Exterior work meets a board. Interior work does not.
That single distinction sets the sequence, the paperwork and most of the programme in this village. It costs nothing to establish and a great deal to discover late.
10 service categories · 100 service pages · Miami-Dade, Broward & Palm Beach
View all servicesBal Harbour.
Two permit paths.
Know yours first.
Licensed general contracting and renovation in Bal Harbour Village — where exterior work needs Architectural Review Board approval before the Building Department opens the file, and interior-only work does not.
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Miami-Dade · Broward & Palm Beach Counties
ScrollStart hereTell us the scope
Tell us the scope
and the address.
We will tell you which of Bal Harbour’s two permit paths your project is on before we talk about anything else.
Sun–Fri 7am–7pm · Saturday closed. Licensed, bonded and insured · CBC1265280.
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Your details are with the Elbaz Construction team and we will come back to you, usually the same or next working day. If it is urgent, call (754) 236-0675.
Bal Harbour Village · Miami-Dade CountyTwo permit paths.
Two permit paths.
One question decides
which one you are on.
Bal Harbour asks a single thing before anything else: does the work affect the exterior of the structure? If it does, the Architectural Review Board sees it before the Building Department does. If it does not, the application goes straight to the Building Department. Almost every planning decision here follows from that split.
What we build
Full interior renovation, sequenced by one licensed contractor
Demolition, framing changes, mechanical, electrical and plumbing rough-in, finishes, joinery and stone — run by one general contractor so no trade is waiting on another trade’s inspection. Interior-only scopes are the ones that go directly to the Building Department here.
Start your projectBoard first, then the Building Department
The Village lists awnings, driveways, fences, paint, signs, windows, doors, additions and new construction as work affecting the exterior. All of it requires review and approval by the Architectural Review Board before the Building Department reviews it.
Straight to code compliance
For interior work only, the permit application is submitted directly to the Building Department for code-compliance review — mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural, zoning, public works and other Village departments among them.
Certificate of Appropriateness
On approval, the Board issues a Certificate of Appropriateness to the owner, and the Certificate together with the Architectural Review Board Application is forwarded to the Building Official. It is the hinge between the two halves of the process.
In person, at Village Hall
The Village states that permit applications can only be submitted in person at the Building Department, at Village Hall, 655 96th Street. Status is then tracked through the Online Permit Center using an access code issued by Building Department staff.
How the process actually runsThe split, in the
The split, in the
Village’s own terms.
Six things about building in Bal Harbour that are not true of the city next door.
Does the work touch the outside?
Not “is it big” and not “is it structural”. A repaint and a new front door are exterior work. A complete interior gut, with new services throughout, is not. The scope you write on day one decides which queue you join, so it is worth writing carefully.
Miami-Dade at the same time
Since 23 August 2021 the Village Building Department performs concurrent plan reviews with Miami-Dade County. Applications needing any county approval submit the Village application, the Miami-Dade County Municipal Permit Application, one paper set of drawings and one electronic set on CD or USB in the county’s required file-naming format.
Reviews and inspections by discipline
Under the schedule effective 6 June 2022, Building, Roofing, Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing plan reviews and inspections run Monday to Thursday; Public Works and Utilities on Tuesdays and Thursdays; Zoning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A programme that ignores that calendar loses days it did not need to.
A submittal you can hand over
Where county approval is involved the Village asks for both a printed set and an electronic set, named the county’s way. Getting the file names wrong is a resubmittal, not a comment.
Access code, then the portal
Inspections for permits issued after 1 February 2017 are scheduled through the Online Permit Center. The required inspections for your job are listed on the permit card, and the permit holder is responsible for requesting each one.
Final, then a certificate
On approval of all inspections and submittal of the additional documents required — a final survey among them — the permit status changes to Final, and a Certificate of Occupancy is issued under the Florida Building Code where applicable.
Project 01 · a completed interiorAn interior scope,
An interior scope,
start to finish.
A South Florida interior renovation by Elbaz Construction. The image set records the rooms, not the building — so this page does not say what kind of building it is in, or which municipality it stands in.
The open-plan kitchen and living space, finished.
The island run, with the worktop returning as a full-height splashback.
Tall cabinetry taken to the ceiling line rather than stopped below it.
The working side of the run, with appliances built in flush.
Where the kitchen meets the living space, with no change in floor level.
Joinery detail: shadow gaps in place of handles.
The lighting layout, set out before the ceiling was closed.
The room read end to end, once the furniture was in.
Path A, in practiceThe parts of a house
The parts of a house
the Board looks at.
Windows, doors and anything else on the outside face of the building are named by the Village as exterior work. Below are impact glazing and entry-door installations from Elbaz Construction projects — five different properties, shown as individual installations of the systems described, never as one project.
Product approval and appearance, together
Miami-Dade sits inside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, so glazing and doors carry product approval accepted for HVHZ use. In Bal Harbour they also have to satisfy a design review before the Building Department opens the file. Choosing a product that meets one test and fails the other is the expensive way to find that out.
Elbaz installation: full-height impact glazing on a modern two-storey home overlooking a pool deck
Elbaz installation: dark-framed multi-slide impact door opening onto a tiled terrace
Elbaz installation: arched impact entry door set into a stucco surround
Elbaz installation: impact window run and glazed french doors under a covered entry
Elbaz installation: glazed impact entry doors in a dark bronze finish
A village of towersMost work here happens
Most work here happens
inside someone else’s building.
Bal Harbour is dominated by oceanfront condominium buildings, with a small number of single-family homes. That changes who has to say yes, and in what order.
Your association is the first approval, not the last
Association rules, work-hour windows, lift and loading-dock booking, protection of common areas and insurance requirements are set by the building, not by the Village, and they vary from tower to tower. We ask for the building’s own requirements at the start, because they shape the programme as much as the permit does.
Milestone inspections
Florida law requires a milestone inspection of condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable storeys or more by 31 December of the year the building turns 30, and every ten years after that. A local enforcement agency may require it at 25 years where local circumstances warrant — that is discretionary, not automatic. The association arranges it; it is not a unit-owner permit item.
Access is a real constraint
Service-lift dimensions, protection requirements and delivery windows decide what can be brought in whole and what has to be assembled in the unit. Slab sizes and long joinery runs are the usual casualties, and they are cheaper to design around than to discover.
Project 02 · a different propertyA bathroom,
A bathroom,
separately.
A second South Florida bathroom renovation by Elbaz Construction, and a different property from Project 01. The two are not presented as one job because they are not one job.
A completed bathroom on a different property.
The vanity run, with the mirror set into the tiled face.
The shower, tiled to the ceiling rather than to a band.
Niche and bench, formed rather than added afterwards.
Brassware and glass, once the waterproofing was signed off.
The floor, laid to fall without a visible slope.
Owner’s guideFive things worth
Five things worth
settling first.
Specific to this village, and in the order they actually bite.
Write the scope honestly
Because the exterior/interior line decides the path, an ambiguous scope is an expensive one. If any part of the work reaches the outside face of the building, plan for Board review at the front.
Get the association pack early
Rules, hours, lift booking and insurance certificates. They are not a Village requirement, and they still stop work if they are missing.
Check whether the county is involved
If any Miami-Dade approval applies, the submittal changes: two applications, a paper set and an electronic set named the county’s way, reviewed concurrently.
Confirm what does not need a permit
The Village publishes a “Do I Need a Permit?” document. Its own guidance is that if your project is not listed on it, a permit is required.
Plan around the calendar
Disciplines are reviewed and inspected on set days. Sequencing to that calendar is free; ignoring it is not.
We do not publish timelines
Review durations depend on the submittal, the scope and the queue. Anyone quoting you a number for Bal Harbour without seeing your drawings is guessing. Confirm current requirements with the Village before filing.
Common questions
Before you file.
Filter by what you are trying to work out. Every answer stays on the page.
It depends on whether the work affects the exterior of the structure. The Village names awnings, driveways, fences, paint, signs, windows, doors, additions and new construction as examples of exterior work, and requires Board review and approval before the Building Department reviews it. Interior-only work goes directly to the Building Department.
The document the Architectural Review Board issues to the owner on approval. The Certificate, with the Architectural Review Board Application, is forwarded to the Building Official — which is what allows the building permit review to proceed on an exterior scope.
The Village states that permit applications can only be submitted in person at the Building Department, at Village Hall, 655 96th Street. After submitting, you can track status through the Online Permit Center using an access code provided by Building Department staff.
It can be. Since August 2021 the Village performs concurrent plan reviews with Miami-Dade County. Where any county approval applies, the submittal includes the Village application, the Miami-Dade County Municipal Permit Application, one paper set of drawings and one electronic set in the county’s required file-naming format.
Under the Village’s published schedule, Building, Roofing, Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing reviews and inspections run Monday to Thursday, with Public Works and Utilities and with Zoning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Inspections for permits issued after 1 February 2017 are scheduled through the Online Permit Center.
A building permit is required for most types of construction work in the Village, and the Village publishes a “Do I Need a Permit?” list of the projects that do not. Its own guidance is that if your project is not on that list, a permit is required. Your association’s approval is separate from, and additional to, the Village’s.
Miami-Dade County is inside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, so glazing, doors and roofing carry product approval accepted for HVHZ use. In Bal Harbour those same elements are exterior work, so they are also a design-review question, not only a code one.
Florida law requires a milestone inspection of condominium and cooperative buildings of three habitable storeys or more by 31 December of the year the building reaches 30 years, and every ten years after. A local enforcement agency may require it at 25 years where local circumstances warrant, which is discretionary rather than automatic. The association arranges and pays for it — it is not part of a unit renovation permit.
With all inspections approved and the additional required documents submitted — a final survey among them — the permit status changes to Final, and a Certificate of Occupancy is issued under the Florida Building Code where applicable.
Not from a page. What we can do is tell you which path your scope is on, what the submittal has to carry, and what the association is likely to ask for — then price against drawings rather than against a description. We do not publish review durations for Bal Harbour.
No questions in that topic yet.
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Keep readingRelated services
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& nearby villages.
Where to go next, depending on which part you are trying to pin down.
Start your projectTell us what you
Tell us what you
are planning.
Send the scope and the address. We will tell you which of the two Bal Harbour paths it is on before anything else.
Three steps, no sales visit
- 01We call you back and work out which permit path the scope is on
- 02We walk the property and read the association’s requirements with you
- 03You get a written scope priced against drawings
An honest read, including when to wait
If your scope would be better split, resequenced, or taken to the Board as a smaller first application, we will say so on the first call.
Sun–Fri 7am–7pm · Saturday closed. Licensed, bonded and insured · CBC1265280.
Thanks — that came through.
Your details are with the Elbaz Construction team and we will come back to you, usually the same or next working day. If it is urgent, call (754) 236-0675.
Start your Bal Harbour project
Find out which path you are on.
One question decides most of your programme in this village. Send us the scope and the address and we will answer it, along with what the submittal has to carry and what your building is likely to ask for.
