Fix and flip, construction management, interior design and decoration

The difference is in the millwork and the light.

Real projects in Florida, photographed from framing to handover. No renders and no stock photography.

We design and manage interior renovations where every piece is built to measure: timber millwork, lighting integrated into the structure itself, and stone feature walls that turn an ordinary room into the reason someone buys the house.

Every project on this page is ours. We show no one else's work and no renders. Below are the site photographs, framing to finish, because what decides whether a renovation lasts is the layer nobody photographs.

HomeownersRenovate the house you live in, designed and managed start to finish.SellersFix only what a buyer pays for, before you list.InvestorsFix and flip, with the work priced before you buy.

Fix and flip
Construction management
Interior design
Decoration
Custom millwork
Bathrooms
Kitchens
Owner's representation

Services

Four disciplines, one firm

Whether you are buying to resell, renovating, designing or furnishing, one team carries the project from the first walkthrough to the day it is photographed.

01 Fix and flip Scope and a line-item budget before you buy, one finish palette for the buyer at that price, and weekly oversight until the house is ready to list. See how it works

02 Construction management Demolition to handover, built by licensed Florida contractors and managed by us: bids compared line by line, every draw checked against finished work, a photo report every week. See a week on site

03 Interior design Layout, millwork, lighting and materials drawn and specified as one project, so your contractor builds from a document instead of a conversation. See the work

04 Decoration Paint, moulding, lighting, furniture and styling that change how a room reads without moving a wall, from a single room to a rental ready for photographs. Ways to start

site stages documented on one house, framing to handover

3to5

weeks for a complete bathroom

2to6

months for a whole house, depending on scope

languages, English and Spanish

We prepare your property for the market, maximize your equity, and protect your investment.

Before you list, we tell you which repairs a buyer actually pays for and which are money lost, at real Orlando costs and prioritized by return. We put the work out to licensed contractors, oversee it on your behalf, and hand it back ready to photograph. A 1998 kitchen and a tired roof cost a seller far more at the negotiating table than fixing them beforehand would have.

Selected work

Six rooms from one house

The millwork carries from one room into the next. That is what makes an open plan read as one piece instead of three rooms pushed together.

Great room with slatted oak upper cabinetry, concealed cove lighting, a slab fireplace wall and a solid timber mantel — Great room Slatted upper cabinetry with concealed cove lighting. A large-format slab fireplace wall with a solid timber mantel. 01

Full-height media wall in timber with illuminated display niches and metal reveals — Media wall Floor-to-ceiling shelving and cabinetry with lit niches and metal reveals. All power and data concealed inside the structure. 02

Kitchen and living area with a fluted island base and an illuminated display column — Kitchen and living A fluted dark-wood island base. A column of lit niches resolves the transition from kitchen to living without using a wall. 03

Open plan great room looking through to the dining area and kitchen — Open plan The same house seen whole, with the millwork running from one room into the next. 04

The full length of the great room from the kitchen peninsula through to the dining room, with oak cabinetry above eye line on both sides — The long axis From the kitchen peninsula through to the dining room with nothing in between. The high oak run sits at the same height on both sides. That is what holds the axis together. 05

Hallway framed by a fluted timber portal with concealed LED strips set between the fins, looking through to the navy front door — The portal A fluted frame with LED set between the fins, wrapping the full opening. No fixture anywhere in sight. The light comes out of the millwork itself. 06

A two-storey feature wall in polished black marble slab with fine white veining, the coffered ceiling and arched windows reflected in it, with a television set into the face — Two storeys of one stone Polished black slab run to the coffered ceiling, the veining carried from panel to panel the whole height. The television is set into the face rather than hung on it. The blue tape marks the fireplace opening before the unit goes in. ★

Site record, whole house

A second house, from the framing up

Anyone can show a nice photograph of the finish. These are the stages of one house, in order, taken on site, and then the handover. It is the only real proof of whose work it is and how it is solved underneath.

Gutted living area mid-demolition with a new slider opening cut into the block wall — 01Demolition
Opening the block wall for the new slider. Everything else is decided here. If the opening is cut wrong, no later millwork fixes it.

New stud wall framed out in front of the existing wall with a boxed fireplace opening — 02Framing
A new wall framed in front of the existing one. The fireplace opening, the television recess and the boxes are dimensioned at this stage.

The same wall sheathed in cement board with the fireplace niche left open — 03Substrate
Cement board over the framing, not drywall. It carries the weight of the slab and keeps a feature wall from cracking at the seam a year later.

Large-format blue and gold marble-look slab being set with leveling clips still in place — 04Slab
Large-format slab set with the clips still in. The veining is laid out piece by piece before anything is bonded, so the grain carries across the seam.

Wood-look porcelain plank tile being installed with green leveling clips — 05Flooring
Wood-look porcelain plank run through the plan. One continuous floor from room to room is the cheap decision that does most to make a house read expensive.

Fluted column and matching slatted beam wrapping the opening, cement board still exposed — 06Millwork
A fluted column and matching beam wrapping the opening, cement board still exposed beside it. This is where the house stops looking like every other house.

Dropped soffit with concealed cove LED already lit, cabinets hung, walls still in cement board — 07Cove light
The dropped soffit with its LED already burning, the walls still in board. **That light is not a strip stuck on at the end. The soffit was built around it.** Which is why you never see the LED, only the glow.

Kitchen island built out in navy with a raw taped top awaiting its quartz slab — 08Island
The island built and painted, its raw top taped off waiting for quartz. Built first and measured second. The stone is cut with the island already in place.

A tradesman wiring the brass and black pendants above the finished island, new sliding doors open behind — 09Installation
Hanging the pendants over the finished island, the new slider behind him in the wall opened at the start. The same opening as photograph 01.

Finished kitchen with navy lower cabinets, white uppers, quartz counters, brass hardware and cove lighting — 10Finished
The kitchen in that same house: deep navy bases, white uppers, quartz counters, brass and black hardware, and concealed cove light in the dropped soffit.

The handover

The same house, finished

The blue and gold slab wall from step 04, with the linear fireplace now lit. The kitchen from step 10, complete. And the rest of the floor plan on handover day.

The finished blue and gold slab feature wall with a linear electric fireplace set flush into the stone, over wood-look plank tile — The slab wall, lit

Looking along the slab wall and the lit fireplace toward the kitchen, with halo downlights across the ceiling — Along the wall

The living room from the fireplace end, recessed halo lights running toward the kitchen — Halo light overhead

Open plan from the fireplace wall to the kitchen island and a black-railed staircase — Living, kitchen and stair

The finished kitchen: navy lower cabinets, white uppers, stainless appliances and a quartz waterfall island — Navy below, white above

The lit tray ceiling over the kitchen island, with black and brass dome pendants — The lit tray ceiling

Quartz waterfall island with a navy base under two black and brass dome pendants — Waterfall quartz island

Bedroom with a dark plank floor, chair rail and sliding glass doors — Bedroom

In motion

What a photograph can't quite carry

Integrated light only makes sense when you move through it: the cove that never shows its source, the fluting that shifts with the angle, the slab whose veining carries from one piece into the next. Four short takes, no sound, filmed in place.

The great room The slab wall and the ring fixture, entering from the kitchen.

The portal Fluting with LED set between each piece, and the backlit arched mirror beyond. You never see the light, only what it lands on.

The onyx bath The veining running wall to floor without a break. That gets decided at the stone yard, before anything is cut.

The fireplace, lit The blue and gold wall from the second house, finished. The linear fireplace sits flush with the stone, with no surround or mantel above it. It is the same wall shown half-set in step 04. ★

Before and after

One house, start to finish

The same house, the same three rooms, photographed from the same place. Then two rooms from the second house. Nothing in the first one was broken when we bought it: grey walls, catalogue stacked stone, a dropped soffit cutting the ceiling in half, a floor somebody else had already chosen. Nothing broken, and still tens of thousands of dollars of discount sitting on the negotiating table.

The fireplace wall

Same wall, same timber mantel

Great room before renovation: a stacked stone fireplace with an arched plaster niche and rustic timber mantel, under a dropped soffit, with grey walls and a ceiling fan — Before
Stacked stone to the ceiling with an arched niche above it, a dropped soffit running the length of the long wall, and a paddle fan in the middle. The living room of almost every Florida house built in the 2000s.

The same wall after renovation: a full-height marble-look plaster slab with a linear fireplace, the original timber mantel reinstalled, and a run of light oak cabinetry with a fluted panel where the soffit used to be — After
Full-height slab on the same wall, a linear fireplace set into it, and the original timber mantel put back where it was. The dropped soffit became a run of light oak cabinetry with a fluted section. Not one piece of structure moved.

The open plan

Same view, kitchen to entry

The same open plan after renovation: fluted timber column at the kitchen peninsula, full-height oak cabinetry the length of the room, sculptural ring chandelier and the plaster fireplace slab at right — After
A fluted column at the end of the peninsula, oak cabinetry running the full length above eye line, the ring chandelier in the centre and the fireplace slab at the right. The same room, read in one go.

The dining room

Same window, same arch

Dining room before renovation: an empty grey room with a tall multi-pane window, a wrought iron chandelier and an arched opening beside the front door — Before
A double-height window the house wasn't using, a wrought iron fixture that didn't belong to it, and three flat walls. This is the room a buyer sees first when the door opens.

The same dining room after renovation: a full-height applied moulding panel wall, a deep green painted ceiling, floor-to-ceiling sheers on the tall window and a sculptural ring chandelier over a marble table — After
A full-height applied moulding wall, the ceiling painted deep green, sheers run the entire height of the window, and a ring fixture over a marble table. Millwork and paint. Not one new wall.

The kitchen

Another house, same kitchen and same footprint

The same kitchen after renovation: navy lower cabinets, white uppers, quartz counters, brass and black hardware and concealed cove lighting in a dropped soffit — After
Deep navy bases, white uppers, quartz counters, brass and black hardware, and concealed cove light in the soffit. The same footprint. Not one plumbing line was moved.

The stone wall

Second house, same wall

The blue and gold slab wall set floor to ceiling, the linear fireplace opening cut and framed before the unit goes in — In progress
Four panels of blue stone with gold veining, selected and flipped so the pattern mirrors across the centre joint. The fireplace box is cut and framed, the unit not yet in. If the veining doesn't meet here, it never will.

The same wall finished, the linear electric fireplace installed flush and burning — Finished
The linear fireplace installed flush, with no surround or mantel above it. The stone does all the work, so the wall needs nothing else.

This is what equity consulting is worth. The owner who changes nothing believes they saved the cost of the work. What actually happens is the buyer discounts twice as much, and the house sits for months longer. We tell you exactly which of these line items move the price and which do not.

Fix and flip

For investors, the work is priced before you buy.

A flip loses money in three places: the scope nobody wrote down before closing, finishes that don't fit the price point, and the weeks a house sits unfinished. Those three are where we work.

Before you buy

We walk the property with you or your agent and give you the scope in writing, a line-item budget and the questions to put to your inspector. You make the offer with the renovation already priced.

Design that sells

One palette for the whole house, chosen for the buyer at that price: floors, kitchen, baths, lighting and paint, with exact products and quantities.

Bids and build

Bids from licensed Florida contractors, compared line by line. Every draw is checked against finished work before you release it, changes go in writing, and each week you get a photo report against the schedule.

Ready to list

Punch list, final clean and the house prepared for photographs. If you need it, the listing copy too, in English and Spanish.

Case 01Second house, framing to handover

Case 02First house, before and after

On siteWhat a week on site looks like

Send the property on WhatsApp Free 30-minute call

We don't promise returns or guarantee a sale price. You get the scope, the numbers and the schedule, and the decision stays yours.

On site

What a week on site looks like

Demolition, structure, flooring, trim and materials runs, photographed on our projects while the work was happening. A renovation is won or lost in weeks like these, which is why we are on site every week, with a photo report.

A tile setter bent over the floor, laying wood-look plank tile with leveling clips across a gutted living area — Plank tile, clip by clip Wood-look porcelain plank with a leveling clip at every joint, run wall to wall before the millwork goes in. A flat floor is what lets the base and the doors close properly later. ★

A worker in an Empire Nest shirt crouched at a block wall mid-demolition, rubble piled behind him — Demolition, down to the block

A worker in an Empire Nest shirt running a demolition hammer on the old floor inside a framed wall — Breaking out the old floor

A worker on a platform at a new opening between the living area and the kitchen — Opening the wall to the kitchen

A worker in an Empire Nest shirt kneeling with a headlamp, measuring door trim after dark — Trim after dark, to hold the schedule

A worker in an Empire Nest shirt cutting a long board on a saw stand in a white room — Cutting lumber on site

A worker in an Empire Nest shirt carrying rebar on his shoulder down a lumber aisle — Rebar for the structure

A worker in an Empire Nest shirt carrying a bag of concrete mix and a panel down a building supply aisle — Materials, same day

Every week

A site visit and a photo report, from demolition to handover.

Talk about a project

On client projects, construction is carried out by the licensed Florida contractor the owner hires directly. Empire Nest designs, manages and represents you.

Bathrooms

The room that returns money fastest

And the one that gives away sloppy work soonest. Large-format slab on the walls, a recessed niche, linear drain, floating vanity, backlit mirror and cove lighting.

Primary bathroom clad floor to ceiling in blue-grey onyx-look slab with a freestanding tub, navy fluted vanity and brass fittings — Primary bath Blue onyx-look slab floor to ceiling, walls and floor, with the veining aligned at the corners. Freestanding tub, fluted floating vanity, heated towel rail and brushed brass fittings. ★

Close view of the onyx primary bath: navy fluted vanity with integrated basin, brass faucet and a hexagon niche — DetailThe layout
The slab is selected so the big vein lands behind the tub rather than cut in half by the basin. That gets decided at the stone yard, not on site.

A second bath in dark onyx-look slab with a fluted floating vanity, backlit mirror and frameless shower — Second bathSame stone, smaller room
The onyx-look slab runs floor and walls here too, with a fluted floating vanity, a backlit mirror and a frameless shower. In a small room, one material on every surface is what makes it read larger.

Site record, one bathroom

From nothing to finished, in order

Six stages of one bathroom. The two in the middle are the ones no competitor shows, and they are the ones that decide whether it lasts twenty years or two.

A new bathroom framed from scratch with the drain and vent stack run and the ceiling boarded — 01Framing
Built from nothing: new walls, the drain and vent stack run, the ceiling in moisture-resistant board. The size of the shower is decided here and cannot change afterward.

Rough-in stage with new PEX supply, a set valve and the black shower pan liner folded into the corners — 02Rough-in
New supply with its valve, and the black shower pan liner folded and sealed into the corners. **Done badly, the damage shows up two years later and everything has to come out.**

Waterproofing membrane painted red over the board, the curb and the recessed niche — 03Waterproofing
The red membrane over board, curb and niche before a single piece is set. It reads red because it is there. **This is the layer almost nobody photographs.**

Large-format tile set across the walls with leveling clips at every joint and string lines run — 04Tile
Large-format tile with a leveling clip at every joint and string lines run. Those clips are the difference between a flat wall and one that shows every lipped edge when light rakes across it.

Self-levelling compound poured on the floor with the linear drain pan bedded to its fall — 05Floor and drain
Self-levelling compound and the linear drain pan bedded to its fall. The slope gets built at this stage, never improvised at the end with extra mortar.

The finished walk-in shower with marble-look slab walls, basketweave mosaic floor, rain head and linear drain — 06Finished
A curbless shower with no kerb to step over. Slab walls, basketweave mosaic floor, recessed niche, rain head and linear drain. You walk straight in, which is what makes it work at twenty and at eighty.

Basketweave mosaic shower floor draining to a linear grate with slab walls and a recessed niche

Subway-tiled tub surround with a recessed niche in gold-grouted hexagon mosaic

Powder room with a fluted wood-look feature wall, concealed cove light running the ceiling perimeter, floating timber vanity and a matte black tap

Walk-in shower behind a black-framed sliding glass door, grey stone-look tile on walls and floor and a window inside the shower

Shower walls being set in large-format tile with red leveling clips at every joint, the niche and curb already waterproofed

Finished laundry room with wood-look plank tile on wall and floor, a floating shelf and recessed hookups

Every photograph on this page comes from our own projects, taken on site and at handover. No renders, no stock photography, no one else's work.

Scope

What the firm handles

From design to closeout, and past closeout if the property gets rented.

Interior design

Layout, palette, materials, lighting and furnishing resolved as one project. You receive the design drawn and specified, not a mood board.

Custom millwork

Media walls, entries, columns, upper cabinetry, island bases and slatted panels. Drawn, fabricated and installed to the room's exact dimension.

Integrated lighting

Linear light inside the millwork, concealed cove runs and lit niches. Planned with the structure rather than added after, which is why no wiring or channel shows.

Stone and slab

Fireplaces and feature walls in large-format slab, with cuts and seams planned so the veining carries from one piece to the next.

Dressing rooms

Built-in shelving, panelling, drawer banks and lighting. One of the few millwork pieces that needs no permit and no plumbing, so it delivers fast and changes how the whole house reads.

Equity consulting

Which work the market pays you back for and which is money lost. Prioritized by return, at real Orlando costs, so the money goes where it actually works when you sell, refinance or rent.

Finish selection

Flooring, stone, hardware, paint and lighting chosen as one palette, with exact products, quantities and where to buy at the right Orlando price.

Construction management

Bidding to licensed contractors, scope and price negotiation, draw review before money is released, written change orders, a weekly site visit with a photo report, and a closeout punch list.

Property oversight

For the owner who lives elsewhere: maintenance and vendor coordination, periodic inspections with a photo report, and complete short-term rental setup: furnishing, photography and HOA rule verification.

Fix and flip

Scope and a line-item budget before closing, a finish palette for the buyer at that price, bidding to licensed contractors, and weekly oversight until the house is ready to list.

You pay Empire Nest. The construction money never passes through us.

You contract directly with the licensed Florida contractor you choose, and pay that contractor directly. We vet them, negotiate on your behalf and make sure it gets built the way it was drawn. That separation is deliberate: you pay us, so we can negotiate for real. And our fee does not rise when the job does.

Engagements

Five ways to work together

Design Consultation

One visit to your home and a concept for a single room: what can be done, in what materials, and what range of investment it carries. Credited in full if you move forward with us.

Request a quote

visit and concept

Design & Finish Package

Millwork drawings, the lighting plan, and the full finish palette with exact products, quantities and supplier. Your contractor builds from a document, not from a conversation.

Request a quote

per room

Complete Bathroom, Managed

Fixed scope, demolition to handover: large-format slab, waterproofing, recessed niche, linear drain, floating vanity, backlit mirror and cove lighting. Construction is paid by you directly to the licensed contractor.

Request a quote

per bathroom

Design & Full Management

Everything above, plus bidding, materials procurement, permit tracking with the contractor, weekly oversight and handover.

Request a quote

whole project

Investor Package, Fix and Flip

A pre-purchase walkthrough and a written scope with a line-item budget. Then design for the buyer, bidding and weekly oversight through to the listing photographs. Construction is paid by you directly to the licensed contractor.

Request a quote

per property

Fixed price, online

If you'd rather start with something specific, these services are booked directly at theempirenest.com, at a published price.

To start 30-Minute Strategy Call Bring your plans, your quotes or your questions. You leave with a short written plan. Free Before you sign Renovation Quote Review Up to three contractor quotes compared line by line, with the gaps most likely to turn into change orders. $450 During the build Owner's Representation Someone on your side every week: contractor calls, schedule and budget, change orders and invoices reviewed before you pay. $1,200 a month Materials Supplier Sourcing Consultation A 90-minute working session and a written brief for buying products or materials direct from the manufacturer. $350 Design Interior Refresh A decorative design for one room. $750 For rentals Rental Ready A design direction for two rooms, with layouts, product picks and a checklist to get ready for photographs. $1,500

Real timelines. A complete bathroom runs 3 to 5 weeks. A whole house, 2 to 6 months depending on scope, and often less. Demolition, new plumbing and electrical, large-format slab and custom millwork do not happen in three weeks, and anyone who promises otherwise will deliver late or badly. You get the schedule in writing before we start, and a weekly report against it.

Not renovating yet? We also review contractor bids and inspection reports remotely, in 24 to 48 hours. Write us and we'll send the detail and a quote.

The firm

Empire Nest

Empire Nest LLC is an interior design, renovation management and owner's representation firm serving the whole state of Florida, with most of its work in Miami, Orlando and Tampa. You deal with whoever runs your project, never with an account executive.

Principal

Gisselle Gonzalez. Owner's representative and principal designer. Runs the design, the written scope, the bidding to licensed contractors, the budget and the relationship with you. Six years running renovations and construction materials procurement in Florida. MBA. Works in English and Spanish.

Construction consulting

Luis Vargas. Walks the job, assesses the quality of the work against the written scope, and catches bad work before it gets covered up. He is the one who looks at what sits behind the finish.

To be clear: Empire Nest is not a licensed contractor and does not perform construction work. The firm designs, writes the scope, and represents you to the licensed Florida contractor you contract directly. We do not perform home inspections either.

Contact

Tell us about the property

Send photographs of the space, or the listing link if you're buying, and what you'd like it to become. We reply the same business day, in English or Spanish.

Request a quote

Message on WhatsApp Free 30-minute call

WhatsApp and phone

(786) 203-1541

hello@theempirenest.com

Online

theempirenest.com

Areas and languages

All of Florida, in English and Spanish