South Florida, Treasure Coast & the Keys · County guide
Permit Expediting in Broward County
Broward is unique in Florida for having a county-level Board of Rules and Appeals with authority to amend the building code countywide, and central examining boards that handle certain contractor registration separately from the state.
What makes Broward County different
Every Florida county has its own way of doing things. These are the Broward County-specific facts that most affect whether your permit clears in one cycle or three.
The Board of Rules and Appeals
Broward's BORA can adopt countywide amendments to the Florida Building Code. Contractors who assume the state code applies uniformly here will occasionally be surprised, and the surprises are usually structural.
Central Examining Boards for trade registration
Certain trades register through Broward's central examining boards, a process separate from DBPR licensure and separate again from individual municipal registration.
High Velocity Hurricane Zone
Broward sits in the HVHZ alongside Miami-Dade, with the corresponding product approval and design requirements.
Thirty-one municipalities
Each with its own building department. Sunrise, Plantation, Davie and Fort Lauderdale all administer permitting independently.
Milestone recertification applies
Structural recertification requirements apply to qualifying buildings, generating substantial associated permitting and repair work.
Jurisdictions inside Broward County
These file separately from one another. Determining which one controls your parcel is the first step on every project, and it is wrong more often than people expect near municipal boundaries.
- Fort Lauderdale
- Hollywood
- Pembroke Pines
- Coral Springs
- Pompano Beach
- Sunrise
- Plantation
- Davie
- Miramar
- Weston
- and 21 further municipalities
Filing in Broward County
Submittals in unincorporated Broward County generally go through Broward County and municipal permitting systems. Municipalities within the county use their own systems. Each has its own document conventions, and a package that does not match gets rejected at intake rather than in review — which reads as a delay but is really a formatting problem.
Before we file anything in Broward County we confirm three things: that we have the correct jurisdiction for the parcel, that your contractor registration and insurance certificates are current with that jurisdiction, and that the submittal matches that department's current checklist. Those three checks prevent the large majority of intake rejections.
Fee schedules, review timelines and department procedures in Broward County change. Everything here reflects how the jurisdiction has worked in our experience, and should be confirmed with the authority having jurisdiction for your specific project. If you want the current position on a specific question, call us — we will find out rather than guess.
Permitting in Broward County — common questions
Do you file permits in Broward County?
Yes. Broward County is one of the jurisdictions we work in regularly, along with every other county in Florida. We handle filing, plan review tracking, revisions, inspections and close-out.
Which building department covers my Broward County address?
It depends on the parcel, not the mailing address. Broward County contains several municipalities that run their own departments — Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines and others. Our free building department lookup is a starting point, and we confirm it on every file before anything is prepared.
How long do permits take in Broward County?
Broadly the statewide ranges apply: single-trade residential permits in days to weeks, residential remodels and new construction in six to twelve weeks, commercial in eight to sixteen weeks or longer, and after-the-fact permits in eight to sixteen weeks. Published targets measure review time once a file reaches a reviewer, which is not the same as the calendar you schedule against.
Can you resolve an expired or after-the-fact permit in Broward County?
Yes, and it is a large part of what we do. We pull the permit history first to establish whether you are looking at a renewal, a close-out or a full after-the-fact filing, because those are very different projects.
Do I need to be registered as a contractor in Broward County?
In most Florida jurisdictions a state license alone is not enough to pull a permit — separate municipal registration under Florida Statute §489.117 is required. We check jurisdiction by jurisdiction and handle the registrations.
Cities in Broward County that file separately
These municipalities run their own building departments. Filing with the county instead will cost you a cycle.
Most requested in Broward County
Permit Facilitation & Filing
You have a crew scheduled, a client asking for dates, and a permit sitting somewhere in a queue you cannot see. We file it, we tra…
Learn moreMunicipality Registration
Your DBPR license lets you contract in Florida. It does not, by itself, let you pull a permit in most Florida municipalities. That…
Learn moreAfter-the-Fact & Expired Permits
Work done without a permit. A permit that expired before final inspection. A permit an old contractor opened and walked away from.…
Learn moreCode Compliance & Violations
A code enforcement case does not pause while you decide what to do about it. In many Florida jurisdictions fines run daily from th…
Learn moreGet a free quote for Broward County
Tell us the address and what is happening. We will tell you which jurisdiction controls it and what it takes.
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One call tells you which jurisdiction controls your project, what it will take, and what it will cost. Most of the time we can scope it on the phone.