Building Department

The City of Miami Beach Building Department was established in 1925 and had its own Building Code until the 1950s when the City adopted the South Florida Building Code.

The State of Florida first mandated statewide building codes during the 1970s, at the beginning of the modern construction boom. The first law required all municipalities and counties to adopt and enforce one of the four state-recognized model codes known as the “state minimum building codes.” During the early 1990s, a series of natural disasters, together with the increasing complexity of building construction regulation in vastly changed markets, led to a comprehensive review of the State building code system. The study revealed that building code adoption and enforcement was inconsistent throughout the State and those local codes thought to be the strongest proved inadequate when tested by major hurricane events. The consequences of the building code systems’ failures were devastation to lives and economies and a statewide property insurance crisis. The response was a reform of the State building construction regulatory system that placed emphasis on uniformity and accountability.

The 1998 Florida Legislature amended Chapter 553, Florida Statutes, entitled “Building Construction Standards,” to create a single Statewide building code that is enforced by all local governments. As of March 1, 2002, the Florida Building Code supersedes all local building codes, and it is developed and maintained by the Florida Building Commission. The Florida Building Code is updated every three years and may be amended annually to incorporate interpretations and clarifications.

The department is separated into two functional areas: Administrative Services and Operations.

The Administrative Services Section provides administrative support to the entire Department, including requisitioning goods and services, processing invoices for payables, creating invoices for receivables, maintaining all personnel files, processing payroll, budgeting, providing IT assistance, and managing special projects.

The Operations Section is responsible for administering the various provisions of the Florida Building Code, including accepting permit applications, reviewing and approving construction plans in accordance with the provisions of the Florida Building Code, inspecting construction to ensure compliance with the approved plans, and issuing violations for those projects where construction was done without or not in compliance with the approved permits.