A full home remodel in Tampa Bay runs $75,000 to $150,000 for a selective renovation and $150,000 to $300,000 or more for a complete gut, and it takes 3 to 6 months for a standard whole-home update or 6 to 12 months for a full gut. Craftline is a licensed design build contractor that handles the whole project, design through final inspection, across Hillsborough and Pinellas. Every answer below has a number or a date in it, because those are the two things homeowners actually need before they commit.
Full Home Remodel Cost in Tampa Bay
| Scope | Typical Cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Selective whole-home update (finishes, kitchen, baths, paint, flooring) | $75,000 to $150,000 | 3 to 6 months |
| Complete gut remodel (new layout, systems, everything) | $150,000 to $300,000+ | 6 to 12 months |
| Per square foot, whole-home | $95 to $250 per sq ft | Varies by scope |
Where does the money actually go?
Two representative budgets, built from our own pricing bands, on a typical Tampa Bay three-bedroom.
| Line item | Selective update | Complete gut |
|---|---|---|
| Design, engineering, permit fees | $4,500 | $9,000 |
| Demolition and disposal | $3,500 | $9,500 |
| Structural and framing changes | $2,000 | $18,000 |
| Plumbing, including slab reroute where needed | $6,500 | $22,000 |
| Electrical and panel upgrade | $7,000 | $19,000 |
| HVAC | $5,500 | $12,000 |
| Kitchen | $28,000 | $55,000 |
| Bathrooms (2 selective, 3 on the gut) | $36,000 | $90,000 |
| Flooring throughout | $9,000 | $18,000 |
| Interior doors, trim, paint | $7,000 | $14,000 |
| Project management and contingency | $8,000 | $25,500 |
| Total | $117,000 | $292,000 |
Where you land depends on how much moves. Keeping the existing layout and replacing finishes sits at the lower end. Moving walls, redoing plumbing and electrical, and upgrading the kitchen and every bathroom pushes toward the top. Build your own estimate with the free remodeling cost calculator, and our Tampa whole home renovation guide breaks the budget down room by room. Room-level detail lives in the Tampa bathroom cost guide and the home addition guide if you are adding square footage.
Money Questions: Draws, Change Orders, and Overruns
How does the payment and draw schedule work?
Whole-home remodels are billed in draws tied to completed, inspected work, never all up front. A typical structure on a $150,000 project looks like this.
| Draw | Released when | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit | Contract signed, design locked | 10% |
| Draw 1 | Permits issued, demolition complete | 20% |
| Draw 2 | Plumbing, electrical, and HVAC rough-in passes inspection | 20% |
| Draw 3 | Insulation and drywall complete | 20% |
| Draw 4 | Cabinets, tile, and flooring installed | 20% |
| Final | Final inspection passed, punch list closed | 10% |
What happens if the budget is exceeded?
Overruns come from three places, and only one of them is a real surprise. Selection upgrades are the most common: you pick a $9,000 countertop against a $5,600 allowance and the difference is yours. Scope additions are the second: once the walls are open, people add a laundry relocation or a second sink. The third is genuine hidden condition, meaning cast iron drain under the slab, an undersized panel, or rot behind a shower pan. That is why the tables above carry a contingency line at roughly 7 to 9 percent of the build. We price the contingency into the contract instead of pretending it will not happen, and any unspent balance stays unspent.
How do change orders work?
Nothing changes on a verbal. Every change is written up with the added cost, the added days, and a signature before anyone touches it. A tile swap chosen during rough-in costs the material difference. The same swap after the substrate is set costs material plus tear-out, and adds a week if the tile is not local stock.
Do we have to pay cash, or can this be financed?
Most whole-home projects in this range are funded with home equity, a renovation loan, or a mix of cash and financing drawn down against the same milestone schedule above. We walk through what lenders typically want to see in our remodel financing guide for Tampa homeowners.
Schedule and Permit Questions
How long does a whole-home remodel take?
Plan on 3 to 6 months for a standard update and 6 to 12 months for a gut. The build itself is rarely the long pole. Design and selections take a few weeks, permitting adds more, and material lead times on cabinets, windows, and tile stretch the calendar more than labor does. We order long-lead items before demolition and lock the design first so the schedule holds.
How do permit timelines differ in Hillsborough versus Pinellas?
They are two different systems, and which one you are in changes your start date. Unincorporated Hillsborough County runs permitting and records through HillsGovHub, the county’s Accela citizen access portal, which has held permit records since January 20, 2021. Pinellas County publishes its own Building Permit Review Times and Activity page on pinellas.gov, so you can look up current review turnaround before you commit to a start date rather than taking anyone’s word for it.
The bigger variable is city versus county. If your home is inside City of Tampa limits, the permit comes from City of Tampa Construction Services, not Hillsborough County. In Pinellas, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Largo each run their own building departments. A Seminole Heights bungalow and a house two miles away in unincorporated Hillsborough go through completely separate review queues. We confirm the jurisdiction at the first site visit, because guessing wrong costs weeks.
Can we live in the house during the remodel?
On a selective remodel, usually yes, if we phase the work so you always have one functioning bathroom and either a kitchen or a temporary kitchen setup. Expect to be without your main kitchen for 4 to 10 weeks of it. On a full gut you should plan to move out for the heaviest stretch, typically the 8 to 12 weeks covering demolition, rough-in, and drywall, because water and power get shut down repeatedly and dust control only goes so far. We map the phasing before we start so you know which months you need somewhere else to be, and you can budget for it instead of discovering it in week three.
Older Tampa Bay Homes: What Is Behind the Walls
The whole-home projects we take on fall into a few groups. Mid-century block ranch homes across St. Petersburg, Largo, and South Tampa have solid block shells but original galvanized or cast iron plumbing run through a slab, plus electrical panels that need updating. Bungalows in Seminole Heights and the older Tampa neighborhoods have charm and knob-and-tube surprises. Newer slab homes in Wesley Chapel, Brandon, and Riverview are structurally fine but were built builder-grade and are ready for real finishes. Each starts in a different place, which is why a whole-home quote has to come after we see the house, not from a per-foot guess.
My house was built before 1978. Do I need to worry about lead paint?
Yes, and it is a real rule, not a formality. The EPA banned lead-based paint for residential use in 1978, and by the EPA’s own figures roughly three quarters of US homes built before that still contain some lead-based paint. Under the federal Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, work that disturbs paint in a pre-1978 home has to be performed by a lead-safe certified firm using contained work practices. If a contractor bidding your 1954 St. Pete ranch has never mentioned this, that tells you something about the rest of their process.
What about asbestos in popcorn ceilings and old flooring?
Asbestos shows up in Tampa Bay homes of that era in textured ceilings, vinyl floor tile and the mastic under it, and pipe insulation. It gets surveyed before demolition, not discovered during it. If the survey finds regulated material, Florida Department of Environmental Protection rules require a Notice of Renovation or Demolition, form 62-257.900(1), postmarked or received at least 10 working days before the project start date. Since the March 23, 2025 rule revision the notification fee is a flat $200, or $100 if it is filed electronically through the DEP Business Portal with the fee paid at the same time. Ten working days is a real block on your calendar, which is why we survey during design rather than after demo day.
What is the most common hidden cost in an older home?
Slab plumbing. On a 1950s block ranch the original cast iron drain runs under the concrete, and once it is bellied or cracked you are cutting and repouring slab to replace it. That single item moves more projects from the selective column to the gut column than anything else. Panel upgrades run a close second.
Licensing, Code, and Scope Questions
How do I check that a whole-home contractor is licensed and insured?
Look the license up yourself on the Florida DBPR licensing portal, then verify workers compensation separately in the Florida Division of Workers Compensation proof of coverage database. In construction, one or more employees triggers the coverage requirement, so “too small to need it” is not an answer. We wrote the full step-by-step in our guide to choosing a remodeling contractor in Tampa. For the license classes, the deposit statute and the lien paperwork in one place, see choosing the right Tampa home remodeling contractor.
Do you handle design, or do I need an architect first?
We are design build, so design and construction live under one roof. For most remodels that means you do not need to hire a separate architect. When a project needs stamped structural drawings, we bring in the engineer and manage it for you.
Will the remodel meet current Florida code?
Yes. Permitted work is inspected against the current Florida Building Code, including wind load and, in flood zones, elevation requirements. That is part of why a permitted remodel protects you at resale, and why an unpermitted one shows up as a problem during the buyer’s inspection years later.
What a Full Home Remodel Includes
- Design and a fixed scope before any demolition starts
- Permits pulled and carried in your county or city
- Structural changes, new plumbing and electrical, and HVAC as needed
- Kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, paint, trim, and lighting
- One project manager and one schedule, not a string of separate contractors
- Final inspections and a walk-through punch list
You can see the range of our finished work in our project portfolio, our full service list is at Tampa Bay remodeling services, and we cover neighborhood-level work like complete home remodeling in Town N Country.
What Homeowners Say
Licensed, insured, and local. Craftline is a licensed and insured design build contractor and a NARI Tampa Bay member, holding a 5.0 rating across 93 Google reviews.
Start Your Whole-Home Remodel in Tampa Bay
Tell us about your house and your goals. We walk the home, confirm your permitting jurisdiction, build a scope, and give you a real number and a real timeline. Schedule a free quote or call (813) 522-4359.