Building Permits by City: Permit Search Guide for Every South Florida Municipality in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach

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Every city, town, and village across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties operates its own building department, runs its own permit portal, applies its own local amendments to the Florida Building Code, and enforces its own architectural and aesthetic standards. The difference between a 30-day permit approval and a 12-week revision marathon is rarely the project itself — it is almost always whether the submission was prepared for the specific city's review standards. A retail build-out submitted in Doral with Doral's specific format clears review in three weeks; the same drawings submitted in Coral Gables get kicked back twice before the Board of Architects even sees them. Endless Life Design — a licensed Florida general contractor and custom construction company — files building permits in every South Florida municipality and knows each city's submission quirks, review timelines, and local code amendments. Call (305) 680-3283 or visit our Government Permit Processing Service page to get started. This guide walks through the major South Florida cities city-by-city — from the City of Miami to West Palm Beach — and what each one's permit search portal, review timeline, and local enforcement looks like.

Index

1. Miami-Dade vs Broward vs Palm Beach Permitting — How the Three Counties Differ

2. City of Miami and City of Miami Beach Building Permits

3. Aventura, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside, and Indian Creek Permits

4. Coral Gables, Doral, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, and South Miami Permits

5. Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach Building Permits

6. Coral Springs, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, Weston, and Deerfield Beach Permits

7. West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, and Delray Beach Permits

8. Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth Beach, Royal Palm Beach, and Greenacres Permits

9. Where to Start: How Endless Life Design Files Permits in Every South Florida Municipality — Plus All Business Types We Serve

1. Miami-Dade vs Broward vs Palm Beach Permitting — How the Three Counties Differ

Miami-Dade and Broward Counties both sit inside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ), which means every building permit, every sealed plan, every window, every door, every roofing system, and every structural connection must meet Miami-Dade NOA (Notice of Acceptance) approval and 175-mph design wind loads. Palm Beach County sits outside the HVHZ but enforces Florida's wind-borne debris standards almost as strictly. The miami dade county permit search, broward county permit search, and palm beach permit search portals each apply slightly different review standards, fee schedules, and inspection sequencing — and the unincorporated portions of each county apply different rules than the cities within them.

For business owners, the practical implication is that a project's host municipality determines almost everything about how the construction permit process will run — which sealed plans are required, which engineering calculations must be uploaded, which inspections are sequenced, and how long the timeline will be. Endless Life Design files permits in every Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach municipality and knows the specific review pattern of each. Read our companion Miami-Dade permit search guide for the full county-level overview, then continue below for the city-by-city breakdown.

2. City of Miami and City of Miami Beach Building Permits

The city of miami permit search runs through the City of Miami's iBuild portal, which handles every building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural permit within city limits — covering Brickell, Downtown, Wynwood, the Design District, Edgewater, Little Havana, Coconut Grove (City of Miami portion), and the surrounding neighborhoods. The city applies its own Miami 21 zoning code on top of the Florida Building Code, with specific overlay districts (Downtown DDA, Wynwood Special District, Design District, Coconut Grove NCD) that add additional review layers. Average permit timelines run 4 to 8 weeks for tenant build-outs and 8 to 16 weeks for new construction once plans are complete.

The miami beach permit search runs through the City of Miami Beach's separate digital portal. Miami Beach enforces particularly strict resiliency and flood-elevation standards because so much of the island sits at or below base flood elevation. Every new commercial project, every renovation, and every change-of-use submission must address freeboard requirements, stormwater management, and resiliency strategy on top of standard building review. Historic district review (in South Beach, Flamingo Park, Espanola Way, and Collins Waterfront) adds 4 to 8 weeks to most timelines. Endless Life Design files in both portals and coordinates the resiliency, flood, and historic review layers from the outset rather than as add-ons after first submission.

3. Aventura, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside, and Indian Creek Permits

The northeast Miami-Dade municipalities — Aventura, Bal Harbour Village, Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside, Bay Harbor Islands, and Indian Creek Village — each run their own ePermit portals with distinct architectural and aesthetic review processes. The aventura permit portal applies stricter mechanical and exterior-wall review than most Miami-Dade cities; Aventura's plan reviewers frequently catch HVAC equipment screening, parapet wall details, and rooftop equipment anchorage issues that other portals miss. The Bal Harbour Village portal applies the village's Architectural Review Board (ARB) on every exterior modification, with monthly meetings that limit the speed at which exterior projects can be permitted.

The sunny isles beach permit search runs through the City of Sunny Isles Beach's portal, which enforces strict tower-height, view-corridor, and resiliency review for any new vertical construction. Surfside's permit portal applies the town's post-2021 enhanced structural review requirements following the Champlain Towers South investigation — every condominium-association project, every structural repair, every façade restoration triggers expanded engineering review with 40-year and 50-year recertification documentation. Indian Creek Village, the small island municipality, runs an even more restrictive permitting process with security clearance requirements layered on top of standard review. Endless Life Design files in every one of these portals.

4. Coral Gables, Doral, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, and South Miami Permits

Coral Gables is the most architecturally-restrictive permit jurisdiction in South Florida. Every exterior modification within Coral Gables city limits — every window replacement, every paint color change, every signage application, every awning, every fence, every landscape feature visible from the street — must clear Board of Architects review on top of standard building department review. The Board meets twice monthly, with submissions due 14 days before each meeting, which adds at minimum 4 to 6 weeks to any exterior project timeline. Interior-only build-outs move faster but still require strict adherence to Coral Gables' Mediterranean Revival design standards in commercial corridors.

Doral's permit portal is more efficient — Doral's plan review is among the fastest in Miami-Dade, with typical commercial tenant build-out approval in 2 to 4 weeks once submissions are complete. Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay apply stricter setback and lot-coverage review than central Miami-Dade and enforce single-family neighborhood character on every residential and adjacent-commercial project. South Miami's portal handles the small city of South Miami's intake — frequently confused with the broader 'south Miami' geographic term, but the City of South Miami is a specific incorporated municipality with its own portal, fees, and review standards. Endless Life Design files in each of these municipalities.

5. Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach Building Permits

Fort Lauderdale is Broward County's largest municipality and runs its own dedicated ePermit portal. The city's downtown corridor and the marine industrial waterfront each apply additional overlay reviews (Downtown DDA, Marine Industry District) on top of standard building review. Average timelines run 4 to 6 weeks for tenant build-outs and 8 to 14 weeks for new construction. The city's coastal areas — Las Olas Isles, Harbor Beach, and the barrier island — apply strict flood-elevation and resiliency review similar to Miami Beach.

The city of hollywood permit search runs through the City of Hollywood, Florida's permit portal — frequently confused with West Hollywood, California's permit system by national contractors, but Hollywood, Florida's portal is run by Broward County's largest beachside city and handles permits for Hollywood Beach, Downtown Hollywood, Emerald Hills, and surrounding neighborhoods. The pompano beach permit search and the city of pompano beach permit search both point to the City of Pompano Beach's portal — the city enforces stricter wind-load and HVHZ structural review than most Broward cities, particularly for any project east of US-1 closer to the Atlantic. All three cities run their own portals, separate from Broward County's central ePermit system. Endless Life Design files in each.

6. Coral Springs, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, Weston, and Deerfield Beach Permits

Inland Broward — Coral Springs, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, Weston, Tamarac, and Pembroke Pines — each run their own city-level ePermit portals separate from Broward County's central system. Coral Springs and Weston apply some of the strictest residential and master-planned-community design standards in Broward, particularly for any project within the cities' planned development overlays. Davie applies an equestrian-overlay review in the city's western horse-zoned areas, which adds livestock-shelter and pasture-access requirements to any project in those zones.

Plantation's portal is among the more efficient inland Broward systems, with commercial tenant build-out approval typically in 3 to 5 weeks. Sunrise enforces strict mechanical and signage review for any project along the Sawgrass Mills corridor. Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro Beach, and Lighthouse Point — the northeastern Broward coastal cities — each run their own coastal-flood and resiliency reviews on top of standard building review. Tamarac, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, and Parkland each have their own portals with their own quirks. Endless Life Design maintains active accounts on every one of these systems.

7. West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, and Delray Beach Permits

West Palm Beach is Palm Beach County's largest municipality and operates its own ePermit portal separate from PB-eGov. The city applies a downtown overlay review for any project within the central business district that adds 3 to 6 weeks to standard timelines. Boca Raton is the most architecturally-strict jurisdiction in Palm Beach County — every commercial exterior project, every signage application, and every multi-family residential project triggers design review board approval on top of standard permit review. Boca's portal also applies particularly strict landscape, parking-load, and stormwater review.

The boynton beach permit search runs through the City of Boynton Beach's portal, which applies the city's Community Redevelopment Agency overlay for projects within the CRA boundary. Delray Beach's portal applies historic district review for any project within the city's designated historic neighborhoods (Old School Square, Marina Historic District, Del-Ida Park, West Settlers). The town of Highland Beach, the village of Manalapan, and the town of Gulf Stream each apply additional review layers for any oceanfront project. Endless Life Design files in every one of these Palm Beach municipalities.

8. Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth Beach, Royal Palm Beach, and Greenacres Permits

Wellington's portal applies the village's Equestrian Preserve Area review for any project in the western horse-zoned communities, which adds pasture-access, livestock-shelter, and large-lot review requirements. Jupiter's portal applies coastal-flood, sea-turtle-lighting, and resiliency review for any project east of A1A and additional planned-community review in the master-planned Abacoa and Admirals Cove neighborhoods. Palm Beach Gardens applies one of the more streamlined commercial intake systems in Palm Beach County, particularly for projects within the PGA Boulevard corridor and the city's master-planned overlay districts.

Lake Worth Beach's portal applies historic district review for projects within the city's College Park and South Palm Park historic neighborhoods. Royal Palm Beach and Greenacres each run their own permit portals with their own fee schedules and review timelines — both cities are typically faster than the larger coastal Palm Beach municipalities for tenant build-outs. The Town of Palm Beach itself — separate from West Palm Beach — applies some of the strictest architectural review in Florida, with mandatory Architectural Commission approval for nearly every exterior modification. Endless Life Design files in all of these municipalities and knows each one's specific review patterns.

Why the Permit Process Earns Respect — One Planet, Interconnected Systems

South Florida's 100+ incorporated municipalities each operate their own building departments, but no city is an island and no property exists in isolation. Construction in any South Florida city flows into the broader interconnected infrastructure — the regional power grid managed by FPL serving millions of accounts across multiple counties and cities, the regional water management system coordinating drainage across the entire South Florida region, the regional transportation network connecting every property to every other, the regional environmental systems that don't recognize city boundaries, and the broader Florida Building Code 8th Edition that applies uniformly across all jurisdictions. Each city's building department coordinates the local impacts of construction within its boundaries — neighbor relations, local utility connections, zoning compliance, design review where applicable, neighborhood character. The County coordinates the cross-city impacts. The State coordinates the broader regulatory framework. The federal government coordinates the impacts that cross state lines — including federal Endangered Species Act protections, USACE marine permits, FEMA flood elevation rules, and ADA accessibility. Each layer of jurisdiction exists because construction touches systems at different scales, and every layer of permit review is part of the coordination that keeps South Florida's interconnected infrastructure functioning.

The permit process is the coordination. Every project moves through engineer-to-engineer review — the engineering prepared by the property owner's licensed Florida engineers is reviewed by the host municipality's own licensed engineers, both operating under Florida Statutes Chapter 471 and identical professional standards. The plan review is not a bureaucratic obstacle; it is a credentialed peer verifying the design before construction begins. The inspections at each construction milestone are not nitpicking; they are the system verifying that the work matches the approved plans. The document stack — boundary survey, elevation certificate where applicable, structural and engineering calculations, affidavits, letters of intent, manufacturer product data, soil tests, environmental delineations — exists because each document protects a specific aspect of the project. The fees fund the engineers, inspectors, and administrative staff who actually do this work. The time it takes is the time those professionals need to do the work properly. Engineering calculations are not instant. Plan reviews are not instant. Changing one element changes everything it touches — which is why mid-project changes cascade through multiple disciplines and require re-engineering across affected drawings. Property owners who approach the process with respect for the engineering, the documents, the time, and the professionals on both sides of the permit counter receive efficient projects that complete on schedule. Property owners who treat the process as an obstacle bog down their own projects. For the complete philosophical and process explanation of why this matters, see our pillar guide on how the construction permit process actually works in South Florida.

9. Where to Start: How Endless Life Design Files Permits in Every South Florida Municipality — Plus All Business Types We Serve

Whatever city, town, or village your South Florida property sits in — from the City of Miami in the south to Palm Beach Gardens in the north, from the barrier-island municipalities along the Atlantic to the western horse-zoned communities of Wellington and Davie — Endless Life Design files your construction permits with the right host portal, in the right format, with the right local overlays addressed from the outset. We pull the full permit search history for your property before the project begins, identify any open or expired permits, design the sealed plans in-house, file the application, manage every review cycle, schedule every inspection, and deliver the Final Certificate of Occupancy or Certificate of Use ready for opening day. Call (305) 680-3283 to schedule a site review for your project's specific city.

We provide this end-to-end permit and construction service for every business type across every South Florida municipality: medical offices, dental practices, dermatology and plastic surgery clinics, urgent care, veterinary hospitals, pharmacies, med spas, physical therapy, chiropractic offices, mental health practices, optometrists, restaurants, cafés, bakeries, juice bars, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, food halls, ghost kitchens, catering kitchens, breweries, hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, eyelash studios, waxing centers, day spas, tattoo studios, gyms, pilates studios, yoga studios, CrossFit boxes, boxing and MMA gyms, dance studios, personal training studios, retail boutiques, jewelry stores, furniture showrooms, electronics stores, bookstores, pet supply stores, sporting goods, bridal shops, art galleries, vape and smoke shops, law firms, accounting firms, insurance agencies, real estate offices, mortgage brokers, financial advisors, marketing agencies, architecture and engineering firms, photography studios, dry cleaners, laundromats, self-storage facilities, moving offices, print shops, sign shops, funeral homes, co-working spaces, hotels, boutique inns, resorts, event venues, banquet halls, wedding venues, movie theaters, arcades, bowling alleys, escape rooms, trampoline parks, indoor playgrounds, private K-12 schools, daycares, preschools, Montessori schools, tutoring centers, music schools, art schools, language schools, driving schools, trade schools, auto dealerships, repair shops, body shops, car washes, tire shops, marine dealers, RV dealers, warehouses, distribution centers, light manufacturing, workshops, office buildings, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, community centers, non-profits, property management companies, residential developers, homebuilders, apartment complexes, condominium associations, and HOA-managed buildings. Visit endlesslifedesign.com, browse our Commercial Projects gallery, or call (305) 680-3283 today.

Related Permit Resources

Continue exploring: E-Permits and Online Permitting in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach: How South Florida Business Owners File Construction Permits Digitally • Restaurant Building Permits in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach: Complete Construction Permit Checklist for Every South Florida Food Service Business • Miami-Dade Permit Search: How Every South Florida Business Owner Pulls, Verifies, and Files Permits the Right Way • Florida Accessibility Code for Building Construction – Deep Dive for Permit Compliance 2026 • Ready to secure your approvals? Explore our Government Permit Processing Service or call (305) 680-3283 today.