As of March 15th, new ADA. (Americans with Dissabilities Act) regulations went into effect. The new regulations require all public pools and spas, or if a fee is charged to access the pool or spa, an ADA compliant swimming pool lift or sloped entry must be installed. The penalty for not being compliant is $50,000. The DOJ (Department of Justice) granted a sixty day extension to allow additional time for public access pool and spa owner to become compliant. The DOJ did not extend the deadline on other new ADA requirements, including those involving the space required around fitness equipment at gyms and counter heights in restrooms. To review the new regulations visit the ADA website.
The cost of pool lifts are anywhere from $5000 – $8000. With fines of $50,000 and ADA advocacy groups running around the country with their attorney’s filing lawsuits against businesses, that are not ADA compliant, it would behoove all business owner’s to perform an ADA compliance survey for their entire property. Not just the pool or spa areas.
One of our Clients, JR Young Builders, specializes in offering services to individuals, organizations and companies that assist persons with disabilities and is versed in the new ADA regulations. JR Young Builders has offices in Michigan and South Florida.
The new 2010 Florida Building Code will be implemented on March 15, 2010, and it includes significant changes to areas of South Florida. Specifically, the High Velocity Hurricane Zone Areas have been increased to include a much larger land mass and now covers areas that were not in the 2007 Florida Building Code. How will these changes affect contractors, manufacturers and permitting in South Florida? Until the changes are fully implemented nobody really knows for sure.
Tom Johnston, president of the International Hurricane Protection Association has the opinion that, “this adoption of ASCE 7-10 places an unnecessary burden on manufactures to update their product approvals to reflect a new code version when very little material differences have occurred. In addition, a net result of slightly less stringent design pressures is not a step in the right direction. All of this occurring during these difficult economic times makes this code modification even more of an ill conceived decision.”
According to the Home Builders Assocition, for central and south Florida the WBDR is increased and now will include all of the following; Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Indian River, Brevard, Volusia, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Polk, Charlotte, Lee, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Okeechobee, and Highlands. The result of these changes will mean there will be new areas with requirements for opening protection in accordance with Chapter 16 of the code.
There are also changes to the Energy Code which will affect Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, but it seems, that the largest impact of the new Code from a cost and procedural stand point, will affect Central Florida more so than South Florida. By no means does that diminish the increased costs for building permitting. Procedural changes that building departments will institute will require contractors to produce additional paperwork and forms, and then there is the increased costs incurred by manufactures that will be pasted on to consumers. Let’s not forget the additional costs that the local architects and engineers will need to pass on the their Clients.
To summarize, it is a good thing that the HVHZ areas have been increased. Yes! The Wind Born Debri Regions in the 2007 and earlier Codes never made any sense, but have the other changes made buildings any safer? Or, have the changes just added more costs to the consumer, created more bureaucratic procedures and paperwork, and made the process of designing, building and permitting a construction project more of a nightmare that it already is, in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties? Only time will tell!
We are pleased to announce that phases I and II of the Permit Source Contractors Permitting Database are operational. Phases I and II includes the municipal Building Departments in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. This is our new resource for contractors permitting their construction projects in the South Florida area. A “One Stop Shop” for the contractor’s building permitting needs. No more wasting valuable time sifting through municipal websites looking for forms and permitting information. We have done the work for you, and in addition, we offer our permit processing knowledge database for our member Clients. This service is designed for contractors but it can be useful to developers, engineers architects, and home owner’s applying for Owner/Builder permit.
The photo above is a screen shoot of the Contractors Permitting Municipal Database main page. In addition to the building permit forms and permitting information, you get inspection information and procedures. Notices on closings, new forms or changes in permitting procedures. You can even follow us on Twitter to get this information sent to you in real time. If you are a specialty contractor we are adding tips and procedures on your specific permitting needs.
We are offering this service at a low monthly cost of only $6.00. That is less than $100 per year. As we add additional phases and services that monthly fee will increase, but not for existing member Clients. Please visit our Permit Source Municipal Permitting Database to take advantage of our new service.
Over the years, many of our Clients and building contractor contacts have requested a centralized informational resource database for the South Florida building departments. With over 100 building departments in the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, it can be a very time consuming process sifting through hundreds of websites and thousand of pages trying to find information on obtaining a building permit for a construction project.
We are pleased to announce our first phase of creating that information database. On October 30th, Permit Source, will have the informational resource for Broward County building departments up and running. We will have permitting forms for each municipality, contact information, and offer our knowledge database with permitting tips and commentary on the individual building departments in Broward County. Please bookmark our “Helpfull Links” page so you can take advantage of this new service for all your building permitting needs.
Almost every City and County in the State of Florida requires that businesses have a Business Tax Receipt, once known as the Occupational License. Basically it is just another revenue generator for the municipalities. Most municipalities require one or more inspections once the Business Tax Receipt application has been submitted, to verify that the business will be operating safely.
Permit Source offers businesses the service of acquiring the Business Tax Receipt. We can email you the forms, if it requires signatures. Assist with filling-out the application. Submit the application package. Track and manage the review process and deliver the issued Business Tax Receipt to your place of business.
The hurricane seasons over the past couple of years have been pretty quite here in South Florida and another season is slowly approaching. Will this be the year that we get hit? Nobody knows but it is best to be prepared. If your home doesn’t have any form of hurricane protection, you might want to consider making the investment. Now is a good time. Prices are low and it is a very competitive market. Please visit our Helpful Links page for a list of contractors.
If you are a “do it yourself” type of person, you may need a little help with the permitting, and Permit Source, Inc. offers home owner’s assistant in preparing your permit package to submit to the building department. We make sure that you have all the proper Product Approvals/Notice of Acceptances, and that the forms, tables and charts are completed properly. If your building department requires elevations and detailed floor plans we can perform a site survey and prepare the required drawings. No mater what you are planning to do; hurricane panels, hurricane shutters or impact windows, when can assist you.
In the current times of a very difficult economy, and businesses struggling to survive, you would think that local governments would want to help businesses grow and survive by being business friendly. You would also think that local governments would want to streamline their process, and regulations, to maximize their revenues and minimize their costs. That does not seem to be the case in Pompano Beach.
Many municipalities are instituting new procedures and process to minimize review time and reduce costs. Not in Pompano Beach! If you click on the picture to the left you will open a link to a pdf file of what Pompano Beach posts on their website as their review schedule. Remember, that as you read the flow chart, days mean business days. Zoning is the first stop and you can see they have 15 days, or three weeks, to review your application. It has been our experience that Zoning takes the full three weeks. Hopefully your application doesn’t have to go to Forestry and Fire. That is another 10 and 5 days respectively. After 6 weeks, if you have no comments from any of the above, you finally get to Building. Then! They have another 30 days. Do the math! That is three months just for the first review.
If you are planning on opening a business in Pompano Beach, beware. If you are a property owner maybe this will help you understand why it is taking your contractor so long to get the permit to do the improvements you hired them to do. Your government’s bureaucracy!
Permit applications, and all associated documents, that are submitted as a part of your application are considered to be legal documents. Depending on the type of documents, they may require original seals, and signatures, by the architects and engineers that prepared them. The actual application requires original notarized signatures. Copies of originals will not be accepted by the building department.
Modifications to the original documents with the use of whiteout or liquid paper is not permitted. Cross out the error or write over it. Do not try to cover it, or re-copy it. Most building departments will not accept permit documents and applications modified in this manner. Signed and sealed plans that are modified in this manner will also not be accepted.
Remember these documents are viewed as legal documents. Do not modify them!
A policy change that has occurred over the past couple of years that seems to have begun infecting Broward County building departments is the dreaded, “proof of ownership” policy. Miami-Dade County has just about been completely engulfed by this painful cancer, and their are some spot locations showing up in Palm Beach County. If you are not familiar with building permit procedures you are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about.
Almost every municipality has a place for the Owner’s signature on the building permit application. Back in the day, you could probably have Micky Mouse sign it, and as long as the signature was notarized, the building department accepted it. Not anymore! Whoever signs the permit application must show “proof of ownership”. Not a big deal for a property owned by an individual. You can go the Property Appraiser’s website, print-out the information, and submit it with the building permit application. If that information isn’t current because of a new buyer, typically, and depending on the building department, a recorded warranty deed, or a settlement statement works.
The real problem occurs with properties owned by corporations. The building permit application has to be signed by one of the officers of the corporation. A great resource is Sunbiz.org. It is the Florida, Division of Corporations website. You can track down corporations and their officers. It can be a real pain in the butt sometimes to find the information you are looking for, because of LLC’s and shell corporations. Once you find the officers, you may also find that they refuse to sign the building permit application. An option is the “power of attorney” letter, if the municipality accepts such a document, and they will have their own procedures for the format of that document.
I always suggest to my Clients, when you get a sales call, go to the Property Appraiser’s website first, and then if a corporation to Sunbiz.org. It is the best way to confirm ownership. The person signing your contract, the Notice of Commencement, and the building permit application needs to be the legal Owner of the property. Our services include a review of our Client’s building permit packages, to verify the ownership.
There are the “runner” type of permit processers that will try to submit whatever you give them, and bill you for it. We do not! Our initial consultation and document review are included in our fees. Please feel free to contact us for your professional building permit processing needs.
“Is there one central location where I can get building permit history in the Sate of Florida?” That is one of the most common questions I hear, and the answer is very simple. No! In South Florida alone, there are roughly one hundred building departments. Each having it’s own database, systems and procedures, and none of them link to each other in anyway. Some building permit data may be available on an individual municipalities website, but the quantity, and quality, of information varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
If you are looking for actual copies of building permit documents, the situation is even more dire. There are only a couple of municipalities that make copies of those documents available online, and that is only recently. For example, about a year ago, Miami-Dade County converted from paper document submissions to digital permit document submissions in pdf format. Those documents can be retrieved via their website. Anything before the conversion is on micro-film and you have to physically go to their office to retrieve copies of the documents.
One of the services we offer at Permit Source is building permit document research and retrieval. You could spend hours just trying to get information by navigating through poorly designed websites, making phone calls, or leaving messages that go un-returned . Our years of experience and daily interaction with the South Florida building departments allows us to move through the process much more efficiently. We already know the procedures, and where to go, to get the information and/or documents you need.
As of March 15th, new ADA. (Americans with Dissabilities Act) regulations went into effect. The new regulations require all public pools and spas, or if a fee is charged to access the pool or spa, an ADA compliant swimming pool lift or sloped entry must be installed. The penalty for not being compliant is $50,000. The DOJ (Department of Justice) granted a sixty day extension to allow additional time for public access pool and spa owner to become compliant. The DOJ did not extend the deadline on other new ADA requirements, including those involving the space required around fitness equipment at gyms and counter heights in restrooms. To review the new regulations visit the ADA website.
