Building permits in Lee County, Florida

Which jobs need a permit

Lee County requires a permit for any in-ground pool, and for an above-ground pool once its water depth reaches 24 inches. Florida’s HB 803 exemption may also apply: the county must waive the building permit for work under $7,500 on a single-family home once you file a written exemption request, unless the job is electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work or the property sits in a flood hazard area.

What the application actually asks for

Lee County calls a backyard shed a Residential Accessory Structure permit and a swimming pool a Residential Pool permit. The Shed and Deck Guide’s site plan needs all four lot corners, setbacks from every property line, and any body of water within 25 feet; the plans can be engineered drawings from a Florida design professional, a state-approved prefabricated shed with anchoring details, or one of the county’s master shed plans. The Pool Guide’s plot plan instead asks for lot size, setbacks to the front, side, and rear property lines, and the pool’s size, deck, steps, and equipment location. Every pool also needs a barrier, a fence, wall, or screen enclosure, and the guide says the barrier itself requires a separate enclosure or fence permit, not just the pool permit. Both also require a Notice of Commencement, recorded with the Clerk of Court, once project value passes $5,000; skipping it is what commonly holds up a permit.

How eConnect works, and who may skip it

A contractor must hold a state license registered with the county or a county-issued certificate of competency, and must apply through eConnect. Only an owner-builder may bring a paper application instead to the Public Works Building on Monroe Street, with an Owner-Builder Disclosure Statement. Registering for eConnect creates an account to pick the right record type, attach the required documents, and track the review under My Records. The county’s own aca.leegov.com address is currently down; if you only need to search an existing permit rather than apply for a new one, our guide to Lee County’s eConnect record search has the working address.

The fee, worked for a shed and for a pool

Every application opens with three charges: a $50 application fee, a $35 technology fee, and an operational support fee priced as a percentage of total review and inspection fees that can change with the county’s revenue and expenditure trends; no current rate is published. A shed’s plan review from there is $35 to $50 initial, its regulatory review is $25, and its structural, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing inspections each run $50 for a work area of 2,500 sq ft or less, though roofing inspections run $100 instead. A pool follows the same shape: plan review $35 initial, regulatory review $25, and structural, electrical, and plumbing inspections each $50 per required inspection.

Booking inspections and closing the permit

Once the permit is issued, inspections are requested through eConnect, by calling the Automated Inspection System at 239-533-8997, or by texting SelecTXT at 855-527-1863. The Shed and Deck Guide lists common inspections for a site-built shed, including Foundation/Footing, Floor/Slab, Tie Beam, Rough Framing, Insulation, Sheathing, Roof Dry In, Roof Final, and Final Shed; check the issued permit for the full list. A pre-manufactured shed’s list is shorter: Foundation, Floor/Slab, and Final Shed. A below-ground pool starts with a Foundation and Footing inspection, then a Pool Steel inspection paired with a bonding inspection requested together, then a Pool Deck inspection paired with a second bonding inspection, and closes with a Pool Final. Every one of these permits expires if it does not pass an inspection within 180 days of issuance. Once every required inspection passes, the permit is closed and the county issues the Certificate of Compliance or Certificate of Occupancy, both available through eConnect.

What Lee County does not publish

Neither guide says how many days a completeness check or a full plan review takes. The only deadline either one publishes runs the other way: once a reviewer rejects an application, the county gives the applicant 30 days to fix the listed problems and resubmit. The permit data behind this site leaves the processing-time field blank for both the shed and the pool.