Site Plans for Florida Permits — All 67 Counties, Every Project Type

F.S. 515.29 is Florida's pool safety barrier law. Every residential pool must be enclosed by a barrier that is: at least 48 inches tall above finished grade, has a self-closing gate that swings outward, is self-latching, with the latch mounted on the pool side at least 54 inches above grade.

Your site plan has to show compliance, not just state it — barrier line enclosing the pool, height labeled, gate location with swing direction, and latch height labeled. A note that just says "complies with F.S. 515.29" without the dimensions will trigger a correction almost everywhere in Florida.

Broward County exception: unincorporated Broward requires a 60-inch minimum barrier, not 48.

F.S. 553.792 gives you 10 business days to respond once a Florida building department issues a correction notice. Miss it, and the department can deny the application — meaning you start over with new fees and a new application number.

This is exactly why fast correction turnaround matters. We address every correction notice within 12 hours at no charge, so even a Friday-afternoon notice is ready to resubmit Monday morning — well inside the 10-day window.

SB 943, effective July 1, 2025, set statewide ADU standards that local governments can't override:

• Setbacks: minimum 4 feet rear and side for detached ADUs — local rules can't require more
• Lot eligibility: most single-family lots now qualify, even where local ordinances previously said no
• Owner-occupancy: no longer required statewide
• Rental: local governments can't prohibit renting an ADU
• Parking: max one additional space can be required per ADU

If your county or HOA previously told you an ADU wasn't allowed, SB 943 may have changed that. We check your specific parcel's eligibility before you order.

HB 803, signed May 7, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, exempts certain residential work valued under $7,500 from permit requirements — but the exemption is narrower than the headlines suggest.

To qualify, the work must be residential-only, under $7,500, non-structural, and the owner must file a written exemption request with documentation. Local governments can still require permits for specific project types under $7,500 regardless.

Metal buildings, structural work, pools, fences, ADUs, and anything needing a PE stamp do not qualify for the HB 803 exemption. For most projects we handle, this law changes nothing — a permit and site plan are still required.

The FBC 8th Edition, adopted in 2023, is the current statewide baseline for all 67 counties — local amendments are allowed but can only be more restrictive, never less.

Its biggest change for site plans is adopting ASCE 7-22 for wind load design, replacing ASCE 7-16 — this affects metal buildings, structural additions, and any PE-stamped structural sheet. For standard residential plans (pool, fence, shed, deck), the required elements — setbacks, F.S. 515.29 compliance, impervious surface — stay the same.

HVHZ (High-Velocity Hurricane Zone) applies only to Miami-Dade and Broward counties — the only two HVHZ counties in the United States.

In these counties, every structural permit needs PE-stamped drawings, all materials need a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (standard Florida Product Approval isn't enough), pool barriers must use NOA-certified materials, and structural plans need wind speed notation under the FBC's HVHZ provisions.

If your property is anywhere in Miami-Dade or Broward — including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hialeah, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Coral Springs, or Miramar — HVHZ applies. Palm Beach, Hillsborough, and every other Florida county are unaffected.

Cape Coral has more than 400 miles of navigable canals. On canal-front lots, pool setbacks are measured from the recorded property line — never from the seawall face or the water's edge.

The property line typically sits 5–15 feet landward of the seawall. Measuring from the seawall instead produces a setback that looks larger than what's actually recorded — the single most common cause of Cape Coral pool permit rejections we see. We pull the recorded plat for every Cape Coral order to set the boundary correctly.

St. Petersburg, in Pinellas County, uses a 7-foot minimum side setback for pools in standard RS-1 zoning — where most other Florida jurisdictions default to 5 feet.

This is a St. Pete-specific zoning rule, not a statewide Building Code requirement, and it doesn't apply in unincorporated Pinellas or other Pinellas cities like Clearwater or Largo, which use the standard 5-foot setback. Using 5 feet on a St. Pete plan will trigger a correction — we verify the specific city's zoning district, not a county average.

FastTrack checks file naming at intake — before any human reviewer opens your application. A file named "SitePlan.pdf" instead of the required naming format gets an automatic intake rejection, regardless of how good the drawing is.

Orange County requires a site plan or survey showing the proposed structure's location for new residential permits. We format every Orange County submission — correct file name, correct PDF structure, correct document order — to FastTrack spec, so it reaches a reviewer on the first try.

Depending on exactly where your property sits, Palm Beach County has three completely separate systems:

• Palm Beach County (unincorporated): the county's ePZB portal
• City of West Palm Beach: its own building department and portal
• Town of Palm Beach: a separate municipal department for the island

A "West Palm Beach" mailing address alone doesn't tell you which one applies. We verify your parcel's exact jurisdiction before drawing — picking the wrong portal can cost 3–4 weeks of delay.

Standard pool permit site plans start at $149, delivered in 12–24 hours. That covers the GIS parcel pull, flood zone check, zoning setback verification, F.S. 515.29 barrier documentation, equipment pad location, impervious surface calculation, county portal formatting, and free revisions.

• Pool + PE stamp (Naples / HVHZ) — from $449, 2–5 days
• Rush / same-day delivery — +$75
• Correction revision — $0, 12 hours

All 67 — from Escambia in the panhandle to Monroe in the Florida Keys. Our busiest markets are Lee County (Fort Myers, Cape Coral), Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange County, Pinellas, Pasco, Collier, and Sarasota.

Every county gets the same process: GIS parcel research, portal-specific formatting, county setback verification, F.S. 515.29 documentation for pools, and a flood zone check. No templates — every plan is researched for the specific parcel.

For simple residential permits in most counties — pool, fence, shed, deck, basic addition — no, a non-certified plan is enough. PE stamp is required for:

• All commercial permits, every county
• Structural residential work (load-bearing walls, beams, second stories)
• Garage-to-ADU / living-space conversions, most counties
• New single-family construction, most counties
• All HVHZ structural work (Miami-Dade, Broward)
• Metal buildings, every county
• Naples pool permits (structural drawings)
• Retaining walls over 4 feet, most counties

We confirm your project's exact requirement before you order — no surprises after payment.

Standard residential plans (pool, fence, shed, deck, driveway): 12–24 hours. Home addition and ADU plans: 24–48 hours. Full permit drawing sets: 4–7 business days. Same-day rush is available for +$75 on most residential projects — confirm availability before ordering.

Every order includes free revisions — if the building department sends a correction, we update and resend within 12 hours at no extra charge.

Just your property address and project type — we pull everything else from GIS and county records.

Helpful if you have it: a recent survey, a previous site plan, project dimensions, or a correction notice for revision orders.

We research automatically: GIS parcel and boundary verification, FEMA flood zone check, zoning and setback verification, county portal formatting, F.S. 515.29 compliance, and HVHZ notation for Miami-Dade / Broward.

Yes, in most counties. The plan needs the fence line, height (front yard vs. rear/side, if different), gate locations, and any easements the fence must clear.

If the fence doubles as a pool barrier, it also needs F.S. 515.29 documentation — height (48 inches minimum statewide, 60 in Broward), gate swing direction, and latch height. Corner lots need sight-triangle notation — most counties limit fence height inside that triangle for traffic visibility. We mark it automatically on corner lot fence permits.

Most residential pool permits don't need a PE stamp — a non-certified site plan covers the majority of counties. Exceptions:

• City of Naples: engineer-sealed structural pool drawings, always
• HVHZ commercial pools (Miami-Dade, Broward): hotel, condo, HOA pools
• Flood Zone VE: may need PE-stamped breakaway wall documentation
• Retaining walls over 4 feet next to the pool

If your department's checklist says "engineer review required," that's your signal — we confirm before you order.

• ADU footprint with dimensions
• Minimum 4 ft rear and 4 ft side setback (SB 943)
• Setback from the principal dwelling (typically 6–10 ft, varies by county)
• One required parking space
• Utility connection location (water, sewer, electrical)
• Lot coverage calculation — ADU plus existing structures as % of lot
• ADU and principal dwelling clearly labeled separately

Garage conversions to ADU usually need more than a site plan — most counties require a full drawing set because the occupancy classification changes.

All waterfront properties: Ordinary/Mean High Water Line shown, setback from that line to the proposed structure, and any dock, seawall, or boat lift with dimensions.

Flood zones AE/VE: zone designation labeled, Base Flood Elevation noted in NAVD88, equipment shown at or above BFE.

CCCL properties: Coastal Construction Control Line noted for Gulf/Atlantic-front lots — work seaward of it needs a separate FDEP permit.

Cape Coral canal lots: recorded property line (not the seawall), canal name, and seawall drawn as a separate line from the property line.

If your Lee, Charlotte, Collier, or nearby-county property was classified Substantially Damaged from Hurricane Ian — damage over 50% of pre-storm market value — any improvement must bring it up to current flood zone requirements.

On the site plan: Finished Floor Elevation at or above current BFE, foundation type matching current AE/VE construction standards, and utilities shown at or above BFE. Post-Ian rebuilds in Lee County also need a flood elevation certificate from a licensed surveyor before the site plan can be finalized — we coordinate this as part of the order.

Forward us the correction notice exactly as received. We review the comments — usually 3–5 specific items — update the drawings within 12 hours, and deliver the revised plan ready to resubmit, well ahead of your 10-day F.S. 553.792 deadline.

The corrections we fix most often: missing F.S. 515.29 dimensions, missing latch height, no impervious surface calculation, Cape Coral seawall-vs-property-line mix-ups, wrong file name for the county portal, and missing flood zone notation. Revisions are included at no charge, no matter how many rounds it takes.

Legally, yes — Florida doesn't require a license to draw a site plan for a simple residential permit (a PE stamp is different, that always needs a licensed engineer). But DIY plans are the most common source of rejections we see.

Typical DIY rejection points: wrong scale (1"=20' is standard), missing F.S. 515.29 barrier documentation, wrong setback reference on Cape Coral canal lots, and incorrect file format for Orange County FastTrack. A professional plan from $79 usually costs less than the permit application fee itself — and skips the correction cycle entirely.

All client types — homeowners, general contractors, pool companies, permit expediters, and commercial property owners. For contractors ordering multiple plans a week, ordering is streamlined: send the address and project type, we handle research, drawing, and portal formatting. Typical turnaround for pool and fence plans is 12 hours.

There's no minimum volume — a pool company ordering 30 plans a month gets the same research and free-revision guarantee as a homeowner ordering one fence plan.

A PE stamp certifies that a licensed Professional Engineer has personally reviewed your drawings, confirms Florida Building Code compliance, and accepts professional responsibility for them — original signature, FBPE seal, license number, and date, on every stamped sheet. Our PE is FBPE-registered with an active, current license.

Always required: all commercial permits, all 67 counties, no exceptions. Broader residential requirements: Miami-Dade and Broward (all HVHZ structural work), Lee County (new construction), Pasco County (new construction), and Collier County / Naples (pool structural drawings).

WhatsApp (fastest): +1 (385) 885-5362. Send your address and project type, get your county's requirements and exact price back within 30 minutes, Mon–Sat 6am–9pm ET.

Contact form: same information, response within 2 hours.

After that: we confirm your county's exact requirements, you approve scope and price, we start drawing immediately, and your permit-ready PDF arrives in 12–24 hours standard (or same day for rush). Free revisions if the department requests changes, 12-hour turnaround. We've covered all 67 Florida counties since 2021 — your county isn't new to us.