Florida permit requirements

We have read and dated 319 permit rules across 31 jurisdictions in Florida. They do not all say the same thing: shed thresholds alone run from 36 to 600 sq ft across 20 of them.

Jurisdictions: 31
Verified rules: 319
Permit always required: 214
Depends on the project: 91

Do you need a building permit in Florida?

Usually yes, but not from Florida itself: permits are issued by the city or county, not the state, so the rule that governs your project is the one your own jurisdiction publishes. 214 of those local rules require a permit outright, 91 depend on a size or scope condition the office publishes, and 3 need none. Florida sets the building code those local rules derive from; your city or county sets the threshold and the fee.

Recent rule changes in Florida

Florida waives permits for small single-family jobs under $7,500 (HB 803)

Starting July 1, 2026, Florida local governments must exempt minor single-family home work under $7,500 from permits, unless it is electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, gas work, or on a flood hazard parcel.

Statewide, Florida · ch. 2026-63 (HB 803), F.S. 553.79 · published 25 Jul 2026

Broward County, FL updates building permit fee schedule (Ordinance 2025-038)

Effective May 1, 2025, Broward County's Ordinance 2025-038 sets a $125 minimum permit fee and charges structural, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing permits at 3.0 percent of job value up to $10 million.

Broward County, FL · Ord. 2025-038 · published 25 Jul 2026

How permitting works in Florida

By Mario Bailey Last checked 26 Sep 2026 · 4 official sources

Who writes the code, and who enforces it

Florida runs on one statewide code, the Florida Building Code, Residential, built on the International Residential Code with Florida amendments, including High Velocity Hurricane Zone rules for South Florida counties. The Florida Building Commission, inside the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, adopts and updates it; the current edition, the 8th Edition (2023), took effect December 31, 2023. The commission does not issue your permit. Every county and city we track enforces the code through its own building department, which reviews plans, collects fees, and schedules inspections.

What the state decides for everyone

Two Tallahassee rules reach every Florida address. Since July 1, 2026, section 553.79(1)(g) (HB 803, ch. 2026-63) requires your city or county to waive the building permit for work under $7,500 on a single-family home, unless the job is electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work, or the property sits in a flood hazard area, and only once you file a written exemption request. Florida’s counties are applying this exemption differently; see what Florida lets you build without a permit for how the exemption rules play out county by county. Separately, section 489.103(7) lets a homeowner pull their own permit as an owner-builder on their own one or two family home, if they personally supervise every trade they did not hire a licensed contractor for and do not sell or lease the home within a year.

What your county or city decides

Each Florida city or county, not the state, publishes its own permit fees, plan review timelines, and inspection scheduling. That is why the 31 Florida jurisdictions we track can require the identical permit and still charge, review, and inspect it differently. See how much they agree with each other below.

If work was done without a permit

Starting permit-required work before the permit is in effect is a first degree misdemeanor under section 489.127(2)(a) for an unlicensed person, and a homeowner doing the work personally counts as unlicensed under chapter 489, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, becoming a third degree felony on a repeat violation or during a declared state of emergency. The building official can also add a local fee on top of the normal permit cost and issue a stop work order. See penalties and what the statute says for the full citations.

Florida Building Commission, effective date of the current (8th Edition, 2023) Florida Building Code, read 26 Sep 2026
Florida Statutes section 553.79, the statewide permit requirement and the HB 803 small-job exemption at (1)(g), read 26 Sep 2026
Florida Statutes section 489.127, penalties for starting permit-required work before the permit is in effect, read 26 Sep 2026
Florida Statutes section 489.103, the owner-builder exemption from contractor licensing, read 26 Sep 2026

Do Florida jurisdictions agree?

Every row below is a measurement at least two Florida jurisdictions publish, compared against each other. This is the question a statewide answer cannot settle, because the number that governs your project is the one your own city or county publishes.

Project	Published threshold	Jurisdictions	Agreement
Shed	36 to 600 sq ft	20	10 different numbers
Roof Replacement	$500 to $7,500	10	3 different numbers
Roof Replacement	100 to 500 sq ft	6	2 different numbers
Pool	24 to 42 inches	13	2 different numbers
Deck	18 to 30 inches	2	2 different numbers
Fence	6 to 8 feet	3	3 different numbers
Deck	100 to 120 sq ft	2	2 different numbers
Roof Replacement	25 percent	2	Same number in all 2

1 of 8 comparable measurements is uniform across Florida; 7 are not. Latest verification 2026-10-30.

Where Florida jurisdictions split

The verdict for each project across the 31 Florida jurisdictions we cover. On 9 of 13 projects they do not give the same answer, which is why a statewide answer is not one.

Project	Permit required	Depends	No permit	Across the state
Deck	25	6		Answer varies
Electrical	27	4		Answer varies
Fence	16	12	3	Answer varies
HVAC	24	7		Answer varies
Plumbing	26	5		Answer varies
Pool	21	10		Answer varies
Roof Replacement	18	13		Answer varies
Shed	14	17		Answer varies
Patio	7	14		Answer varies
Solar	30			Same answer everywhere
Bathroom Remodel		3		Same answer everywhere
EV Charger	3			Same answer everywhere
Water Heater	3			Same answer everywhere

Building without a permit in Florida

Building without a required permit is illegal under Florida state law: section 553.79(1)(a), Florida Statutes, makes it unlawful to construct, erect, alter, modify, repair, or demolish any building without first obtaining a permit, and section 489.127(1)(h) separately prohibits any person from starting permit-required work before the permit is in effect. For an unlicensed person, and a homeowner doing the work personally is unlicensed under chapter 489, violating that prohibition is a first degree misdemeanor under section 489.127(2)(a), punishable by up to 1 year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 under sections 775.082(4)(a) and 775.083(1)(d).

Penalties, the as-built path, and what the statute actually says

What you can build without a permit in Florida

3 of the 308 answered rules across Florida need no permit at all and 91 turn on a size or scope condition the jurisdiction publishes, by project and jurisdiction, in each office's own words.

The exemptions and conditions, jurisdiction by jurisdiction

What a permit costs in Florida

There is no single Florida permit fee. Each jurisdiction in Florida sets and publishes its own, and they do not use the same pricing model, so the figure that applies to your project is the one your own city or county publishes. Below is every Florida project where we have quoted one, verbatim, from the office's own schedule.

Project in Florida	Jurisdictions publishing a fee
Electrical	28
HVAC	28
Plumbing	28
Roof Replacement	28
Pool	27
Shed	25
Deck	24
Solar	23
Fence	21
Patio	12
Bathroom Remodel	3
EV Charger	3
Water Heater	3

Each row links to the Florida table carrying every quoted fee, its source and its verification date. We do not publish a Florida average: the notes mix flat minimums, valuation percentages and per-fixture charges, so an average would be a number no office charges.

Building code in Florida

Florida Building Code, Residential. Based on the International Residential Code (IRC), with extensive Florida amendments including High Velocity Hurricane Zone provisions.

Administered by Florida Building Commission (Department of Business and Professional Regulation). Official source

South Florida counties apply additional High Velocity Hurricane Zone requirements.

Most local permit thresholds derive from this code. See our sources and standards.

What each Florida jurisdiction publishes

One line per jurisdiction, written from its own rules rather than from a state summary. This is the section that used to be a list of links, and the states with the fewest jurisdictions to compare are the ones it says the most about.

Alachua County 10 rules
7 of 9 projects always need a permit and 2 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are roof replacement and shed. Published thresholds include roof replacement at 100 sq ft and shed at 150 sq ft. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Brevard County 10 rules
4 of 9 projects always need a permit and 5 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are electrical, fence, plumbing, pool and shed. Published thresholds include shed at 100 sq ft and pool at 24 inches. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Broward County 10 rules
9 of 10 projects always need a permit and 1 turns on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are roof replacement. Published thresholds include roof replacement at $7,500.
Charlotte County 10 rules
9 of 10 projects always need a permit and 1 turns on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are shed. Published thresholds include shed at 68 sq ft and pool at 24 inches.
Clay County 10 rules
7 of 8 projects always need a permit and 1 turns on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are fence. Published thresholds include fence at $7,500. 2 questions are unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Collier County 10 rules
9 of 10 projects always need a permit and 1 turns on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are patio. Published thresholds include roof replacement at $1,500.
Escambia County 10 rules
9 of 10 projects need a permit, and 1 does not. The ones that depend on the project are roof replacement and shed. No permit at all for fence. Published thresholds include shed at 120 sq ft and roof replacement at 2 squares.
Hernando County 10 rules
6 of 10 projects always need a permit and 4 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are HVAC, patio, pool and shed. Published thresholds include shed at 120 sq ft and pool at 24 inches.
Hillsborough County 10 rules
6 of 10 projects always need a permit and 4 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are fence, patio, roof replacement and shed. Published thresholds include roof replacement at 25 percent and shed at 150 sq ft.
Jacksonville 10 rules
9 of 10 projects need a permit, and 1 does not. The ones that depend on the project are HVAC, patio and plumbing. No permit at all for fence.
Lake County 10 rules
5 of 9 projects always need a permit and 4 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are deck, fence, pool and shed. Published thresholds include pool at 42 inches and shed at 120 sq ft. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Lee County 10 rules
7 of 10 projects always need a permit and 3 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are patio, pool and roof replacement. Published thresholds include pool at 24 inches and roof replacement at $7,500.
Leon County 10 rules
6 of 10 projects always need a permit and 4 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are deck, fence, patio and shed. Published thresholds include shed at 100 sq ft and deck at 100 sq ft.
Manatee County 10 rules
2 of 10 projects always need a permit and 8 turn on the size or scope of the work. Only roof replacement and solar work always needs one. Published thresholds include deck at 120 sq ft and shed at 120 sq ft.
Marion County 10 rules
6 of 9 projects always need a permit and 3 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are deck, HVAC and shed. Published thresholds include shed at 100 sq ft and deck at 1 step. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Martin County 13 rules
12 of 13 projects always need a permit and 1 turns on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are bathroom remodel.
Miami 13 rules
8 of 12 projects always need a permit and 4 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are bathroom remodel, electrical, HVAC and plumbing. Published thresholds include plumbing at $2,500. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Miami-Dade County 10 rules
7 of 10 projects always need a permit and 3 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are deck, patio and roof replacement. Published thresholds include deck at 18 inches and shed at 400 sq ft.
Orange County 10 rules
9 of 10 projects always need a permit and 1 turns on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are roof replacement. Published thresholds include shed at 120 sq ft and roof replacement at $7,500.
Osceola County 10 rules
Every one of the 9 projects we checked needs a permit. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Palm Beach County 10 rules
7 of 10 projects always need a permit and 3 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are patio, pool and roof replacement. Published thresholds include shed at 36 sq ft and pool at 24 inches.
Pasco County 10 rules
3 of 10 projects always need a permit and 7 turn on the size or scope of the work. Only deck, pool and solar work always needs one. Published thresholds include patio at 500 sq ft and roof replacement at $7,500.
Pinellas County 10 rules
7 of 10 projects always need a permit and 3 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are fence, roof replacement and shed. Published thresholds include shed at 100 sq ft and roof replacement at $7,500.
Polk County 10 rules
5 of 10 projects always need a permit and 5 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are fence, patio, pool, roof replacement and shed. Published thresholds include fence at 8 feet and shed at 50 sq ft.
Santa Rosa County 10 rules
8 of 9 projects need a permit, and 1 does not. The ones that depend on the project are shed. No permit at all for fence. Published thresholds include shed at 600 sq ft. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Sarasota County 10 rules
6 of 10 projects always need a permit and 4 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are deck, fence, patio and shed. Published thresholds include roof replacement at $500 and shed at 65 sq ft.
Seminole County 10 rules
7 of 9 projects always need a permit and 2 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are HVAC and pool. Published thresholds include HVAC at 10 lbs refrigerant and pool at 24 inches. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
St. Johns County 10 rules
Every one of the 10 projects we checked needs a permit. Published thresholds include pool at 150 sq ft.
St. Lucie County 10 rules
7 of 10 projects always need a permit and 3 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are patio, pool and roof replacement. Published thresholds include pool at 24 inches and roof replacement at 25 percent.
Tampa 13 rules
7 of 12 projects always need a permit and 5 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are bathroom remodel, fence, pool, roof replacement and shed. Published thresholds include fence at 7 feet and roof replacement at 500 sq ft. 1 question is unresolved because the jurisdiction publishes no answer.
Volusia County 10 rules
7 of 10 projects always need a permit and 3 turn on the size or scope of the work. The ones that depend on the project are fence, patio and shed. Published thresholds include shed at 480 sq ft.