Demolition Permits in South Florida: Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Manatee

Florida Building Code section 105.1 requires a permit to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a building or structure. That covers a house, a detached garage, a commercial building and a swimming pool. [epicwatershapes.com]

The permit comes from the city or county building department with jurisdiction. The City of Miami, for example, requires a demolition permit and states that only a qualified contractor may pull it. [miami.gov]

Palm Beach County's building division publishes a demolition permit policy (PBO-110) that explicitly includes swimming pools along with buildings. [discover.pbcgov.org]

The application is the easy part. What holds it up is the paperwork attached to it: the asbestos documentation described next, letters confirming utilities are disconnected, and often a survey of the lot.

Federal asbestos rules (NESHAP), enforced in Florida by FDEP, require that a thorough inspection for asbestos be conducted before demolition or renovation. A licensed asbestos consultant does the inspection and produces a survey report. [floridadep.gov]

A Notice of Demolition is then filed at least ten working days before work starts. FDEP is direct about the wait: a reduction of the waiting period is not allowed. [floridadep.gov]

The city permit does not count as the notice. Broward's asbestos form states that a city or county demolition or renovation permit does not meet the requirement, and that the notice must be filed at least ten working days in advance. [lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov]

Is a single-family home exempt? Only narrowly. FDEP's FAQ says the residential exclusion applies to a building with four or fewer residential dwelling units that is not part of a larger project. A house taken down for a larger development loses the exclusion. [floridadep.gov]

In practice, South Florida building departments want the survey and the notice receipt regardless, so plan on the survey for every demolition. If it finds asbestos, licensed abatement happens before the excavator arrives.

Broward. The county's air program handles asbestos compliance. Its form requires the notice at least ten working days in advance, states that a city or county demolition permit does not satisfy it, and requires a Certificate of Submittal before any city in the county issues the demolition permit. [lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov]

Miami-Dade. The county's instructions for the Notice of Demolition require a copy of the asbestos survey report to accompany the completed notice, filed ten working days prior to the work. [miamidade.gov]

Palm Beach. The county building division's demolition policy PBO-110 governs permits in unincorporated Palm Beach County and names pools alongside buildings. [discover.pbcgov.org]

Manatee. The same Florida Building Code permit requirement applies, issued by the county or city building department, and the state asbestos survey and notice rules apply through FDEP. Check FDEP's asbestos program for where the notice is filed for a Manatee County address. [floridadep.gov]

Before a structure comes down, the utilities have to be off and capped: electric, gas, water and sewer. Building departments typically want letters or clearance from each utility with the application. Pool removals carry the same requirement to cap the pool's electrical, gas and plumbing.

A current survey of the lot shows the footprint, easements and setbacks; the demolition plan is drawn on it, and it is the base for the new plans if the lot is being rebuilt.

On the day, the site is fenced, the structure comes down and the debris is separated and hauled. Langley runs demolition with its own equipment, from excavators and land cranes down to mini excavators and skid steers for tight infill lots.

A demolition is not finished when the building is gone. Build-ready means the foundation and slab are out, not buried; underground utilities are capped and located; a septic tank, if any, is abandoned per the health department's rules; any pool or cistern is removed or filled to spec; and the ground is backfilled in lifts and compacted so the next foundation sits on engineered fill, not a hole full of rubble.

That is where corners get cut. Broken concrete pushed into the hole and covered with sod settles for years. Backfill in lifts, compacted, is what a permit reviewer and a geotechnical engineer will ask about, and it is how Langley leaves every site.

The sitework that follows is a separate scope: clearing, rough grading to drain the lot, bringing in and compacting fill where the new elevation calls for it, and preparing the pad. Langley handles it under one contract with the demolition so the lot goes from occupied to pad-ready without a second mobilization. See sitework.

Fill and grading may carry their own review. A Florida civil engineering firm notes that permits are typically needed when fill exceeds one foot in depth or covers more than 5,000 square feet, or the site is in a regulated flood zone, with a grading plan and a drainage statement demonstrating no adverse off-site impacts. [rspengineers.com]

In Broward, prior to any alteration to the site grading, or construction of a surface water management system, a Broward County Surface Water Management License is required. [broward.org]

Langley does not publish demolition prices. What moves the number: the size and construction of the building (a concrete-block house with a slab and a pool is more work than a frame garage), what the asbestos survey finds, how much debris has to be hauled, access for equipment, whether a septic tank or a pool is involved, and how much fill and grading the lot needs afterward.

How long it takes has one sourced floor: the asbestos notice must be filed at least ten working days before demolition, and that wait cannot be reduced. [floridadep.gov]

Beyond that, the schedule depends on permit review, abatement if asbestos is found, utility scheduling and the size of the structure; the physical teardown is usually the shortest part. We do not quote a standard number of days because there is no sourced standard.