Renovation Contractor in Hollywood, FL

Hollywood, Florida

Hollywood was laid out in the early 1920s by Joseph Young as a planned resort city, with a street grid, building restrictions and two yacht basins dredged out and connected to the Intracoastal. A century later it is the third-largest city in Broward County, and much of what people want to own here still sits around the water Young planned: the houses on the lakes, the streets between the Intracoastal and the ocean, and the condos along Hollywood Beach.

What makes renovating here different is age. By 1960 the city already had more than 12,000 single-family homes, and many of them are still standing. A typical Hollywood project for us is not a new-build. It is a house from the 1950s or 1960s on a good lot, often on the water, that needs to be taken apart and rebuilt to work for the way people live now.

We know this kind of house well. Our Hollywood Lake House project was a 1960s lakefront home that we took back to structure and rebuilt.

What we learned rebuilding a 1960s lakefront house

The Hollywood Lake House is the clearest example of what these homes need. We replaced the roof and the windows, moved the kitchen toward the light, opened a glass wall to the water, rebuilt all four bathrooms with waterproofing from the substrate up, redid the yard and re-stuccoed the exterior. The lessons carry to almost every house of that era here:

• The layout is the problem, not the finishes. In the Lake House, moving the kitchen toward the light and opening a glass wall to the water changed how the house lives more than any material choice. Older houses often need that kind of rethink.
• Bathrooms have to be rebuilt, not refreshed. Sixty-year-old shower pans and wall substrates are where hidden water damage lives. We waterproof from the substrate up, which is the only way a new bathroom lasts. Our article on bathroom waterproofing in Florida explains why.
• Openings on the water side need engineering. A wide glass wall in an old block house means a new header or beam, impact-rated glazing and careful flashing at the sill.
• The envelope comes first. Roof, windows and stucco protect everything inside. Doing them early in the schedule keeps the new interior dry.

Historic districts and design review

Hollywood has its own historic preservation review. The city’s Historic Preservation Board hears applications for Certificates of Appropriateness, and its records list several designated areas, including the Lakes Area historic multiple resource listing district, the Historic Hollywood Business District downtown and the Hollywood Beach Historic Overlay District. Past board agendas include renovations, additions, window replacements, circular driveways and partial demolitions.

If your house is in one of those areas, exterior changes can need board approval before a building permit. That is not a reason to avoid a renovation, but it changes the order of work: design, board, then permit. Check your property’s status with the city’s Planning and Zoning staff before you commit to a design.

Water, flood zones and the 50% rule

Hollywood has 5 to 6 miles of ocean beach, the Intracoastal and its dredged lakes, so for any house near the water the FEMA flood zone is one of the first things to check. If your home is in a high-risk zone, the 50% rule applies: when the cost of improvements reaches half of the structure’s market value, the whole building must meet current flood requirements for new construction, which can mean elevating it. For an older house on a valuable lot, that threshold can arrive sooner than expected, so run the numbers before design. We explain how in our article on the FEMA 50% rule.

On the beach itself, exterior construction seaward of the state’s Coastal Construction Control Line needs a Florida DEP permit, although repairs inside an existing foundation are generally exempt.

Condos on Hollywood Beach

Along the beach, the work is mostly condo apartments: kitchens, bathrooms and flooring in buildings with association rules, elevator bookings and limited working hours. Ask whether your building has a milestone inspection or concrete restoration underway, since that can limit access during your project. The same approach we use in Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach applies here; see our condo renovation rules guide.