Home Renovations on Isle of Palms & Sullivan’s Island, SC
Kitchen, bathroom and whole-home renovations, additions and porches for the beach islands.
Renovating a Home on Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island
Houses on Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island live with salt air, wind and water, and the rules that come with them. Isle of Palms runs from older beach cottages and 1960s-to-1980s houses near Front Beach to Wild Dunes at the north end; Sullivan’s Island is smaller and older, with its historic district around Fort Moultrie and Middle Street.
That shapes every project here: the materials we specify, the way an addition is designed and elevated, and how a whole-home renovation is planned around the flood rules. Kitchens, bathrooms, porches and additions are the projects we are asked about most.
This page covers what we do on the islands, their neighbourhoods, and how each town’s flood rules, permits and design review shape a project. Consultations on the islands are free.
Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island Neighborhoods We Serve
Wild Dunes
The gated resort community at the north end of Isle of Palms, with golf, an inn and a village. Homes and villas here are renovated to the standard of the address: kitchens, bathrooms, specialty finishes, and porches built for the ocean side.
Front Beach and Ocean Boulevard
Isle of Palms’ oceanfront and the streets behind it, where elevated houses and older cottages sit side by side and any substantial improvement is planned around the City’s flood rules.
Mid-island, Palm Boulevard to the Waterway
The 1960s-to-1980s houses between Palm Boulevard and the Intracoastal Waterway, at the age for a kitchen and bathroom remodel, a whole-home update or a screened porch.
Sullivan’s Island Historic District
The streets around Fort Moultrie and Middle Street, with the island’s oldest houses. Renovation here keeps original character while the interior is rebuilt, and the Design Review Board sees exterior designs before the permit.
Sullivan’s Island, the Station streets
The numbered Station streets running from the back beach to the marsh, a mix of raised cottages and newer elevated houses. The entire island sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area, so elevation drives any addition.
Sullivan’s east end and Breach Inlet
The east end carries the island’s highest VE-zone flood elevations, 19 to 23 feet. Houses here are built and renovated around that number, with materials chosen for wind and salt.
The islands, neighbourhood by neighbourhood
On Isle of Palms the houses run from the older beach cottages and 1960s-to-1980s houses between Palm Boulevard and the ocean, through the mid-island streets, to Wild Dunes at the north end, the gated resort community with its own golf, inn and village. The City’s Comprehensive Plan (revised 2015) and its 2024 Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan set the frame for how the island builds now.
Sullivan’s Island is smaller and older, with the historic district around Fort Moultrie and Middle Street, and the Town states that the entire island lies within a Special Flood Hazard Area: oceanfront property is in the VE zone, with flood elevations from 15 to 23 feet depending on the lot, highest at the eastern end.
For a renovation that means three things. Elevation and flood rules shape any addition or substantial improvement on either island. Materials are chosen for salt air and wind. And on Sullivan’s Island the Design Review Board sees the design before the permit. We plan for all three at the first meeting.
Flood rules and permits on Isle of Palms
On Isle of Palms, all new construction and substantial improvements must meet the current flood-zone standards on the City’s flood insurance rate maps. Before a permit is issued for repairs, renovations, alterations or additions, the City runs a substantial-improvement review: the proposed improvements cannot exceed fifty percent of the appraised or assessed value of the structure, excluding the lot, without the whole house being brought up to current standards. The island’s flood zones (AE, AO and VE) each carry a base flood elevation, and a local ordinance sets a minimum finished-floor elevation of 14 feet above mean sea level (NGVD 1929) for new construction.
Permits and design review on Sullivan’s Island
The Town of Sullivan’s Island requires a permit for all additions, repairs, remodeling, pouring concrete, excavation, filling, fences and similar work, and its Design Review Board reviews and approves designs for new construction and renovations in the residential and commercial districts. The Building Department handles elevation certificates and the V-zone and coastal A-zone design certificates that go with the island’s flood zones. We manage the permit application and coordinate inspections for our own work, and where the flood rules could apply to a project they are part of the first conversation, before design.
Source: Town of Sullivan’s Island, Permit Requirements and Design Review Board
Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeling on the Islands
On the islands a kitchen or bathroom remodel has one extra question before design starts: does the cost of the work, added to any other improvements in the year, approach half the value of the house? On Isle of Palms the City runs that substantial-improvement review before a permit for repairs, renovations, alterations or additions, and on Sullivan’s Island every property is in a flood zone. We answer that question at the first consultation.
Past that, the work is the same as anywhere: a builder-standard or dated kitchen replaced with custom cabinetry, a stone counter and a layout that fits the household; a primary bathroom given a walk-in shower and materials chosen for salt air and humidity; tadelakt where the owner wants a finish tile cannot give.
Whether your island home needs a full kitchen renovation, a primary bathroom transformation, or both as one coordinated project, the standard is the same, and so is the planning around the rules that come with the address.
Services Available in Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island
We offer the full range of our work on Isle of Palms and on Sullivan’s Island: kitchens, bathrooms, whole-home renovations, additions and porches, interior refreshes and specialty plaster. Zach runs every project and is on the job managing it, and each service page below explains how we approach that kind of work.
Kitchen Remodeling
Bathroom Renovations
Whole Home Renovations
Home Additions
Tadelakt and Specialty Plaster
Interior Refresh
Screened Porches & Porch Additions
Other areas we serve: Mount Pleasant · West Ashley · Summerville · Daniel Island · James Island · Kiawah & Seabrook · North Charleston · Goose Creek & Hanahan · all locations
Frequently Asked Questions: Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island Renovations
Do you pull permits for renovation work on Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island?
Each island issues its own. On Isle of Palms, all new construction and substantial improvements must meet the flood-zone standards on the City’s flood maps, and the City runs a substantial-improvement review before a permit for repairs, renovations, alterations or additions. The Town of Sullivan’s Island requires a permit for all additions, repairs, remodeling, concrete, excavation, fences and similar work. We manage the permit application and coordinate inspections for our own work.
Does the Sullivan’s Island Design Review Board need to approve my renovation?
For exterior work, yes: the Board reviews and approves designs for new construction and renovations in the residential and commercial districts before the permit. The Building Department handles the elevation certificates and V-zone and coastal A-zone design certificates that go with the island’s flood zones. Interior work goes straight to the permit.
I have an HOA. Will they need to approve my renovation?
Wild Dunes and several island communities have an architectural review board or HOA that reviews exterior changes. We advise on what to submit and prepare the documentation. Interior renovations typically do not need HOA approval.