Permitting basics · Permit Expediting
Building plan review in Florida: what happens to your plans and how long it takes
By David Gizys · Founder & President
Updated September 4, 2026 · 8 min read
Your plans are "in review." What does that actually mean?
The portal has said IN REVIEW for nine days. No comments have posted, nobody has called, and the framing crew you booked is asking about a start date.
It is the stage builders have the least visibility into and the most money riding on. Plan review is not one person reading your set. Intake decides whether the application is even complete, then the package is split across disciplines — building, structural, trades, zoning, floodplain, fire — that each hold their own approval and each can send it back.
The clock is not a mystery, though. Florida statute puts numbers on how long a local government gets, and the building code says what the building official is required to examine. Both are worth knowing before you submit, because most of the time lost on a Florida permit is not review time. It is cycle time you created at intake.
How a review cycle actually runs
Every jurisdiction dresses it differently, but the sequence is the same whether you are in Accela, EnerGov, or a portal the county wrote itself.
- 1Intake and sufficiency
A clerk or an automated check confirms the application is complete: signed application, scope, valuation, contractor licensing, and every item on that jurisdiction's submittal checklist. Nothing has been read for code yet.
- 2The completeness clock
Florida Statute 553.792 gives the local government 5 business days after receiving the application to tell you in writing what is missing. If that notice does not come, the application is deemed properly completed and accepted.
- 3Distribution to disciplines
The package goes out to building, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, zoning, floodplain, fire, and — on site work — engineering and utilities. One open comment from one reviewer keeps the permit unissued no matter how clean the other seven are.
- 4Comments post
Deficiencies come back written against specific code sections. Under 553.792 the notice has to state specifically why the application fails the Florida Building Code or the local ordinance — a comment you cannot act on is a comment worth calling about.
- 5Revisions and the response clock
When the notice carries the statutory language, you have 10 business days to submit revisions or the application is denied, and the agency then has 10 business days to approve or deny what you sent. Changing sheets outside the comments can pull the set back to a discipline that had already signed off.
- 6Approval and the stamped set
The building official approves the construction documents in writing or by stamp as "Reviewed for Code Compliance." One set stays in the jurisdiction's records; the other comes back to you and has to be kept at the job site, open to inspection.
How long is plan review supposed to take?
Florida puts numbers on it. Under section 553.792, after a complete and sufficient application the local government must approve, approve with conditions, or deny within 30 business days for a residential unit under 7,500 square feet, and within 60 business days for a larger residential structure, multifamily up to 50 units, or a site plan or plat that does not require a public hearing.
Read the qualifiers, because that is where schedules go. Business days, not calendar days — 30 business days is closer to six weeks than to a month. And the clock starts on a complete and sufficient application, not on the day you uploaded something.
The statute has teeth in both directions. A local government may not request additional information more than three times unless you waive that limit in writing, and if it misses a deadline it must reduce the building permit fee by 10 percent for each business day it is late — unless you agreed in writing to an extension, the delay is yours, or it is force majeure.
Useful facts to have in hand on a call with a plans coordinator. They are not a schedule to hand a lender: jurisdictions do fall behind, and the statutory remedy is a discount on the fee, not a permit in your hand.
What the reviewer is actually checking
Section 107.3 of the Florida Building Code puts the duty plainly: the building official examines the submittal documents to determine whether what you drew complies with the code and other applicable laws. In practice the comments cluster in the same handful of places.
- Survey against architectural — Setbacks, lot coverage, and impervious area on the survey that do not agree with the floor plan drawn from it. The zoning reviewer and the building reviewer are reading two different sheets and both have to be right.
- The sheets the code names — The code's minimum plan review criteria list what has to be in the set — floor plan, site plan, foundation plan, floor and roof framing or truss layout, fenestration penetrations, flashing, rough opening dimensions, exterior elevations. A missing truss layout is a comment before anyone evaluates a single design decision.
- Product approval numbers — Windows, doors, roofing, and shutters carry Florida Product Approval or a Miami-Dade NOA, and the numbers on the schedule have to match the assemblies shown on the elevations and details.
- Energy compliance that matches — Signed energy calcs are table stakes. Reviewers do compare the window schedule in the calcs against the window schedule on the plans, and a late design change that never made it back into the calcs is a reliable second cycle.
- Flood and elevation documentation — In a flood hazard area the finished floor elevation and the supporting flood documentation get their own review track, on top of everything the building reviewer is doing.
- Deferred submittals — Trusses, stairs, and guardrail assemblies handled as deferred submittals still have to be identified as deferred on the approved plans. Leave it off and the question resurfaces at inspection, which is a far worse place to find it.
None of the statutory clock starts until the application is complete and sufficient. Uploading a partial package to "get in the queue" does not hold a place in line — it buys a deficiency notice, and the 30 or 60 business days only begin when the complete set lands. The cheapest week you will spend on a Florida permit is the one spent on the submittal checklist before you file.
Can I get out of the county's queue?
For the building code portion, yes. Under section 553.791, a private provider reviews the plans and files a sealed affidavit certifying that they comply with the applicable codes. That does not skip the building official — it changes the deadline the building official is working against.
Once the application and the affidavit are in, the official has 20 business days to issue the permit or give written notice of the specific plan features that do not comply, with the code chapters and sections behind them. If the private provider is a licensed engineer or architect who seals the affidavit, that drops to 10 business days. A single-trade plans review on a one- or two-family dwelling drops to 5.
It is not a bypass of everything. The affidavit covers the code review; zoning, floodplain, fire, and utility review typically stay with the jurisdiction, so this shortens the longest pole rather than every pole. On the inspection side we price private provider work flat at $1 per square foot — $3,000 on a 3,000-square-foot home — so the trade is knowable before you commit to it.
Getting through in one cycle
An extra review cycle is rarely a day. It is a new queue position behind everything that arrived while you were revising. So the work that matters happens before submittal: run the set against the jurisdiction's checklist and the zoning envelope, reconcile the survey with the architectural sheets, confirm product approvals and energy calcs match the drawings that are actually going in, and settle the flood and elevation questions while the design can still absorb the answer.
That is most of what permit expediting actually is. Filing is the easy part. We typically go from intake to submission in about a week, against three to four weeks for a builder's office fitting it in between jobs, and then we watch the portal so you do not have to — comments get answered the day they post, not the week somebody notices them.
Some of it cannot be automated and we do not pretend otherwise: a reviewer takes the time a reviewer takes. What is controllable is how many times they have to look. The delays that stall Florida packages are mostly avoidable ones, and which of them bite depends on where you are building — the checklist that clears Sarasota County is not the checklist a barrier-island building department will hand you.
Frequently asked questions
- How long does building plan review take in Florida?
- Florida Statute 553.792 requires a local government to approve, approve with conditions, or deny a complete and sufficient application within 30 business days for a residential unit under 7,500 square feet, and within 60 business days for larger residential structures, multifamily up to 50 units, and site plans or plats that do not require a public hearing. Those are business days and they run from completeness, not from upload, so a package that draws two rounds of comments typically lands well past the headline number.
- What is the difference between plan review and inspections?
- Plan review happens on paper before the permit issues: the building official examines the construction documents to determine whether what is drawn complies with the code. Inspections happen in the field after the permit issues and confirm that what was built matches those approved plans. Passing one says nothing about the other.
- How many times can a jurisdiction ask me for more information?
- Three. Under 553.792 a local government may not request additional information from an applicant more than three times unless the applicant waives that limit in writing. The same statute requires the local government to reduce the building permit fee by 10 percent for each business day it misses a review deadline, with exceptions for an agreed extension, delay caused by the applicant, and force majeure.
- Does using a private provider actually speed up plan review?
- It changes the deadline. Under 553.791, after the application and the private provider's affidavit are submitted, the local building official has 20 business days to issue the permit or identify the specific non-complying plan features — 10 business days if a licensed engineer or architect sealed the affidavit, and 5 for a single-trade review on a one- or two-family dwelling. Zoning, floodplain, fire, and utility reviews typically still run through the jurisdiction.
- What happens when my plans are approved?
- The building official approves the construction documents in writing or by stamp as "Reviewed for Code Compliance." One reviewed set is retained by the building official and the other goes back to you, and that set has to be kept at the job site and open to inspection. Building to a sheet that is not in the approved set is how a clean project fails an inspection.
“Permit-ready in a week instead of a month. David caught two tabulation errors before submission that would have bounced us. Worth every dollar.”— Custom Home Builder, Anna Maria Island
This is part of our Permit Expediting service. Tell us about your project and we’ll handle it end to end.