Before demo: the visit, the price and the permit
Paperwork and orders come first.
- We measure and look under the sink and around the tub, so the price matches the real plumbing.
- You get one written price, plus a short list of what gets priced separately if demo finds rotten framing or old pipes.
- We pull the permit when the job moves a drain, a supply line, a wall or a circuit, and we order the vanity and the tile and glass ahead of demo.
Our bathroom permit rules for Miami-Dade and Broward cover each city. In a building the association letter comes first, and how a condo job runs adds those steps.
Demo and rough-in
We protect the path to the door, then demo down to the studs or the block. Older Miami homes often show cast-iron drains here, so we camera-inspect what we can and show you before replacing anything.
Licensed plumbing and electrical contractors then do the rough-in under their own permits: drain and supply lines, an anti-scald valve limited to 120 °F, GFCI-protected outlets and a fan duct to the outside. Nothing gets closed in until it has been tested and the inspector approves it.
Backer board and membrane, then the flood test
The shower gets two checks before any tile. We hang cement or fiber-cement backer board in the wet area, never green board. Then we slope the pan between ¼ and ½ in per foot toward the drain and cover the floor and walls, curb included, with a bonded or liquid-applied membrane that rises at least 2 in above the curb.
Next we plug the drain and fill the pan with 2 in of water. The code asks for 15 minutes with no drop in the level; membrane makers recommend 24 hours, and we prefer to leave it overnight. The details are in our guide to shower waterproofing in Miami.
Tile and curing, then the glass
We set the tile on thinset and back-trowel large-format porcelain for near-full coverage in wet areas. Grout then cures for several days, up to a week depending on the product, and Miami humidity can stretch that.
The glass is measured once the tile is set and made in tempered safety glass. Then the vanity and toilet go in with the trim, the final inspections get signed off and we clean down to the window tracks. A full remodel runs several weeks on site; the bathroom timeline by stage breaks that down. Permits, shower walls and small layouts each have a page in our Miami bathroom guides.
Who does what under Florida license law
Florida splits a bathroom job by trade. Under Florida Statute 489.113, a general or residential contractor has to subcontract plumbing and electrical work to contractors licensed in those trades. Tile setting and interior remodeling work differently, because Florida Statute 489.117 bars cities and counties from requiring a local license for them. Under section 489.128, a contractor without the required license can't enforce the contract, and any license can be looked up with the Florida DBPR.
What we don't take on
We remodel whole bathrooms. We don't reglaze or refinish a tub by itself, put acrylic liners over an old tub, do mold remediation, take standalone plumbing repairs or remodel kitchens for now.
Frequently asked questions
Do you start demo before the permit is issued?
No. When the job needs a permit, demo waits until it is issued, because every stage after that has to pass inspection before it gets covered.
Will we see the plumbing before it gets covered?
Yes. We send photos of the rough-in and the membrane before tile hides them. You can also be there for the flood test.
Do you haul away the old tub and tile?
Yes. Everything we tear out leaves with us during demo, and in a condo they go down by the service elevator on the building's schedule. Hauling is included in the job price.
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