Interior Demolition Cost in Florida: Per Square Foot, by Room, and What's Non-Structural

Interior demolition in Florida typically costs $2 to $8 per square foot, depending on scope, materials, and access. Kitchens run $5 to $12.50 per square foot, or roughly $500 to $2,500 for an average kitchen, with tile, pipe, and fixture removal pushing toward the top. Bathrooms run about $600 to $2,000 depending on size and fixture count.

Those are averages. Kitchens with heavy tile and built-ins can reach $20 per square foot and bathrooms $60 on the high end. Labor is roughly half the total; dumping, recycling, and hauling make up most of the rest.

Florida tile removal averages $4 to $6 per square foot. Tile set in a thick mortar bed — common in older South Florida homes — runs $4 to $6.50 and up, and terrazzo is slower still, at 500 to 1,000 square feet per day. The material is heavy: stone, terrazzo, and mortar-bed tile can weigh 15 to 25 pounds per square foot once broken up, which is why disposal is a real share of the price.

Dustless removal adds about 10 to 20 percent and is worth it in an occupied home — it keeps silica dust out of the HVAC system and out of your lungs.

Non-structural interior demolition removes finishes and fixtures: cabinets, countertops, vanities, tubs and toilets after the plumber disconnects them, tile and flooring, drywall on non-bearing partitions, drop ceilings, trim, and doors. A junk removal crew can do all of it and haul it the same day.

Structural work is different in kind: load-bearing walls, headers, roof framing, and anything that changes how the house stands up. That is a licensed contractor's job under Florida law, and it needs a permit with drawings. So does moving plumbing or electrical, which is licensed trade work regardless of who swings the hammer.

Homes built before the early 1980s can contain asbestos in popcorn ceilings, 9-by-9 floor tile and its mastic, joint compound, and pipe insulation. Miami-Dade requires an asbestos survey for renovation projects over 160 square feet, and the Florida DEP's notice rules apply once regulated material above the federal thresholds is disturbed. Single-family homes and buildings of four or fewer units are exempt from most of the federal work practices, but not from the survey your county asks for.

We do not disturb suspected asbestos-containing material. If a survey finds it, licensed abatement goes first and we come in after.

In Miami-Dade, demolition of a piece of an attached structure is its own permit category and needs detail drawings of what comes out and any wiring or plumbing being removed. When the tear-out is part of a larger renovation, it usually rides on the contractor's renovation permit. Removing finishes only — cabinets, flooring, drywall on a partition — with no structural, electrical, or plumbing change is generally not a permitted act, but rules vary by municipality, so we confirm before scheduling.

If the renovation is already permitted and a contractor is doing the build, a junk removal crew is often the cheapest way to get the tear-out done and the debris gone in one visit, without the contractor's markup on demolition labor. Send photos and square footage and we quote the whole job as one number, disposal included.