2020 Cost Guide for a Home Remodel in Miami

The costs to expect for kitchen, bath, whole home, and outdoor remodeling in Miami (plus resale value and permit tips!)

Whether you own a modern beach-side condo, an on-the-bay house, or a bungalow away from it all on a quiet street, the process of doing a remodel in Miami can be enjoyable—with a rewarding outcome. 

A budget is the start of any renovation, and every project is unique: from materials, adding value and lifestyle to your home, and working with the HOA. Sweeten, a free renovation platform that matches homeowners with licensed general contractors and tracks their project, offers this cost guide to remodeling in Miami to provide a jumping-off point to get you on your way. 

Here’s a breakdown of typical starting costs across Miami, Florida, focusing on four categories: kitchen, bathroom, deck additions, and permits compiled from Sweeten general contractors and Remodeling’s Cost vs. Value report:

• Full home renovation: $100 – $250+ per square feet (psf)
  
• Low-end kitchen remodel: starting at $150 psf or $15,000 (based on a 100-sq-ft space)
  
• Mid-range kitchen remodel: $325 psf or $65,000 (based on a 200-sq-ft space)
  
• High-end kitchen remodel:  $650 psf or $130,000 (based on a 200-sq-ft space)
  
• Low-end bathroom remodel: starting at $300 psf
  
• Mid-range bathroom remodel: $570 psf or $20,000 (based on a 35-sq-ft space)
  
• High-end bathroom remodel: $630 psf or $63,000 (based on a 100-sq-ft space)
  
• Basic wood deck addition: $40 psf or $13,000 (based on a 325-sq-ft space)
  
• Concrete patio addition with roof, electrical, plumbing, and a cooking area: $50,000  
  

How much a home remodel in Miami costs per square feet

If you’re renovating a house in the Miami area, expect costs to range from $100 to $250+ psf with $175 psf as the middle range. If you’re aiming for a budget that is in the upper-middle range, Miami-based Sweeten general contractor Adrian said you can expect to pay over $200,000 or about $200 psf. However, several elements affect this, like square footage, the state of the original home, and how expensive your tastes are. “It has all to do with the finishes,” Adrian said. By finishes, he means the elements you can see such as tiles, faucets, and kitchen countertops. With materials, plan to add to the timeline for installation and materials and labor costs. Using higher-end finishes will push your budget upwards by at least $50,000, he said. 

The budget for renovating an apartment can be higher than house renovations. “If you’re doing a house, often you can work on the weekends,” said Adrian. In a condo, there are tight rules about when construction work can and can’t be done. These hours are put in place by the homeowners association (HOA) for each building. Often, this means only working within an eight-hour or so window Monday to Friday. This extends the timeline of a project, thus increasing the budget. HOAs might also charge a condo owner a fee to remodel their apartment. 

Disposing of trash adds to the cost of condo renovations. With a house, a general contractor can park a dumpster out the front. For condo remodels, general contractors will likely hire a separate contractor to come and lug construction trash away. This involves negotiating tight hallways and elevators as well as timeframes given by the HOA.  

How much a kitchen remodel in Miami costs per square foot

• A kitchen renovation in the best value range can come in at as low as $15,000 for something that is around 100 square feet, according to Hancen, a Sweeten general contractor in Miami. To get a new kitchen at this price, it needs to be a rip-and-replace job, meaning a layout of the kitchen must stay the same with pipes and appliances remaining where they are.

Homeowners should look at materials like pre-made shaker-style cabinets and appliances from big-box stores like Home Depot. “I’ve also noticed a trend for concrete countertops,” said Hancen. “These can be cheaper than quartz, but they take more to maintain,” adding that a sealant needs to be applied annually. 

• A mid-range kitchen remodel in Miami costs on average $65,000, according to the Cost Vs Value’s 2020 report from Remodeling magazine. This works out to $325 psf. Almost 60 percent of that cost is recouped in the value it adds to a home. The example kitchen the report gave was 200 square feet with laminate countertops, semi-custom wood cabinets, and a stainless steel sink with a standard single-lever faucet. It also contained a built-in microwave, dishwasher, and custom lighting. Other than the addition of a kitchen island, the layout, such as where the oven and dishwasher were installed, remained the same as the original design.
  

Sweeten general contractor Domenico, also servicing Miami, recently completed a kitchen renovation in this price range. It included a countertop made from Dekton, a stain-, scratch-, heat-, and UV-resistant material. The cabinets were custom with self-closing doors, which took $40,000 from the budget. The appliances were GE. 

• High-end kitchen renovations in Miami came in at around $130,000, adding the same amount of value to a home’s resale value—60 percent—as a mid-range kitchen remodel, according to the report from Cost Vs Value. The example Remodeling gave of a 200 square foot kitchen came in at $650 psf. This included custom cabinets, built-in sliding shelves, stone countertops, and imported ceramic or glass tile backsplashes. The appliances were also upgraded, including a commercial-grade cooktop and vent hood, plus designer faucets and a water filtration system.
  

How much a bathroom remodel in Miami costs per square foot

• At the low-end, expect a solid rip-and-replace bathroom with no behind-the-wall surprises to come in at $15,000. Contractor Hancen specializes in bathrooms for the Miami area. At a squeeze, a very basic 50-square-foot bathroom can be completed for $300 psf, he said. However, this is contingent on the layout staying the same and having no issues like leaks or mold discovered once the project begins. If you’re after this price, stick to a prefabricated vanity and ceramic tiles, which come out to about $2 psf. When it comes to faucets, toilets, and bathtubs, the brand American Standard is a good example of affordable, quality products. “These are the most well-priced materials I’ve seen and the most popular,” said Hancen.
  

• The next step up is a mid-range bathroom renovation. The average cost for this type of bathroom remodel in Miami is about $20,000 and about $570 psf, according to the Cost Vs Value report. The example bathroom the report gave was a 5’ x 7’ space and involved installing a new porcelain-on-steel bathtub, ceramic tiles, and a lit and recessed medicine cabinet. A renovation in this vein can add about $11,000 to a home’s value.
  

• There’s a large jump both in price, size, and outcome between an upscale and a mid-range bathroom renovation. The average price in this category is around $63,000, the Cost Vs Value report found. For this budget, you could expand your bathroom to around 100 square feet and can play around with elements like a freestanding soaker tub and a shower with recessed shelves, a frameless glass enclosure, and body spray fixtures. You’re also likely to afford a double sink and double-mirror vanity with custom drawers, and wall cabinets.
  

The cost of tiles can add up. On a recent project, Domenico’s client picked out a tile that had the appearance of wood and cost $20 psf. Another client wanted a wave pattern created out of tiles. “It was more difficult to install adding to the labor costs,” he said. “Occasionally, breakages happen, so that also needs to be covered.” 

The good news is this is an investment with about 60 percent of the budget added to your home’s sale price. 

Adding outdoor space to your home

In Florida, there is plenty of sun and envious weather to take advantage of by renovating or adding an outdoor space to your home. Many Miami residents will use these spaces as an additional living space and even kitchen. 

• Recently, Sweeten contractor Adrian added a 900 square foot patio to a house that had a budget of $50,000. “It was essentially another room to the house without the walls,” he said. It had a tiled roof supported by four columns, which was necessary so the structure could withstand a powerful hurricane. The flooring was Cuban tiles and there were fans and lighting so electrical work was required. Adrian’s project is also around the average price of a major patio remodel in Miami. According to the Cost Vs Value report, over 50% of the budget will be recouped when your home is sold.
  

• If you went for a simple wood deck addition minus a roof and electric and gas hookups, you could recoup close to 75 percent of the budget in the bump it gives to your home value. The average cost of this type of project is $13,000 or $40 psf in the Miami area, according to the Cost Vs Value report. For this price, you could get a 16′ x 20′ deck with a built-in bench and planter with stairs and railings.
  

Permit costs

The cost of permits, from a typical building permit to electrical, mechanical, and plumbing permits, are calculated in different ways. Some permit costs are calculated by square footage. Some are calculated by the value of a project so an exact figure can take some time to figure out. That’s why general contractor Adrian puts an estimate in the initial budget. For example, with a $250,000 renovation, he puts a budget placeholder of $1,500 for the main building permit with an additional $500 each for plumbing, electrical and mechanical, if the project requires it. 

Miami-Dade county covers a huge amount of land and almost three million people. Each city—such as Miami South and Miami Lakes—in the county has a building official who issues permits for projects located within that city’s jurisdiction. Residential permits typically take 30 business days to process. 

All of these numbers are a launchpad so you can begin creating an initial budget. Sweeten’s Renovation Checklist is a downloadable roadmap to organize all of the moving parts of a renovation. (Don’t forget to include your “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves”!)

Remodeling your home in Miami? Sweeten can help!

Post your project on Sweeten and we’ll match you with vetted local general contractors to provide estimates for your remodel in Miami, plus we’ll support you throughout your project duration. Meet with your contractor to develop an accurate budget, and you’ll be on your way to the home you’ve always wanted.

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Renovating with aging-in-place in mind will prepare you for the future or if your home is multi-generational.

Sweeten handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, scope, and style. Follow the blog, Sweeten Stories, for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation on Sweeten.

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