Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Cambria Home Additions & ADU: The San Antonio Owner’s Guide
Cambria quartz surfaces in home additions and ADUs across San Antonio typically run $45,000 to $130,000 installed, depending on square footage, layout complexity, and how much of the Cambria product line you’re incorporating. Most homeowners in Alamo Heights, Stone Oak, and the King William Historic District discover they need this work when their current living space no longer fits how their family actually lives: a kitchen that can’t handle two cooks, a bathroom that doesn’t serve an aging parent, or an aging parent who needs a dedicated ADU with its own Cambria countertops and full bath. We stock Cambria-compatible slab remnants and full sheets, and our crew installs them as part of the larger addition or ADU build, not as a separate afterthought.
What families usually tell us first: the countertop in their new addition space is the thing they think about the most. Cambria is a specific choice because it’s nonporous, doesn’t need sealing, and holds up to juice spills and dog paws without staining. But the Cambria part of a home addition or ADU is only as good as the substrate and the install. That’s where we come in.
Key Takeaways
- Cambria-compatible home additions and ADUs in San Antonio run $45,000 – $130,000 installed.
- Written price before any work starts. Always. No change orders after demo day.
- Cambria is nonporous and never needs sealing, which matters in San Antonio’s hard-water climate.
- We’re an independent contractor, not affiliated with Cambria, but we install their product line daily and its warranty travels with the finished surface.
Which Cambria Models This Applies To
Cambria doesn’t sell through big-box stores, so if you’re seeing Cambria in a showroom, it’s coming through a licensed fabricator or a contractor like us. The full Cambria collection, over 150 designs across the Marble, Quartz, and Classic series, installs the same way in an addition or ADU: 2cm or 3cm slabs on a level, reinforced substrate. The gotcha for San Antonio homeowners is thickness selection. In a freestanding ADU with a long island run, 3cm Cambria can span wider without additional support. In a tighter addition where you’re matching an existing 2cm profile, we spec plywood underlayment and backer rod seams so the new surface sits flush with the old.
For OEM versus aftermarket, Cambria itself is the slab; there’s no aftermarket equivalent to a Cambria design. What does vary is the fabrication and the install. A Cambria-certified fabricator matters because Cambria’s warranty, which covers manufacturing defects for the life of the surface, assumes proper fabrication and install. We work with a local San Antonio Cambria-certified fabricator on every job, so the warranty stays intact. Independent contractor note: Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio is not affiliated with Cambria, but we’ve been specifying and installing their product in additions, kitchens, and ADUs across San Antonio for years.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Cambria Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Seam separation or a visible glue line. In San Antonio’s heat, substrate movement is real. If the slab shifts and the seam opens, moisture gets under the Cambria and the seam becomes a crack waiting to happen. This usually means the original install didn’t allow for expansion or the substrate wasn’t level.
- Chipping at the overhang or sink cutout. Cambria is tough, but a dropped cast-iron pan on an unsupported overhang can chip it. If your overhang runs more than 10 inches without corbels or steel supports, that’s the failure point.
- A dull, hazy surface that won’t polish back. Cambria is nonporous, but hard-water minerals from San Antonio’s limestone aquifer can leave a film. If standard quartz cleaner doesn’t restore the sheen, the surface may have been improperly polished at fabrication.
- Countertop pulling away from the wall or cabinet run. This is a substrate issue, not a Cambria issue. The plywood or cement board underneath warps or settles, and the slab follows. You’ll see a widening gap at the backsplash.
- Water damage at the sink seam. Silicone caulk breaks down over time, especially in a San Antonio kitchen with high humidity. If water sits at the seam between sink and slab, the cabinet below rots and the Cambria edge absorbs nothing, but the support structure fails.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In San Antonio, a full home addition with Cambria surfaces in the kitchen, bath, or ADU kitchenette runs $45,000 to $130,000. The spread comes down to square footage, whether you’re adding a full bath or a powder room, roof tie-in complexity, and the Cambria design you select. Cambria’s price per square foot installed sits higher than entry-level quartz, but you’re paying for a nonporous surface that never needs sealing, a manufacturer warranty that travels with the slab, and a density that resists chips better than most quartz.
Every Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio scope of work includes a written price before any work starts. That means the Cambria slab, fabrication, substrate, install labor, plumbing rough-in if the addition includes a sink, and clean-up. We name the Cambria design, the edge profile, the sink cutout, and the backsplash height in the written scope. If the price changes after demo day, we eat the difference. That’s not a marketing line. That’s Graham Stein’s rule: write it down, price it once, do it right.
The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every completed Cambria addition or ADU. If the seam opens, the slab shifts, or the surface doesn’t hold up the way it should within a year of completion, we make it right. No charge.
DIY or Call Us?
Cambria is not a DIY material. The slabs weigh hundreds of pounds, the fabrication requires water-jet cutting and specific polishing compounds, and a dropped slab destroys the cabinet run below it. We recommend homeowners do two things before calling us: check whether the Cambria seam is opening, and check whether the counters are level with a basic bubble level. Those two observations tell us a lot. Everything else, from substrate prep to seam epoxy to sink cutouts, belongs with a crew that installs Cambria weekly.
If you’re still in the planning stage, call us anyway. We’ll walk the space, measure, and give you a written price before you commit to anything. If you already have Cambria in an existing surface and you’re adding on, we’ll match the design and the edge profile so the new surface reads as part of the original house. Call (432) 233-0976 and ask for Graham. He’ll talk you through what he sees and write the price down before the first tool leaves the truck.
FAQs
Cambria’s manufacturer warranty covers the surface for the life of the home, which is why we specify it in additions and ADUs where owners plan to stay. The real lifespan limiter in San Antonio is the substrate, not the Cambria, and proper install with level, reinforced underlayment keeps the surface intact for decades. Call (432) 233-0976 and we’ll tell you exactly what your existing substrate can support.
Small chips can be filled with color-matched epoxy by a trained fabricator, and seam separations can be re-glued and re-polished. Larger cracks, deep chips at the sink cutout, or substrate failure usually mean replacement. We’ll assess it honestly and tell you which side of the repair-versus-replace line you’re on before you spend a dollar.
Most Cambria-equipped home additions run 8 to 14 weeks from first framing to final clean-up. ADUs run 12 to 20 weeks depending on foundation type and utility tie-ins. We give you a schedule in writing, and we hold to it.
We don’t carry full Cambria slabs on the truck because the design selection is too broad to stock every option. We do keep remnant pieces from past San Antonio jobs and work with a local Cambria-certified fabricator who holds inventory in town. That keeps lead times short, usually 2 to 4 weeks from slab selection to install. Call (432) 233-0976 and we’ll check current availability for the design you want.
Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio is a Cedarwell company serving San Antonio families with kitchens, baths, whole-home remodels, additions, and ADUs. We also work with KraftMaid cabinets, Silestone quartz, and Kohler fixtures when the project calls for it. Shoe covers and drop cloths go down before any tool, pet-safe products are used where there’s a choice, and a photo of the clean-up is included on every job. The written price you sign is the price you pay.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio at Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio, serving San Antonio and nearby areas.
