Home Renovation in West Palm Beach
A home renovation in West Palm Beach is not the same as one in the Town of Palm Beach or out in the county. West Palm Beach is its own city, with its own building division and its own historic board. The rules, the portals, and the review steps are different. A lot of contractor pages blur those three places together. We start by telling you plainly which office controls your project, then we plan the work around it.
Palmhouse Design & Build is a licensed design-build firm (Florida CGC1537109) with 20+ years of high-end residential work across Palm Beach County. We handle the design, the permits, and the construction under one contract, so you are not stuck managing separate firms that point fingers at each other.
Which Office Permits Your West Palm Beach Renovation
If your home sits inside the city limits, your permit goes through City of West Palm Beach Development Services. That is a different department from the Town of Palm Beach and from unincorporated Palm Beach County, and each one has its own submittal process. We confirm your jurisdiction first, pull the right permits in-house, and treat permitting as a defined phase that finishes before demolition starts. That is the single biggest reason jobs stall, so we close it out early.
Historic Districts: El Cid, Flamingo Park, And Grandview Heights
West Palm Beach has locally designated historic districts, including El Cid, Flamingo Park, and Grandview Heights. These blocks are full of 1920s Mediterranean Revival, Mission, bungalow, and Art Deco homes. If you own one, the city’s Historic Preservation Board reviews exterior changes that are visible from the street, usually through a Certificate of Appropriateness.
Here is the part most pages bury: interior-only work generally does not need historic-board sign-off. You can often open up the inside of a historic home without a board hearing. It is the exterior, the part the public sees, that triggers review. We tell you up front which side of that line your project falls on.
Many West Palm Beach parcels sit in flood zones. Under the federal 50% rule, if your renovation costs more than half of your home’s value, the whole house has to meet current flood-compliance standards. That can mean elevation work you did not budget for. We pull your elevation certificate early and price the job with that rule in view, so the number you sign is the number that holds.
Opening Up An Older Floor Plan
A common ask here is opening a closed-off 1950s or 1960s floor plan into one bright space. In those homes the wall you want gone often carries roof or shear load. That is a structural project, not a weekend demo. We bring in stamped engineer calcs, get the structural permit, and schedule the pre-drywall inspection so the work passes the first time. Impact-rated or protected openings are required in this wind-borne debris region, and a Notice of Commencement is required on jobs over $2,500. We handle both.
What A Renovation With Us Actually Looks Like
You get a written scope and a written price before any work begins. If something needs to change once walls are open, we put the change order in writing and wait for your approval before we proceed. No surprise add-ons. Every subcontractor works under our contract, so you sign one agreement and have one point of accountability, not a stack of separate bills.
One project manager runs your job from kickoff to the final walkthrough. That person answers the phone. Our crews keep an occupied home livable: drop cloths down, driveways and landscaping protected, and a clean site at the end of each day. When we hand the home back, we walk it with you and close out every open item.
We also work just up the coast in Jupiter, where you can see our full whole-home renovation process. In West Palm Beach we focus on single-family homes across the city’s established neighborhoods. If you want more detail on a specific service, see our home additions in West Palm Beach and bathroom remodeling in West Palm Beach, and our luxury home remodeling in West Palm Beach.
Ready to plan your renovation? We schedule on-site consultations Monday through Saturday. Call Palmhouse Design & Build at 561-831-4170 to book a consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a West Palm Beach renovation go through the city or the county?
If your home is inside the city limits, it goes through City of West Palm Beach Development Services, not the county and not the Town of Palm Beach. We confirm your jurisdiction before we design anything, then pull the permits in-house.
What is the 50% rule and when does it apply to my renovation?
If your renovation costs more than half your home’s value and the home sits in a flood zone, the whole house must meet current flood-compliance standards. We check your elevation certificate early so this does not surprise you mid-project.
Do I need historic-board approval to renovate in El Cid or Flamingo Park?
Exterior changes visible from the street usually need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the city’s Historic Preservation Board. Interior-only work generally does not. We tell you which applies before you commit.
Can you open up the floor plan in a 1950s or 1960s home?
Yes, but that wall often carries load, so it becomes a structural project. We use stamped engineer calcs, pull the structural permit, and schedule the pre-drywall inspection so it passes the first time.
Do you schedule consultations on weekends?
Yes. We hold on-site consultations Monday through Saturday. Call 561-831-4170 to find a time that works.