A window replacement in South Florida needs a building permit. That sentence is true in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Boca Raton, and it is where the similarity stops. Each city reviews the application, each city inspects the finished openings, and the product floor is not the same in Boca as it is in the two HVHZ cities. Our general permit guide is the overview. This is the city-level version homeowners actually need when the address is one of these three.
We pull the permit as the contractor. You should not have to stand in line to buy your own window permit, and a price that tells you to pull an owner-builder permit for a job you are not installing is a warning. The Florida Building Code article explains HVHZ versus the rest of the state. The cities below are how that code shows up at a counter.
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale is in Broward County, so it is in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone. The City of Fort Lauderdale building department reviews the permit. Plan reviewers expect Miami-Dade Notices of Acceptance, or an approval they recognize as equivalent, for the sizes and design pressures on the opening schedule. A product that a friend used on a house in unincorporated Palm Beach County is not automatically a Fort Lauderdale product.
Single-family houses and condos do not move through that office the same way. A house permit is the openings, the anchors, and the product approvals. A condo or high-rise unit may also need association authorization before the city is willing to treat the applicant as allowed to touch the elevation. Narrow lots east of Federal Highway add a practical problem the form does not mention: where the crew stages, and how a second-story opening is reached. None of that removes the permit. It changes how long the job sits around it.
Miami
The City of Miami permits work inside the city limits through its own building department. A house that feels like "Miami" but sits in an unincorporated neighborhood, or in a separate city such as Coral Gables or Miami Beach, is not a City of Miami permit. People lose weeks by applying to the wrong office. All of those places are still HVHZ. The paperwork header is what changes.
City of Miami reviews still come down to the same HVHZ questions. Does the approval cover this size? Does the design pressure cover this floor and this exposure? Is the installer licensed and insured? Are the anchors the ones in the approval? Older houses in Shenandoah, the Roads, or Coconut Grove add non-standard sizes and, on some properties, historic review. Historic review is a separate board from the building permit. If the house is designated, both tracks have to be done. We do not guess that a house is exempt because the street looks ordinary.
Boca Raton
Boca Raton is in Palm Beach County. It is not in the HVHZ. The City of Boca Raton still requires a permit for window and door replacement, and much of the city is in the Wind-Borne Debris Region, where openings need impact protection or approved shutters. Florida Product Approval is often the minimum path, and the missile level depends on the site. We frequently still specify NOA products in Boca, and we say so on the proposal, because "legal minimum" and "what we recommend on an exposed elevation" are allowed to differ.
Boca adds a layer the other two cities do not always add in the same way: neighborhood and association appearance. Some streets care about frame color, grids, and whether a new slider changes the elevation. That review is not a substitute for the building permit, and the building permit is not a substitute for the association. A white frame the city would inspect can still be the wrong white for the HOA. Check both before the order, because impact glass is built to size and is not easy to recolor.
What we submit, and what closes the permit
A complete residential window permit in any of these cities typically includes the application, contractor license and insurance, a list of openings, the product approvals, and the installation detail those approvals require. Fees are set by the city. We do not publish them as if they were our prices, because they change and because they are not the same in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Boca. After the glass is in, a final inspection compares the labels in the openings with the papers on the permit. Pass that inspection and the permit can close. An open permit is not a small leftover. Insurers, buyers, and wind-mitigation inspectors all ask about it.
Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Boca Raton will each ask for the same kind of proof and a different form to put it on. Corrections are normal when a sheet is missing, and they are avoidable when the submittal is complete the first time. If a reviewer asks for a different anchor detail, the answer is the detail in the product approval, not a field change nobody writes down. We keep that response with the permit file so the final inspector and a later buyer are looking at the same story. An owner who pulled the permit themselves often cannot produce that file two years later.
The same three cities can all be scheduled from our Hollywood shop. If you want the permit handled with the installation, request a free estimate or call (754) 600-4876. Product scope for the openings themselves starts with window replacement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Fort Lauderdale require a different permit than Broward County?
Fort Lauderdale reviews its own permits. The HVHZ product rules are countywide, but the application, the fee, and the inspector are the city's. Do not file a Fort Lauderdale house as if another Broward city were the reviewer.
Is every 'Miami' address a City of Miami permit?
No. The City of Miami permits inside the city limits. Unincorporated Miami-Dade uses the county, and cities such as Coral Gables and Miami Beach permit themselves. All of them are still in the HVHZ.
Does Boca Raton require a Miami-Dade NOA?
Boca is not in the HVHZ. Florida Product Approval is often the minimum, depending on the site. We still use NOA products on many Boca jobs and we label that choice on the proposal rather than treating it as a secret upgrade.
Can I install first and permit later?
No. The permit has to be in place for the work, and the final inspection is what closes it. An unpermitted replacement is a problem at resale and at the wind-mitigation inspection.