Can you turn a 3 bedroom house into a duplex?

Lets say a 1 3/4 home completely gutted to studs and rafters, 1540 sqft that used to be a house? I mean its gutted right, so i could rearrange the floor plans. As for the separate electrical and heating, couldn't i just leave that and i pay the utilities? i mean the area is crap anyway but if its for only 30000 grand and i change it to a duplex then the cash flow would be fantastic