Editorial Standards

Our goal is simple: a homeowner should be able to read one of our guides and come away with an accurate, practical answer. These are the standards we hold ourselves to.

Sources

For rules and regulations, we start with the people who make and enforce them:

• the Florida Statutes and the Florida Legislature
• the Florida Building Commission and the Florida Building Code
• the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), including the Construction Industry Licensing Board and the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board
• the Division of Workers' Compensation and the Office of Insurance Regulation
• county and city building departments, such as Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, Duval, Pinellas and Lee
• federal agencies where federal rules apply, such as FEMA for flood rules and the EPA for lead-safe work

We summarize official information in our own words and link to the source so you can confirm it. We don't copy government pages. Where rules differ between counties or cities, we say so rather than inventing a single "Florida rule".

Pricing

Remodeling prices vary widely, and no single source is reliable on its own. For each cost guide, we compare several published sources of Florida and national pricing, such as consumer cost guides and Florida contractors' published pricing, and look for where they agree. We then:

• round to sensible ranges rather than presenting false precision
• quote prices in US dollars, installed, for typical Florida work
• separate the costs contractors usually price separately, such as decking, gates or glass
• explain what pushes prices up or down, including Florida's wind and flood requirements
• show the date the ranges were last reviewed

Our ranges are planning numbers, not quotes. Your price depends on your scope, site, materials and contractor. For the details, including how our calculators work and which adjustments are our own assumptions, see how we estimate renovation costs.

Dates and updates

Every cost guide shows a "last updated" date. Permit and regulatory guides also show when they were last checked against official sources. We review regulatory pages at least every six months and pricing at least once a year, and sooner when we learn of a change, such as a new law or a new edition of the Florida Building Code.

Corrections

If you spot an error or something out of date, please contact us and choose "Correction or content feedback". We'll check it against the source and fix it if we got it wrong.

Independence from advertisers

We don't accept payment to mention a business, product or contractor in our guides, and we don't publish contractor rankings. Our relationship with contractors is described in our referral disclosure.

What we're not

We're not a government agency, and our guides aren't legal, engineering, insurance or professional advice. For decisions about your specific property, talk to your building department, a licensed design professional, your insurance agent or an attorney.