Permits are the least glamorous part of a remodel and the most expensive thing to get wrong. Here's the guide we wish every homeowner read before their first project.
As a contractor based in Sunset / Glenvar Heights — unincorporated Miami-Dade, where we pull permits for our own neighborhood — we live this process weekly.
Permit required: moving or adding plumbing; new or relocated electrical circuits; removing any wall that's structural or contains plumbing, electrical, or ducts; windows and doors; water heaters and A/C changeouts; roofing; additions and enclosures.
Generally no permit: paint, flooring over existing substrate, cabinet replacement in the same footprint with existing connections, counters and backsplashes, hardware and trim.
The gray zone: a "cabinet swap" that moves the sink 10 inches, a "cosmetic bathroom" that relocates a drain. When the answer is fuzzy, the safe answer is yes — and a contractor who shrugs is telling you who'll be liable later (you).
Sunset, Glenvar Heights, Westchester, Kendale Lakes, most of Kendall — roughly a third of the county's homes permit through Miami-Dade's Department of Regulatory & Economic Resources (RER), almost entirely online. Typical kitchen/bath permit issuance: 2–4 weeks with clean drawings.
The City of Miami, Hialeah, and most incorporated cities have their own building departments, fees, and rhythms. Two special cases worth knowing: Coral Gables adds the Board of Architects review for exterior-visible changes (we handle BOA submittals), and small cities like West Miami and South Miami often move faster than the big departments.
Building association approval comes before the city permit — insurance certificates, contractor registration, elevator bookings, work-hour rules. Budget 2–6 weeks for association paperwork in Brickell, Aventura, and the beach corridor.
Permit fees for a typical kitchen or bath run $300–$1,500 depending on jurisdiction and valuation — one of the smallest lines in the project. Unpermitted work costs more, later: after-the-fact permits at multiples of the original fee, opened walls for missed inspections, failed closings when the buyer's inspector flags it, and insurance claims denied on unpermitted plumbing. Miami-Dade's open-permit and violation records are public; buyers' agents check them routinely.
1. Drawings — for structural work, signed-and-sealed engineering (included in our open layout projects). 2. Application & fees — filed under our license, not yours, which keeps liability where it belongs. 3. Issuance — 2–6 weeks depending on jurisdiction; we build it into the schedule you see. 4. Inspections — rough plumbing/electrical, framing, insulation, final; we meet the inspector, you don't take a day off. 5. Close-out — the permit is finaled and the record is clean for your next refinance or sale.
Legally yes, on your own homesteaded property — but you assume contractor liability, you can't delegate it to an unlicensed crew, and you must live in the home for a year after. For most remodels it's false economy.
Miami-Dade permits generally expire after 180 days of inactivity; each passed inspection resets the clock.
No — after-the-fact permits legalize most quality work. We assess it during the estimate and price the legalization honestly.
If they're licensed, they are — that's the point of hiring one. Verify any license at MyFloridaLicense.com.
Planning a project and not sure what it needs? Every Miami Pro estimate includes a permit assessment — free, in writing, no pressure.