Private Provider Services
In 2002, the Florida Legislature created Section 553.791 of the Florida Statutes titled “Alternative plans review and inspection”. This statute enables the owner of a property, or the owner’s contractor, to use a private company called a private provider to provide both building plans review and the required inspections during construction instead of that particular city’s building department. The private provider can do one or both of these processes, but interaction with the local building department is still required.
Private Providers are typically utilized for larger projects. Some of the benefits include:
Ability to prioritize your project and expedite the process. Building departments do their plan reviews in the order that they are received and some are short staffed and this translates into longer plan review times. Private Providers are able to do plans review and revisions faster.
Ability to work after hours, weekends, and some holidays. Government employees work standard workday hours, are off on the weekend, and observe most holidays. Private Providers work long hours, are available on weekends, and also on certain holidays.
Ability to move as fast as the construction takes place. Local building departments are not able to provide same day services and a multitude of inspections on the same jobsite each day. These inspections need to be scheduled a day in advance and inspection times could take place at any time throughout the day. This could cause jobsite progress to be delayed. Private Providers are able to do inspections and approve field changes faster and dedicate staff to be available for your project full time.
Private Providers can review the following city departments: Building, Structural, Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical, and Roofing.
Private Providers cannot review the following departments: Zoning and Planning, Flood, Public Works, Fire and applicable County Reviews. We would still need to work with that particular building department to review the plans but as a Private Provider / Permit Expediter we are able to expedite the review faster then a normal review.
Additional benefits for using Private Provider services are cost savings offered by municipalities for the total permit fees. (Examples include up to 33% savings for City of Miami, and up to 40% savings for City of Miami Beach)