Residential · Plans review and inspections — priced predictably.
Private Provider Services
We coordinate private provider (PP) plans review and inspections, leveraging a per-square-foot inspection model that keeps your costs flat and predictable.
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“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
What a private provider actually is
A private provider is a licensed engineer or architect that Florida law lets an owner hire in place of the county for building-code plans review and inspections. The jurisdiction still issues the permit — the technical review just runs on the provider's clock instead of the county's queue. The authorizing statute is F.S. 553.791.
It's a legal fast lane most builders still haven't used. The statute requires two separate roles: one engineer stamps the plans as the engineer of record, and a different engineer serves as the private provider performing the review and inspections. The same person can't do both.
Two services, two engineers, one flat price
Our inspection engineer prices every project the same way:
- Plans review — Checking the stamped plans for code compliance, part of what Florida calls plan review — separately priced from inspections, and legally required to be a different engineer than the one of record.
- Inspections — Field or virtual checks at each construction phase, run on the provider's schedule instead of the county's.
- $1 per square foot, flat — About $3,000 on a typical 3,000 sq ft home, $5,000 on a large custom build — priced the same way no matter which way the county's queue is running that month.
- No hidden quote-shifting — Most private providers price based on which way the wind is blowing. Ours doesn't — the flat model is the entire pitch.
How a virtual private-provider inspection works
Most inspections now run over live video instead of waiting for someone to drive to the site.
- 1Schedule the phase inspection
Framing, electrical rough-in, insulation — whatever phase the build has reached.
- 2Contractor walks the site live
Over video, in real time, with the inspector directing what to show.
- 3Inspector checks the boxes
Each code item is confirmed against what the camera shows — the same items a county inspector would check in person.
- 4Inspection passes the same day
No waiting on a county calendar slot; the result is documented as soon as the walkthrough is done.
- 5Final inspection clears toward CO
The last phase inspection is what closes the file out toward a Certificate of Occupancy.
The permit-fee reduction most builders don't know to ask for
Florida statute requires the city or county to reduce your permit fee when a private provider handles inspections, because the government is no longer the one providing them. It isn't automatic paperwork — someone has to know to invoke it on your specific permit.
Most permit holders never ask, which means they're paying for a county inspection service they aren't using. We invoke the reduction on every applicable service area as a standard part of coordinating the PP arrangement, not an upsell.
Where this is headed — and where it connects
Florida is moving toward mandatory private-provider inspections statewide, which means the flat, predictable model is becoming the only option rather than an alternative one. We've already built our process around it.
Plans that have already been through zoning verification — and had impact fees priced in during design — tend to arrive at PP review clean, instead of surfacing a code conflict for the first time on the provider's clock. The three checkpoints work best run together, not in isolation.
Quotes that shift based on which way the wind is blowing aren't a minor annoyance — they wreck a build budget you already locked with a lender or a buyer. A flat $1/sq ft model means the number in your pro forma is the number on the invoice.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does the permit fee go down with a private provider?
- Florida statute requires the city or county to reduce the fee because they no longer perform the inspections. We make sure that reduction is applied.
- What's the difference between plans review and inspections?
- They're two separately priced services under the same statute. Plans review checks the stamped plans for code compliance before construction starts; inspections check the actual work at each phase. By law they must be handled by two different engineers — the engineer of record can't also serve as the private provider.
- How much does a private provider actually cost?
- Our pricing is flat: $1 per square foot. That's about $3,000 on a typical 3,000 sq ft home and around $5,000 on a large custom build — the same math whether the county's queue is fast or slow that month.
- Are private-provider inspections really done over video?
- Yes, for most phases. The contractor walks the site live over video, the inspector checks each item against what the camera shows, and the inspection passes the same day — no waiting on a county inspector's schedule.
- Is private provider optional, or will it become required?
- Optional today, but Florida is moving toward mandatory private-provider inspections statewide. We've already built our process around that direction, so clients using PP now aren't scrambling to adopt it later.
- Does using a private provider replace zoning verification?
- No — they're sequential, not interchangeable. Zoning verification catches code and tabulation problems before plans are stamped; private-provider review and inspections happen after, on the stamped set. Plans that clear verification first tend to sail through PP review.
- Can the engineer of record also be my private provider?
- No. Florida law requires the private provider to be a different engineer than the one who stamped the plans as engineer of record — a built-in second set of eyes, not a formality.
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Tell us about your project. We reply within one business day — and we’ll tell you straight whether we’re the right fit.