Kitchen Remodeling near Florida International University
Kitchen remodeling near Florida International University is work on houses that grew up beside the campus. On the Westchester blocks around FIU, the census puts the median build year between 1966 and 1985, and most of those homes are lived in by the people who own them.
Built on an airfield, ringed by houses
Florida International University's main campus, the Modesto A. Maidique Campus, takes up five blocks between 117th and 107th avenues on the Tamiami Trail. The university says it was founded on an abandoned airfield and opened in 1969. Today it covers 342 acres. The campus and the residential streets east and south of it sit in Westchester, an unincorporated part of Miami-Dade County, while the City of Sweetwater starts across the Trail to the north. For kitchen remodeling in Westchester, that line matters twice. It decides who reviews the permit, and it separates two very different kinds of housing. The rest of this page is about the second, measured block by block.
Three blocks, three decades
How old are the houses near Florida International University?
On the Westchester blocks beside FIU, the census puts the median house at 1978 directly across SW 107th Avenue, 1966 a few blocks further east, and 1985 south of Coral Way. Owners live in most of them. North of the Tamiami Trail, in Sweetwater, nearly every unit is rented.
Those figures come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the 2019 to 2023 five-year estimates, read for the block groups that touch the campus on the east and south. Across SW 107th Avenue, the median year built is 1978 across 468 homes, and 271 of them were built in the 1970s. Eighty-one percent are lived in by their owners, and half of those owners had moved in by 1997. A 1970s kitchen remodel is the usual starting point on these streets, and an owner who arrived in the nineties and never redid the room is cooking in a kitchen at least a quarter century old.
A few blocks further east, around SW 102nd Avenue, the houses are older. Of 802 homes, 339 were built in the 1960s and 192 in the 1950s, so two out of three were already standing by the year the campus opened. The median there is 1966. Owners hold 425 of its 772 occupied homes, and the median owner arrived around 2001. That block is a 1960s kitchen remodel more often than a 1970s one.
South of Coral Way, around SW 112th Avenue, the stock is newer and more uniform. Of 397 occupied homes, 365 are lived in by their owners, 387 of the 397 are detached houses, and the median year built is 1985. A 1980s kitchen remodel there starts from a younger house, though not a new one.
The 1978 median across 107th Avenue lands on the year the federal lead-paint rule uses as its line, so roughly half of those houses fall under that rule once demolition starts.
Cross the Trail into Sweetwater and the picture flips. In the block group just north of the campus, 33 of 538 occupied units are owner-occupied, and only 64 of 559 are detached houses. That side is mostly rentals in multi-unit buildings, a different job with a different person making the decision.
These are survey estimates for small areas, so each carries a margin: two to three years on the build medians, and wider on the owner counts. Read them as the shape of the neighborhood, not as a fact about your house. We measure your house at the visit.
Remodeling an old kitchen in six phases
Kitchen remodeling near FIU is priced and scheduled the way it is everywhere else we work. A Tier 01 full remodel runs $20K to $50K over 9 to 13 weeks, a Tier 02 runs $50K to $100K over 12 to 18 weeks, and those two tiers are the most common scope in the single-family houses of west Miami-Dade. The luxury and fully custom tiers, with what each one includes, are on the full tier breakdown for Miami. What changes near the campus is what we look for first.
Discovery and design
We measure, photograph what is there, and look up the folio before anything is drawn. The visit and the written quote are free, and the proposal follows within 5 to 10 business days.
Permitting and selections
Altering the electrical or plumbing system needs a permit in unincorporated Miami-Dade, so the drawings go to review while you choose cabinets, counters and tile.
Demolition and rough-ins
The old cabinets come off and the room is opened to the studs where the plan calls for it. Electrical and plumbing rough-ins are inspected before any wall closes.
Primary installation
Cabinets, counters and appliances go in behind approved inspections, never ahead of them.
Finishes and fixtures
Backsplash, hardware, lighting and trim, in that order of dependence.
Punch-out and walk-through
The final inspection closes the permit against the property, and the record is public.
From FIU to our office
From the campus, take SW 8th Street east and turn left on SW 107th Avenue, which becomes NW 107th Avenue as it runs north. Take the Dolphin Expressway, SR 836, east (it is a toll road), exit at NW 87th Avenue and go north, then turn right on NW 41st Street. We are at 8200 NW 41st St, Suite 200-4, Doral, FL 33166, about six and a half miles from the campus. If the Dolphin Expressway is backed up, Florida's Turnpike north is the longer way around. We answer the phone Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 10 PM.
Who signs off on the work
For kitchen remodeling on most of these blocks, the county reviews the permit, because they sit in unincorporated Miami-Dade. Its permit process, in the county's words, is solely for properties with folios that start with 30, and every municipality has its own building official for work inside its limits. Sweetwater is one of them. Plan review checks the drawings against the Florida Building Code and the county code, and applications go in through the county's online portal. The county's permitting and inspection center, the Herbert S. Saffir Permitting and Inspection Center, is at 11805 SW 26 Street, southwest of the campus.
A licensed contractor on the permit
Gaven Constructions holds a Florida Certified General Contractor license, CGC1524886, and the county issues building permits only to licensed contractors or owner-builders. The same license covers all of our kitchen remodeling across Miami, and anyone can look it up before signing. The work is contracted, executed and invoiced by one company, so the name on the permit is the name on the invoice.
Questions about kitchen remodeling near Florida International University
What does a kitchen remodel cost near Florida International University?
The same as anywhere else we work, because the structure does not change by neighborhood, and the site visit and written quote are free with no trip fee. A Tier 01 full kitchen remodel runs $20K to $50K and a Tier 02 runs $50K to $100K, and those two are the most common scope in this part of Miami-Dade. What moves the number is the kitchen itself: its size, what stays where it is, and the materials you choose.
Who issues the permit for a kitchen remodel near FIU?
It depends on which side of the Tamiami Trail the house is on. The Westchester blocks east and south of the campus are unincorporated, and the county's permit process covers properties whose folio starts with 30. North of the Trail, Sweetwater is a city with its own building official. The folio on your property record settles it, and we check it at the first visit.
How often should you remodel your kitchen in a house near FIU?
There is no schedule worth quoting. What the census does show is that owners here stay: across SW 107th Avenue, half of them had moved in by 1997. A kitchen that has not been redone since then is at least a quarter century old, and age alone does not make it due. The better test is whether the layout still works for how you cook, and whether the cabinets and plumbing are holding up.
Do you also work on the Sweetwater side of the Tamiami Trail?
Yes, when the owner lives in the home. Most units just north of the campus are rented apartments in multi-unit buildings, so our kitchen remodeling on that side is for owner-occupants rather than landlords. Sweetwater runs its own building department, so a job there follows the city's permit path rather than the county's.
How long will we be without a kitchen?
Only from demolition until the fixtures are in. Design, permitting and selections come first, while your kitchen still works, so a good part of the calendar passes before anything is torn out. The written proposal states the schedule range for your scope, and we walk you through when the room goes out of service before you sign.
Are you licensed to do kitchen remodeling in Westchester?
Yes. Gaven Constructions is a Florida Certified General Contractor, license CGC1524886, and the county issues permits only to licensed contractors or owner-builders. You can look the number up on the state's licensee search before you sign, and our permit history is public on BuildZoom.
Send us the folio, and we will start from your block
Two things tell us most of what we need before a visit: the year your house was built and the first two digits of its folio. Look your address up on the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser's property search, then call us or come by 8200 NW 41st St, Suite 200-4, Doral, FL 33166, Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 10 PM. We will tell you which office reviews the permit and which tier your kitchen is likely to land in before anyone schedules demolition.
Last updated October 2026.