Bathroom remodel to doors, Fort Lauderdale.

The city has 98,308 housing units, and its three biggest decades are nearly equal: a fifth built in the 1950s, a fifth in the 1960s and a fifth in the 1970s (Census ACS 2024). About a quarter of everything predates 1960. A third of the units are detached single-family houses, a little over half of occupied homes are owner-occupied, and the median owner-occupied value is $579,300. That mix is why my work list here runs past bathrooms. A 1950s house in Tarpon River or Coral Ridge needs the bathroom first, then the kitchen, then the doors and the ceilings, and the owner usually wants one person for all of it.

• Bathrooms first: a tiled walk-in shower or a full remodel that keeps the layout is the job I do most in these houses, at a written fixed price from $6,500.
• Drywall and popcorn ceilings: a 1960s or 70s ceiling gets tested before anyone scrapes it, and plaster in the oldest houses gets patched rather than torn out.

The Las Olas Isles and Seven Isles were dredged in the 1920s boom on the Venice model; Seven Isles' original 50-foot lots have since been merged into larger ones across 315 households on Aqua Vista, Barcelona, De Sota, Sea Island, Pelican Isle, Castilla and Del Mar. Rio Vista was platted in 1916 and holds over 1,000 homes, many Mediterranean Revival, with 29 potential individual landmarks in the city's 2023 survey. Victoria Park sits on an old coral ridge with 494 homes from before 1945. Sailboat Bend, the oldest neighborhood, counted 178 contributing structures among 458 properties in its 2021 resurvey. Coral Ridge came after the war, built by Hunt and Calder on land bought from Arthur Galt.

• Designated historic districts (Sailboat Bend, Himmarshee, Stranahan House): a Certificate of Appropriateness is needed for work that changes the exterior, so a new front door there starts with the Historic Preservation Planner. In-kind repair can be approved administratively.
• Colee Hammock has an Art Moderne pocket from 1928 to 1940, and Tarpon River was built as many small subdivisions, which is why two houses on one block can need different fixes.
• Galt Ocean Mile is the strip of high-rise condos, where the building's rules come before mine.

The Galt Mile Community Association, which represents the high-rise condominium and cooperative buildings on the Galt Ocean Mile, tells residents to vet anyone they hire through the BBB, Sunbiz and the state's DBPR. I'd rather you did. Ask and I'll send my insurance certificate and my Sunbiz record before the visit.

• Kitchens and doors in a condo: the building's hours, elevator reservation and insurance certificate apply to a cabinet delivery exactly as they do to a shower.
• Drywall in a condo: nothing goes into a shared wall or ceiling without the building's written permission, and I ask for it in writing.
• A one-page plan with the manager's sign-off, sent before the first day, is the fastest way through any building.

Get a free estimateor call or text (954) 242-5924

It gives free flood-zone determinations by email and runs a GIS flood map online.

• The city advises elevating electrical and mechanical equipment above Base Flood Elevation, which is where a water-heater or panel conversation starts in a low house.
• Broward is in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone: every exterior opening needs shutters or impact-rated protection, so a replacement door carries a Miami-Dade approval.

The city's Emergency Repair Program offers up to $20,000 for A/C and water-heater replacement to income-eligible owner-occupants, alongside the larger Housing Rehabilitation Program for plumbing, electrical and accessibility work. Both took online applications through Neighborly Software starting May 1, 2026, first-qualified, first-served. I write the itemized quote an application needs, and I'll say plainly if your job doesn't fit a program.