Contractors new to South Florida hit the same wall on their first job: they submit to the wrong office. The City of Miami Building Department and the Miami-Dade County Building Department are separate jurisdictions with separate portals, separate permit numbering systems, and separate processes. A permit pulled through Miami-Dade RER covers work in unincorporated county land. A permit pulled through the city covers work inside city limits. Getting this wrong costs time before a single tool touches the project.
That confusion is compounded right now by HB 803, which took effect July 1, 2026, and rewrote how permit timelines, private providers, and permit fees work across every building department in Florida. Contractors submitting applications right now are the first to work under the new rules in both Miami-Dade and Broward. The city-vs-county distinction, the HB 803 changes currently in effect, and the inspection and zoning processes on both sides of the county line follow.
City of Miami Building Department Jurisdiction and Services
The City of Miami Building Department has permitting authority over properties inside the city’s incorporated boundaries. Miami-Dade County’s Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER) handles everything outside those limits, covering unincorporated Miami-Dade and the municipalities that route permitting through the county.
The single most frequent mistake contractors make when entering this market is submitting to the county when the job is inside city limits, or submitting to the city when the job sits in unincorporated territory. Mailing addresses and ZIP codes don’t resolve this. Cross-reference the property folio number on the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser database to confirm the taxing district and the correct jurisdiction before filing anything.
Portals used inside the city of Miami:
- iBuild: The city’s permit application and management system. All building permit applications are initiated and tracked here.
- ePlan / ProjectDox: The city’s electronic plan review system. After a permit application is created in iBuild, supporting plans and documents are uploaded and reviewed through ProjectDox.
Both systems require a registered account. Permit expediters working inside city limits must also be registered with the city and hold a valid Business Tax Receipt before initiating a project, per City of Miami Ordinance 14279.
Services handled through the city include permit issuance, electronic plan review through ePlan, and building inspections across residential and commercial trades. For contractors managing permit volume across multiple projects and jurisdictions, a platform like Permit Hub simplifies tracking active permits, plan review status, and inspection scheduling across jobs without relying on spreadsheets.
The HB 803 changes affecting permit timelines, private provider registration, and fee structures apply to the city of Miami as they do to every local government in Florida.
What Florida’s New HB 803 Permitting Law Means for Miami-Dade and Broward Contractors
HB 803 was signed into law on May 7, 2026, and took effect on July 1, 2026. Contractors submitting applications now are the first to operate under this framework. The Florida Senate bill summary for CS/CS/HB 803 covers the full statutory language. The table below breaks down what changed for contractors working on active jobs in Miami-Dade and Broward.
HB 803 Mandate vs. Before HB 803
The $7,500 residential exemption requires a written exemption request submitted to the local enforcement agency before work starts, with documentation of the project’s scope and value. Dividing a larger project into smaller phases to stay under the threshold is a direct violation of state law.
For contractors with active single-family permits, confirm whether the new one-year expiration clock applies to permits issued before July 1 or only to new issuances. That question is worth a direct call to the applicable building department.
For contractors working across both Miami-Dade and Broward, the five-day response window, the private provider registration process, and the permit expiration clock now apply uniformly on both sides of the county line.
How to Apply for a Miami-Dade County Permit
For work in unincorporated Miami-Dade or in municipalities that route permitting through the county, the process starts at Miami-Dade RER’s EPS Portal, the county’s online permit application and status tracking system.
Before submitting:
- A registered miamidade.gov account (pre-populates contractor information, provides access to My Applications, and allows rework submissions)
- Florida contractor license and insurance documentation on file
- Zoning clearance confirmed for the project address
- All plans and supporting documents in electronic format
Application steps:
- Log in to the EPS Portal and start a new application
- Enter the property address, project scope, and valuation
- Upload plans and required documentation electronically
- Pay calculated fees through the portal
- Track status and review comments through My Applications
- Address plan review comments and resubmit
For eligible single-family residential work under $15,000, the five-business-day response requirement under HB 803 now applies. Note the submission date at the time of filing.
The Miami-Dade Find a Permit tool lets contractors search existing permit records by address or folio number before submitting. Running that search first surfaces open violations, unpermitted work, or expired permits that would hold up a new application.
Once a permit is issued, inspection scheduling moves through the same EPS Portal account, giving contractors a complete virtual permit record from application submission through final inspection sign-off in one place.
Scheduling a Building Inspection in Miami-Dade
After a permit is issued, the contractor is responsible for scheduling each required inspection at the right phase of work. Under HB 803’s new one-year expiration clock on single-family permits, missed inspections that stall progress carry a tighter consequence than they did before July 1.
Miami-Dade RER inspection requests require the permit number, inspection type, and a contact name and phone number. The assigned inspector contacts the contractor with instructions, which may include arrangements for a virtual inspection.
Miami-Dade inspection types by trade:
- Roofing: dry-in, sheathing, final roofing
- HVAC: rough mechanical, equipment set, final mechanical
- Electrical: rough wiring, service entrance, final electrical
- Plumbing: rough plumbing, water service, final plumbing
- Structural: footer, framing, final building
Under HB 803, local governments are prohibited from restricting virtual inspections by private providers. Miami-Dade must also maintain a private provider registration system at no charge. This applies to the city of Miami and every municipality in the county. The distinction between private and city inspectors affects scheduling, documentation, and permit fee calculations differently under the new statute.
Inspected operates as a licensed private provider in Miami-Dade County, offering same-day virtual inspections for roofing, HVAC, solar, electrical, pool, generator, and window and door trades.
Inspection delays often stem from zoning issues that surface after permit submission. Getting zoning confirmed before applying is the subject of the next section.
Dade County Building and Zoning Requirements
Zoning determines what a property can accommodate, at what scale, and how far construction must sit from property lines. A permit application that clears plan review but lands on a parcel with a zoning conflict stalls until the conflict is resolved. Confirming zoning before permit submission is a pre-application step, not a post-submission fix.
Miami-Dade County’s Zoning Overview includes access to the Interactive Land Management Geographic Information System (GIS) map, which allows a property search by address or folio number to confirm the applicable zoning district and any overlay zones.
Pre-permit zoning checkpoints:
- Zoning District Confirmation: Residential, commercial, mixed-use, industrial, and overlay districts each carry distinct use, height, and setback requirements.
- Setbacks: The required minimum distance from property lines for any structure or addition, which varies by district and project type.
- Variances: Required when a proposed project doesn’t meet standard setback, height, or use requirements; must be obtained before permit issuance.
- Zoning Verification Requests (ZVR): Contractors or owners can request formal written confirmation of a property’s zoning classification from Miami-Dade County.
The Community Zoning Appeals Board (CZAB) handles variance requests and appeals of zoning decisions in Miami-Dade. Identifying a conflict before submitting permit documents allows time to file for a variance without stopping the project timeline.
Contractors who move between Miami-Dade and Broward jobs will find that the zoning process operates separately in each county. A clearance from Miami-Dade doesn’t carry into Broward, and the applicable rules for the same project type may differ.
Broward County Building Permits: What Changes Across the County Line
A Miami-Dade permit workflow doesn’t transfer directly to Broward. The two counties use separate portals, separate jurisdictional structures for municipalities, and separate inspection scheduling systems.
Portal. Miami-Dade uses the EPS Portal for county permits. Broward uses ePermits OneStop, a centralized platform connecting Broward County and participating municipalities. Applications for both individual city permits and associated county permits move through ePermits OneStop, eliminating the need to visit separate offices.
Municipal Split: In Miami-Dade, RER holds permitting authority for unincorporated areas. In Broward, the Building Code Division handles unincorporated territory, and municipalities run their own permitting processes. Contractors starting work in a Broward city should begin at that city’s portal, then apply for associated county permits through ePermits OneStop.
HB 803 Applies Equally: The one-year expiration rule, the $7,500 residential exemption, the five-day response window for sub-$15,000 single-family work, and private provider registration requirements all apply in Broward under the same statewide law.
Cross-country Projects: For jobs that span both counties, each portion requires a separate permit in the applicable jurisdiction.
The Broward County virtual inspections guide covers the BORA decision that opened Broward to virtual private provider inspections and what contractors operating in the county need to know.
Common Delays During Storm Season
Storm season runs June through November, and South Florida permit volumes rise sharply as contractors handle post-storm repair and pre-storm reinforcement work simultaneously. Roofing, HVAC, generator, and solar applications all spike following weather events, creating concurrent backlogs at the City of Miami, Miami-Dade RER, and Broward’s Building Code Division.
The most common permit delays in Miami-Dade and Broward during storm season follow the same pattern: high concurrent application volume, post-storm inspection demand from contractors racing to close permits before the one-year clock runs, and crew schedules that break when an inspection doesn’t arrive on time.
Virtual inspections cut the scheduling constraint by removing on-site travel from the inspection equation. Contractors can schedule same-day inspections with a private provider rather than waiting in a backlogged city or county queue, keeping active jobs on schedule through the busiest months of the permitting calendar.
Get Faster Permits and Inspections in Miami-Dade and Broward
Storm season backlogs, new HB 803 timelines, and two separate county processes put permit management at the center of every active job in South Florida. Contractors working multiple trades across Miami-Dade and Broward reduce that risk by working with a private provider registered in both jurisdictions who can run virtual inspections on the same day as installation, without waiting in a city or county queue.
The next permit doesn’t have to wait. Contact the Inspected Team.