A whole-home renovation is the point where a remodel stops being one room at a time and becomes the whole house: kitchen and baths, floors, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, windows and doors, often the roof, and often the floor plan itself. LanCo Construction has been doing this work in Pinellas County since 1986, on houses from the early 1920s right up to homes only ten or fifteen years old. The reasons differ — a century-old bungalow needs its systems replaced, a 2010 house needs a layout and finishes that match how people live now — but the process is the same. Here is what the project actually involves, and the one rule that decides most of them.
What does a whole-home renovation include?
Whatever the house needs to work as a single, current home rather than a collection of past updates. In practice that usually means new kitchen and bathrooms, new flooring throughout, updated electrical service and wiring, replacement plumbing where the original has reached the end of its life, new or reworked HVAC, impact-rated windows and doors where code requires them, and frequently a changed floor plan — removing walls to open the main living space, converting a garage, adding a covered porch or a small addition. It is one permit, one schedule, and one crew that knows the whole house, instead of five separate projects that never quite meet.
Renovate or tear down — how do you decide in a flood zone?
In Pinellas County this is usually decided by a number, not a preference. If the house is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, the cost of the renovation is measured against the FEMA substantial-improvement limit — 49% of the structure’s market value in St. Petersburg, unincorporated Pinellas and Redington Shores, 50% in most of the other beach cities. Stay under it and you renovate the house as it stands. Cross it and the entire building has to be brought up to current flood standards, which for a slab-on-grade house usually means it can’t simply be renovated at all.
That is why whole-home renovations in a flood zone go one of four ways: scope the work to stay under the limit; convert the ground floor to non-habitable use and build the living space above it; lift the house; or take it down and build new. Which one makes sense depends on the structure’s value, what the house needs, and what you want it to be for the next thirty years. In St. Petersburg the limit is measured per project — earlier permitted work does not count against you. Our flood zone construction guide walks through the calculation, and our page on the FEMA 50% rule in St. Petersburg covers what counts toward it. We run this number before any design work, because it decides whether there is a design.
Outside the flood zone — and a large share of St. Petersburg is Zone X — none of this applies, and the question is simply what the house needs and what it’s worth putting into it.
What have we renovated recently?
In Madeira Beach, a whole-home remodel of an elevated waterfront home: new kitchen, a folding glass wall opening the living space to the water, a covered porch addition, and a three-stop residential elevator. The home was already FEMA-compliant when we started, and the work was designed and permitted to keep it that way — engineered flood vents in the new ground-level enclosure, flood-resistant materials below flood level, mechanical equipment elevated, and the ground floor left as non-habitable parking, storage and access. See the project.
On 22nd Avenue Southeast in St. Petersburg, a mid-century home was renovated with a full kitchen remodel, the attached garage converted into a master suite, and a new covered porch — the kind of project that changes how the whole house lives without changing its footprint much.
On 20th Avenue Southeast in St. Petersburg, a full renovation of the house was combined with an addition and a new detached garage.
Does the age of the house change the project?
Yes, mostly in the parts you can’t see. In houses from the 1920s through the 1960s the work usually includes original wiring and undersized panels, cast-iron or galvanized drain lines, little or no insulation, single-pane windows, and framing that was fine for its day but doesn’t meet current wind-load requirements once opened up. In a house from the 2000s or 2010s the bones are usually sound and the renovation is about the plan and the finishes — opening a closed-off kitchen, replacing builder-grade everything, rethinking a floor plan that was designed for a different family. Either way, a whole-home renovation is the moment to do it, because the walls are open anyway. It’s also where budgets go wrong: what you find behind the walls counts toward the flood-zone limit and toward the cost, so we build a contingency into the plan and tell you what we’ve found as we find it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I live in the house during a whole-home renovation?
No. A whole-home renovation takes the kitchen, bathrooms, electrical and plumbing out of service for extended periods, and the house is an active construction site throughout. Plan to be out for the duration. For a single room or an addition that’s different — but for a full renovation the answer is a clear no, and we’d rather say so up front.
Do I need a permit for a whole-home renovation?
Yes, in every jurisdiction we work in. A whole-home renovation typically involves building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits, and in a flood zone the substantial-improvement review comes first. We prepare the application, manage plan review, and schedule every inspection through to the final.
Does the FEMA 49% rule apply if I’m not changing the footprint?
Yes. The rule is about cost against structure value, not size. A renovation that never adds a square foot can still cross the limit if enough is being replaced — and contractor overhead and profit count toward the total. If the house is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, the number is checked before design regardless of scope.
How long does a whole-home renovation take?
Most whole-home renovations run three to four months, from the start of demolition to final inspection. Projects that combine the renovation with a substantial addition, or that run into structural or code work behind the walls, can take longer — we’ll give you a realistic schedule for your specific scope before you sign.
Thinking about the whole house? Talk to us or call (727) 533-9515.