addition | $200–$400 / sq ft |
| Two-story rear wing | $200–$400 / sq ft |
| Primary suite addition | $200–$400 / sq ft (typically higher with a full bath) |
| Second-story / add-a-level | $200–$400 / sq ft |
| Older-house contingency | 10–15% of construction |
| Stepped foundation, retaining, drainage | Priced in the proposal |
| Historic-district exterior detailing | Priced in the proposal |
Most custom home additions in Montclair run $200 to $400 per square foot, depending on scope, materials, and addition type. A 500 sq ft rear family room addition might run $100,000 to $200,000; a two-story rear wing with a primary suite typically runs more. Older-house structure and, in the districts, exterior detailing that has to match the original tend to land Montclair projects in the upper half of the range. Plan a 10 to 15 percent contingency for what the plaster is hiding.
Two Montclair-specific costs sit outside the per-square-foot number: foundation and drainage work on a sloped lot, and the millwork, siding, and window detailing a landmark-district addition needs to pass review and look right. We price both in the proposal rather than carrying them as unknowns. Every Temprano estimate is free and itemized.
Additions at this scale are usually funded through a HELOC or a construction loan. We don’t offer in-house financing, but we work regularly with homeowners coordinating bank timing against the permit and hearing schedule. Full breakdown by addition type: NJ home addition cost guide. Weighing it against a move: addition vs. moving in New Jersey.
Client reviews
“Ray put a new front porch on my house and did amazing work. The old posts had been rotting from the inside and you couldn’t really tell. He fixed what could have been a bad situation and created a new, safe, structurally sound entrance to my tenant’s unit. Great work!”Peter Vander Valk
“Ray and Omar are amazing! Excellent job start to finish. I had a long list and a rush. It was accomplished on time. Call Temprano Construction you will not be disappointed.”Nancy Hill Chapman
“Working with Temprano couldn’t have gone any smoother. High quality work in a timely fashion, from initial estimate to completion everything was perfect!”Michael Maloney
Usually, yes. Montclair lots are typically 50 to 75 feet wide and 150 feet or more deep, which is why rear additions and two-story rear wings are the most common addition types here. What limits them is lot coverage and impervious cover, which vary by zone. We pull the zoning table on the first visit so you know the buildable envelope before you pay for drawings.
Only if your house is in one of the four local landmark districts (Town Center, Upper Montclair, Pine Street, Watchung Plaza) or is an individually designated landmark, and the addition can be seen from the street. Then it needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before the construction permit is issued, and the Commission hears applications once a month. We confirm your status on the first visit and work the schedule backward from the hearing date. Details: Montclair Historic Preservation Commission.
Three things. It has no plans, so we open small exploratory sections before pricing structural work. It almost certainly has lead paint, so the tie-in demolition happens behind EPA lead-safe containment. And matching the original eave, trim, and window proportions is what makes the addition look like it was always there. All three are in the proposal, not in a change order.
It can add foundation, retaining, and drainage cost, and it’s worth knowing how much before you design. Montclair sits on First Mountain, so a lot of rear yards fall away from or rise toward the house. We assess grade on the walk-through and price the foundation approach in the proposal rather than discovering it at excavation.
Most run $200 to $400 per square foot in construction cost, with older-house structure and historic-district exterior detailing landing Montclair projects in the upper half of that range. A 500 sq ft rear addition might run $100,000 to $200,000; a two-story wing with a primary suite typically runs more. Plan a 10 to 15 percent contingency. Full breakdown: NJ home addition cost guide.
On most Montclair lots, out: the depth is there and the side setbacks aren’t. Building up makes sense when lot coverage is maxed or a rear setback stops you, and it requires a full structural assessment of a 100-plus-year-old frame and foundation first. We walk both options at the site visit. See our add-a-level vs. rear addition guide.
Yes. Ray is on-site at every key phase and reachable directly mid-project. For how to vet any general contractor, see how to hire a general contractor in Northern New Jersey.
If you’re within an hour of Belleville, we can reach you. Parent hub: General Contractor in Montclair, NJ · Service overview: Home Additions · full coverage map
Free, no-obligation estimates for home additions throughout Montclair and Essex County. Ray walks the house, checks the lot and your landmark-district status, and delivers an itemized proposal with the older-house questions already answered.