A whole house is a sequence,
not a set of rooms.
The order is the job.

Renovating a whole home is a scheduling problem before it is a design one. The trades have to arrive in the right order, the long-lead items have to be ordered before anything is demolished, and somebody has to own what happens between the rooms. We handle the design, the permits and every trade in-house across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

  • Licensed, bonded & insured · CBC1265280
  • 104 municipalities across 3 counties
  • Design-build: permitting & construction in-house

Miami-Dade · Broward & Palm Beach Counties

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Recent projects

Six projects we delivered

Twelve frames from six completed projects - three bathrooms and three kitchens. Tap any image to see it larger.

01

Bathroom project: a freestanding tub with twin floating basins.

02

Kitchen project: marble island against a teal herringbone backsplash.

03

A second bathroom: vessel basin, backlit mirror and walk-in shower.

04

A second kitchen: navy cabinetry with brass hardware.

05

Bathroom project: twin basins under a round mirror.

06

A third kitchen: contemporary open plan with a stone island.

07

A third bathroom: a navy vanity with a stone top.

08

Kitchen project: the perimeter run and farmhouse sink.

09

Bathroom project: the walk-in shower and vanity run.

10

A third kitchen: the view through to the living space.

11

A second bathroom: the shower and its recessed niche.

12

A second kitchen: the perimeter run and integrated appliances.

All photographs are of real completed Elbaz Construction work. They come from six separate projects on six different properties, and are shown as recent work rather than as one house.

01 / 12

The journey

Six stages, first walk-through to move-back.

Whole-house projects rarely fail on the finishes. They fail where two trades meet and neither one owns the join, or because a long-lead item was ordered after demolition rather than before it, and eleven people then wait five weeks for a cabinet. This page walks the sequence in the order it actually happens, starting with the part most people skip: deciding what the house genuinely needs.

Use the stage markers to jump straight to what you care about. Nothing here is a sales pitch - it is the sequence we actually follow.

Stage 01 · Scope

What is actually driving the project

Four reasons, and they produce very different scopes. Which one is yours decides how much of the house gets opened and in what order.

The house is simply dated

The most common brief, and the one with the most freedom in it. Nothing is failing, so the scope is genuinely yours to set - which also means it is the scope most likely to grow quietly. Deciding early which rooms are in and which are explicitly out is what keeps a cosmetic renovation from becoming a structural one halfway through.

  • Nothing is forcing the scope, so the scope has to be chosen deliberately
  • Kitchens and bathrooms carry most of the cost and most of the disruption
  • Flooring run continuously through the house reads as one project
  • Agreeing what is explicitly out of scope matters as much as what is in
  • This is the version where phasing over two stages is most practical
Completed kitchen with a marble-topped island, seating and a teal herringbone backsplash

Completed Elbaz kitchen: a marble island against a teal herringbone backsplash.

Something is actually failing

When a system is failing, the renovation is being driven by the house rather than by you, and the order changes: the failing system is fixed first and the finishes follow it. The advantage is that walls are already coming open, so doing the rest of the work now is far cheaper than doing it in two years.

  • The failing system sets the sequence, not the wish list
  • Older South Florida homes can carry original cast-iron drainage
  • Some homes of certain eras have supply piping or wiring worth checking
  • If walls are opening anyway, do the rest now rather than twice
  • An electrical panel at capacity constrains everything downstream
Walk-in shower behind a frameless glass panel with a recessed niche in large-format tile

Completed Elbaz bathroom: the walk-in shower and its recessed niche.

The layout does not work

Opening a kitchen to a living room, moving a bathroom, or turning three small rooms into two usable ones is a different project from replacing finishes. Walls, structure, services and often the permit scope are all in play, and the design work carries far more weight.

  • Whether a wall is load-bearing is established, not assumed
  • Moving a bathroom means moving drainage, which on a slab means concrete
  • Structural changes bring engineering and a permit
  • The ceiling and floor both need making good where a wall was
  • This is where design time genuinely pays for itself
Open-plan kitchen looking through to the living space beyond

Completed Elbaz kitchen: the view through to the living space.

You have just bought it

Renovating an empty house is the best version of this job and the one with the fewest compromises. Every trade can work at once, nothing needs phasing around a family, and the programme is materially shorter. The constraint is usually the calendar rather than the building.

  • An empty house lets trades overlap instead of queueing
  • No temporary kitchen, no dust barriers, no living around it
  • Usually the shortest programme for the same amount of work
  • Worth a full survey before closing, not after
  • Long-lead items can be ordered before you have the keys
Completed bathroom with a freestanding tub and a pair of floating basins on a long vanity ledge

Completed Elbaz bathroom: a freestanding tub with twin floating basins.

Stage 02 · Design

The four decisions that set the project

Everything else is selection. These four decide the programme, the cost and how much of your life the renovation takes up.

Live in it or move out

This decides more about the schedule than any other choice. An empty house lets trades overlap; an occupied one forces them to queue, because you need a working bathroom and somewhere to make food at every point in the job. Living in it is entirely doable and it does add time.

  • Empty: trades overlap, the programme compresses considerably
  • Occupied: one working bathroom and a temporary kitchen at all times
  • Occupied work is phased, which means some areas are done twice
  • Dust barriers and protected routes are part of the cost either way
  • The honest comparison is time and disruption against rent
Navy blue vanity with a stone top and undermount basin beneath a wall mirror

Completed Elbaz bathroom: a navy vanity with a stone top.

All at once or in phases

Doing everything in one programme is almost always cheaper per square foot, because setup, protection, permits and mobilisation happen once rather than twice. Phasing is a cashflow and disruption decision, not an efficiency one, and it is a legitimate choice - it just costs more in total.

  • One programme pays for setup, protection and permits once
  • Phasing repeats those costs, but spreads them out
  • Anything shared between phases - flooring, electrics - is worth doing first
  • A phased project needs a plan for both phases before phase one starts
  • Never phase in a way that means opening the same wall twice
Completed kitchen with navy cabinetry, brass hardware and a white stone island

Completed Elbaz kitchen: navy cabinetry with brass hardware.

Keep the layout or change it

Keeping the layout keeps the project predictable: the services stay roughly where they are and the permit scope stays modest. Changing it brings structure, drainage and engineering into play, and it is where the largest improvements usually come from. Both are valid; they are different projects.

  • Same layout: services stay put, scope stays predictable
  • New layout: structure, drainage and engineering all engage
  • Moving wet rooms is the most expensive kind of layout change
  • A load-bearing wall is a structural design job, not a demolition one
  • Layout changes are decided in design, never on site
Contemporary open-plan kitchen with a stone island and full-height cabinetry

Completed Elbaz kitchen: contemporary open plan with a stone island.

Selections and long-lead items

This is the most common avoidable delay on a whole-house job. Cabinetry, windows, tile and appliances can all run to long lead times, and a renovation stops dead waiting for any one of them. Selections are made and ordered before demolition begins, so the site never waits on a decision that could have been taken in week one.

  • Cabinetry, windows, tile and appliances are the usual long leads
  • Everything is ordered before demolition, not during
  • A single undecided selection can hold an entire trade sequence
  • Impact-rated windows and doors carry their own compliance paperwork
  • Substituting late costs more than choosing carefully early
Twin basins under a large round mirror with brass pendants either side

Completed Elbaz bathroom: twin basins under a round mirror.

Every photograph in this section is real Elbaz work, from six different completed projects. Each caption says which; they are not one house.

Stage 03 · Permit

One permit set, across every trade

A whole-house renovation usually touches structural, electrical, plumbing and mechanical scope at once. Filing it as one coordinated set is materially faster than filing four times.

What the house actually is

The house is surveyed properly before any scope is priced - what is behind the walls, what the panel can carry, where the drainage runs and what condition it is in.

What is in, and what is explicitly out

Room by room, written down. The out-of-scope list is as important as the in-scope one, because it is what stops a renovation growing quietly through the build.

Layouts before selections

Layouts, elevations and the structural intent are settled before anyone picks a tile. Changing a layout on paper is free; changing it after rough-in is not.

Anything that carries load

Where walls are moving or openings are widening, the structure is designed by an engineer. In South Florida that includes the wind criteria, which are not a formality.

Panel, drainage and water

Electrical panel capacity, drainage condition and fall, and water supply are all confirmed against the new scope rather than assumed to be adequate.

Long-lead items first

Cabinetry, windows, doors, tile and appliances are selected and ordered before demolition, because a whole-house programme cannot absorb a five-week wait mid-build.

Filed as one coordinated package

The drawings and trade information go in as one set to your municipality, or to the county where the property is unincorporated. Review comments are answered and resubmitted.

Where a board also approves

Condominium and HOA boards have their own rules, particularly on plumbing, flooring, impact windows and working hours, and they meet on their own schedule.

The sequence, agreed before it starts

The trade sequence, the phasing if the house is occupied, and the inspection points are set out and agreed with you before demolition rather than discovered during it.

Planned for, not hoped against

Older houses hide things. A whole-house renovation is planned with an allowance for what opening the walls reveals, and we tell you what we find as we find it.

Requirements, review times and inspection sequences are set by your local building department, and they differ across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach and between the municipalities inside them. Nothing here is a guaranteed timeline or an assurance of approval - we confirm what your address actually requires once we know it.

Stage 04 · Build

The trades, in the order they have to run

This order is not a preference. Almost every item below is gated by the one above it, and getting one out of sequence means undoing finished work.

Protection and setup

Before anything comes out

Access routes protected, dust barriers up, and the areas you are still living in sealed off. On an occupied house this is a substantial piece of work in itself.

Quality check · Barriers up and routes protected before demolition

Contemporary open-plan kitchen with a stone island and full-height cabinetry

Demolition

Back to what stays

Finishes, fittings and any walls in the scope come out. This is when the house tells you what it has been hiding, and where the contingency starts earning its place.

Quality check · What is found is reported as it is found

Run of dark shaker cabinetry with a farmhouse sink and stone worktop in a completed kitchen

Structural work

Openings and support

Any structural changes are made to the engineered design, with support in place before anything is removed. Nothing downstream can start until this is complete.

Quality check · Structural inspection before work continues

Open-plan kitchen looking through to the living space beyond

Rough-in

Plumbing, electrical, mechanical

Every service is run with the walls open - drainage and its fall, supply, circuits, and the mechanical system. This is the last moment anything can move without opening finished walls.

Quality check · Rough-in inspections with the walls still open

Walk-in shower behind a frameless glass panel with a recessed niche in large-format tile

Windows and envelope

Where they are in scope

Impact-rated windows and doors are installed and their compliance documentation goes to the inspector. The house becomes weathertight before interior finishing starts.

Quality check · Building weathertight before finishes begin

Navy kitchen cabinetry with a stone worktop and integrated appliances along the perimeter

Insulation and board

Closing the walls

Insulation where it applies, then wallboard, taping and preparation. The house stops being a building site and starts being rooms again.

Quality check · Inspections passed before walls are closed

Patterned encaustic-style floor tile running up to a navy vanity in a completed bathroom

Flooring and tile

The continuous surfaces first

Floor finishes and wall tiling. Running flooring continuously through the house is what makes a whole-house renovation read as one project rather than several.

Quality check · Setting out agreed before tiling starts

Patterned encaustic-style floor tile running up to a navy vanity in a completed bathroom

Cabinetry and joinery

The long-lead items land

Kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, wardrobes and joinery are set and levelled. Worktops are templated from the installed cabinetry, never from the drawing.

Quality check · Templates taken from the build, not the drawing

Completed kitchen with a marble-topped island, seating and a teal herringbone backsplash

Fittings and finishes

Making the rooms work

Worktops, sanitaryware, appliances, lighting, doors and trim, then the final plumbing and electrical connections across every room.

Quality check · Every fixing lands in blocking, not just board

Twin basins under a large round mirror with brass pendants either side

Finals and handover

Signed off, then walked

Final inspections across the trades, the permit closed out, then a full walkthrough with you room by room and a snagging list we actually finish.

Quality check · Permit closed out before handover

Completed bathroom with a freestanding tub and a pair of floating basins on a long vanity ledge

Stage 05 · Inspect

The three decisions people find hardest

Balanced both ways. What is right depends on your house, your budget and how much disruption you can genuinely absorb.

Live in it

No rent, longer programme

Navy blue vanity with a stone top and undermount basin beneath a wall mirror
How
The work is phased so you always have a working bathroom and somewhere to prepare food.
Benefits
No rent, no second move, and you see the work as it happens.
Limits
A materially longer programme, because trades queue instead of overlapping. Dust, noise and reduced use of your own house throughout.
Upkeep
You live with barriers and protected routes for the duration.
In South Florida
Workable, and worth planning the temporary kitchen properly rather than improvising it.

Move out

Shorter programme, pay for it

Contemporary open-plan kitchen with a stone island and full-height cabinetry
How
The house is empty, so every trade can work at once across every room.
Benefits
The shortest programme for the same scope, no phasing, no temporary kitchen, and generally a better result at the interfaces.
Limits
Rent or somewhere to stay, plus two moves and storage.
Upkeep
None during the works.
In South Florida
Often the better arithmetic on a genuine whole-house scope once the extra weeks are counted.

Which oneFor a kitchen and a bathroom, living in it is usually fine. For a genuine whole-house renovation, count the additional weeks against the rent honestly before deciding - the gap is frequently smaller than people expect, and the empty-house result at the interfaces is better.

One programme

Cheaper per square foot

Completed kitchen with navy cabinetry, brass hardware and a white stone island
How
The whole scope runs as a single project with one permit set and one mobilisation.
Benefits
Setup, protection, permits and mobilisation are paid for once. Flooring and services run continuously. Usually the lowest total cost.
Limits
The largest single outlay and the most disruption concentrated into one period.
Upkeep
One disruption, then done.
In South Florida
Also means one hurricane season to plan around rather than two.

Two phases

Spread the cost and disruption

Completed bathroom with a hammered vessel basin, backlit mirror and a glazed walk-in shower
How
The scope is split into two programmes, usually a year or more apart.
Benefits
Spreads cost and disruption, and lets you live with phase one before committing to phase two.
Limits
Setup, protection and mobilisation are paid twice, so the total is higher. Both phases have to be planned before phase one starts.
Upkeep
Two disruptions instead of one.
In South Florida
Legitimate on cashflow grounds - just never phase so that the same wall opens twice.

Which oneIf you can fund it, one programme is cheaper and finishes sooner. If you phase, plan both phases up front and put everything shared - flooring, electrics, drainage - into phase one, so phase two never reopens finished work.

Keep the layout

Predictable scope

Run of dark shaker cabinetry with a farmhouse sink and stone worktop in a completed kitchen
How
Finishes, fittings and services are renewed where they already are.
Benefits
Far more predictable on cost and programme, a modest permit scope, and no structural risk.
Limits
You inherit whatever is wrong with how the house is arranged.
Upkeep
Normal.
In South Florida
Keeps wet rooms where they are, which avoids cutting the slab.

Change the layout

Where the real gain is

Open-plan kitchen looking through to the living space beyond
How
Walls move or come out, rooms are recombined, and services follow the new plan.
Benefits
This is where the largest improvement in how a house works usually comes from, and it can only sensibly be done now.
Limits
Structure, engineering, a wider permit scope, and moving drainage - which on a slab means concrete.
Upkeep
Normal once complete.
In South Florida
Moving a bathroom or kitchen on a slab-on-grade house means saw-cutting and trenching concrete.

Which oneIf the house is arranged badly, change it now - the walls will not be open again for twenty years. If the arrangement is genuinely fine, keeping it puts the entire budget into quality rather than into concrete and engineering.

What moves the cost and the calendar

Tick whatever applies. This will not produce a price - a whole-house scope has too many variables and too much depends on what the walls turn out to be hiding - but it will show which parts carry the cost and the calendar.

What this points to

We do not publish figures for this work, because the same scope can differ several-fold once the existing conditions are visible. You get a real, itemised number after a site visit, in writing.

Stage 06 · Live

What a whole-house renovation is actually like

Photographs from six completed Elbaz projects. A whole-house programme is the longest and most disruptive thing most people do to their home, so it is worth knowing what the months actually look like.

How long it runs

A genuine whole-house renovation runs in months, and an occupied one runs considerably longer than an empty one because the trades queue rather than overlap. We give you a real programme once the scope and the permit route are known.

The worst weeks

Demolition and rough-in. Loud, dusty, and the period when the house looks least like it will ever be finished. It gets steadily better from insulation onwards.

Living in it

You keep a working bathroom and somewhere to prepare food at every stage. That is planned, not improvised, and it is one of the first things we set out.

Dust

Barriers go up before demolition, not after. Whole-house work generates a lot of dust and containment is a real line in the programme.

Surprises

Older houses hide things behind walls. When we find something, you hear about it the same day, with what it means for cost and programme - not at the end.

Inspectors on site

A whole-house scope carries inspections at several points, and each one gates the work after it. Someone needs to provide access, and we schedule around them.

Decisions

The pace of your decisions sets the pace of the job more than most people expect. The big selections are made before demolition so the site never waits on one.

The last ten per cent

Snagging and final fittings always feel slower than the structural work, because the visible progress per day drops. It is normal, and it is when the quality is actually decided.

Why one contractor matters most on a whole house

Only claims we can stand behind. Everything below is either a matter of public record or visible in the work shown on this page.

Licensed, bonded and insured

Elbaz Construction is a licensed general contractor, CBC1265280. Permits are pulled in the company name, not yours.

Every trade in-house

Structural, plumbing, electrical, tile, cabinetry and finishing are coordinated by the same company, so nobody is waiting on somebody else to come back next week.

One schedule, one sequence

The trade order is planned before demolition and held to. Most whole-house overruns are sequencing failures, not workmanship ones.

Somebody owns the interfaces

Hiring room by room means nobody owns what happens where two scopes meet. On a full-service project that is explicitly ours.

Design and build together

The drawings, the permit set and the construction are handled by the same people, so what is approved is what gets built.

Long-lead items ordered early

Cabinetry, windows and appliances are ordered before demolition, because a whole-house programme cannot absorb a mid-build wait.

One point of contact

You speak to the same person from the first walkthrough to the snagging list.

Permit closed out

The permit is signed off and closed. An open permit follows the property and surfaces when it is sold.

Questions, by stage

Filter to the part of the job you are thinking about.

What counts as a full-service renovation?Before starting

That we handle the whole thing: the survey, the design, the permit set, every trade, the schedule and the handover. The alternative is hiring trades room by room and coordinating them yourself, which works on a single bathroom and stops working quickly beyond that.

Should I do the whole house at once or room by room?Before starting

One programme is almost always cheaper per square foot, because setup, protection, permits and mobilisation are paid for once instead of repeatedly. Phasing is a legitimate cashflow decision, not an efficiency one - just plan both phases before phase one starts.

Can I stay in the house?Before starting

Usually yes, and it lengthens the programme. The work is phased so you always have a working bathroom and somewhere to prepare food, which means some areas are set up, taken down and set up again. We will tell you honestly what that costs in weeks.

When do I have to choose everything?Design

The big items - cabinetry, windows, doors, tile and appliances - before demolition, because they carry long lead times and the site cannot wait for them. Smaller selections can follow, but the sequence is set by whatever takes longest to arrive.

Can you open up my kitchen to the living room?Design

Often, and it is one of the most common requests. Whether the wall is load-bearing is established properly rather than assumed. Where it is, that means structural design, an engineer and a permit - and it is entirely routine work.

Do I need an architect?Design

For layout changes and anything structural, you need proper drawings, and we coordinate the design and engineering as part of the service. For a like-for-like refit of the existing layout, the scope is usually more modest.

Does a whole-house renovation need a permit?Planning

Almost always. Once you are into electrical, plumbing, mechanical, structural or window replacement, it is permitted work. Filing it as one coordinated set across the trades is faster than filing separately for each.

What about my condo or HOA?Planning

Associations frequently have their own rules on working hours, flooring assemblies, plumbing alterations and impact windows, and approval runs on the board calendar. It is worth starting alongside the permit rather than after it.

What if the house has unpermitted work already?Planning

Tell us at the start rather than letting the plan reviewer find it. It is a solvable problem and it is much easier to solve before a permit application than during one.

What gets inspected?Permits

Typically the structural work, the rough-in across plumbing, electrical and mechanical, and then finals for each trade. Each inspection gates the work after it, which is exactly why the sequence cannot be rearranged for convenience.

What happens if you find something behind the walls?Construction

You hear about it the same day, with what it means for cost and programme. Older South Florida homes can carry original drainage, dated wiring or a panel at capacity, and a whole-house renovation is planned with a contingency for precisely that reason.

How disruptive is it really?Construction

Demolition and rough-in are genuinely disruptive - loud, dusty, and the period when the house looks worst. From insulation onwards it improves steadily. Barriers, protected routes and containment are planned before any of it starts.

Why can you not give me a price per square foot?Cost

Because two houses of identical size can differ several-fold depending on how many bathrooms there are, whether walls are moving, whether the services are being replaced and what the walls turn out to be hiding. A number before a survey is a guess.

What makes a whole-house renovation more expensive?Cost

In rough order: moving wet rooms, structural changes, replacing services throughout, impact windows, phasing the work, and the number of bathrooms. Finish selections matter far less than people assume.

Should I hold a contingency?Cost

Yes. Every honest whole-house project carries one, because opening the walls of an existing house reveals things no survey can see. Deciding in advance how you want to be consulted on those is worth doing.

What happens at handover?Completion

Final inspections pass, the permit is closed out, then we walk the house with you room by room and agree a snagging list. The list gets finished - that is the part that decides whether the job was any good.

What maintenance follows a renovation?Maintenance

Far less than before it, but not none. Sealed surfaces, silicone lines, and any mechanical equipment all have their own intervals, and we hand over what applies to your specific specification rather than a generic list.

Do you come back if something moves?Maintenance

Buildings settle and materials move slightly in the first year, particularly with the humidity swings here. Anything that is our work to put right, we put right.

Client experience

What clients say, in their own words

Live Google reviews for Elbaz Construction, pulled straight from our Google Business Profile — not retyped, not edited and not selected by us.

Reviews are served live by the site's own Google Reviews plugin and update as new ones are posted. Nothing here is retyped, shortened or re-attributed.

Start here

Book the site visit

The more you can tell us about the house and what is driving the project, the more useful the first conversation is.

What happens next

  1. We read it properly and come back to you, usually the same or next working day.
  2. A short call to understand the property and what is driving the project.
  3. A full site survey - we walk the house, establish what is behind the walls, and set out the scope room by room.
  4. A written, itemised proposal with the scope set out, including how unknowns are handled.
  5. If you go ahead, we prepare and file any permit before work starts.
Preferred contact method

We use your details only to respond to this enquiry. No lists, no resale.

Thanks — that came through.

Your details are with the Elbaz Construction team and we will come back to you, usually the same or next working day. If it is urgent, call (754) 236-0675.

Completed bathroom with a freestanding tub and a pair of floating basins on a long vanity ledge

Start with the survey, not the mood board.

What is behind the walls decides the scope, the sequence and most of the cost. Everything else follows from it.