Covered terrace with slim dark posts, a white soffit and ceiling fans

Building in Bay Harbor Islands
starts with one test:
can anyone outside see it.

Licensed general contracting, construction and remodeling in the Town of Bay Harbor Islands — where the Town requires review and approval for any exterior modification, paint included, and publishes an escalating penalty for working outside permitted hours.

  • Licensed, bonded & insured · CBC1265280
  • 104 municipalities across 3 counties
  • Design-build: permitting & construction in-house

Miami-Dade · Broward & Palm Beach Counties

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Preferred contact method

We use your details only to respond to this enquiry. No lists, no resale.

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.

A-00Architectural
SHEET A-00 / SOUTH FLORIDA REFERENCE SET · 12 FRAMES

Recent work

Exterior work, which is the work this Town reviews.

Driveways, terraces, freestanding structures and boundary treatment built by Elbaz Construction across South Florida. These are the categories the Town of Bay Harbor Islands names on its exterior modification list. None of the properties shown is in Bay Harbor Islands. Select any frame to open it full size.

G-01General
SHEET G-01 / TOWN OF BAY HARBOR ISLANDS
01

The town, defined

Two islands where the outside of the building is public business.

Most municipalities decide how closely to look at a project by how large it is. The Town of Bay Harbor Islands decides by whether it changes the outside. Its own instruction to applicants is that for any exterior modification the Town requires review and approval by the Town Planner and/or the Design Review Board — and the list it publishes alongside that sentence is not limited to structures. It runs additions, awnings, doors, driveways, fences, paint, signs and windows.

Paint is the item that tells you what kind of town this is. On a great many projects the building work is straightforward and the review is the programme: what colour, what profile, what the elevation will look like from the street when it is finished. That is a design conversation, and it happens before the building permit rather than inside it.

The second thing the Town publishes is a clock. Permissible construction hours are set in the Town Code, no contractor work is permitted at weekends or on Town recognised holidays, and the penalty for working outside those hours escalates in published steps that attach stop-work days to money. On two small islands with neighbours on every side, that is enforced because it is noticed.

Structural columns set and timber-slat screen wall hung, soffit closed, post bases still open to grade
REFFreestanding structure with a slatted screen wall, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.

We work across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, which means the review architecture of a small island town is something we handle as a normal part of the job rather than as an exception.

What is included

Design review trigger
Any exterior modification
Named in the Town’s list
Paint, doors, windows, driveways, fences, awnings
Reviewing authority
Town Planner and/or Design Review Board
Construction hours
Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding holidays
Weekend work
Not permitted — Saturdays, Sundays or Town holidays
Notice of Commencement
Work exceeding $2,500 in job cost
A-01Architectural
SHEET A-01 / SCOPE OF WORKS · 12 ITEMS
02

Scope index

What we build here

Categories are grouped by how the Town’s own published trigger list treats them. Whether a particular scope is an exterior modification is the Town’s determination, made by the Building & Zoning Department — this is the structure, not a determination.

Paver driveway with mature planting either side of the approach
REFCompleted paver driveway and planting, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
01 / Exterior modification

Exterior repainting

The Town lists paint among the modifications requiring review and approval by the Town Planner and/or the Design Review Board. A repaint that would be a weekend job elsewhere is a design submission here, so the colour decision belongs at the start of the project rather than at the end of it.

A-02Architectural
SHEET A-02 / REFERENCE 01 · A FREESTANDING STRUCTURE, STAGE BY STAGE · 09 FRAMES
REFERENCE 01 · A FREESTANDING STRUCTURE, STAGE BY STAGE

What an exterior structure looks like on the way to finished

Nine frames, separate South Florida projects

Freestanding and attached structures are exactly the kind of work a town reviews before it is built and looks at afterwards. These frames show the stages between those two moments.

These nine frames are separate South Florida projects by Elbaz Construction, not one project and not a Bay Harbor Islands property. Select any frame to open it full size.

A-03Architectural
SHEET A-03 / REVIEW AUTHORITY · TOWN OF BAY HARBOR ISLANDS
03

Specification

Who has to say yes

Read from the Town’s own Building & Zoning pages and its Permit Application General Information sheet on 2026-08-16. The Town names the reviewing authority for exterior modifications and the documents an application carries; it does not publish the standards the Design Review Board applies, so neither does this page.

Town Planner and/or Design Review Board
Review and approval for any exterior modification. The Town’s published list names additions, awnings, doors, driveways, fences, paint, signs and windows.
Building & Zoning Department
Issues the building permit and enforces the local and state codes governing construction and maintenance of buildings and structures in the Town.
Development Review Committee
The Town publishes DRC information and an application form on its document shelf. We have not read it, so this page does not describe what it reviews or when it applies — ask the Department.
Condominium or Management Association
A letter of authorization from the association is a required part of the application. It is the association’s decision, not the Town’s, and it is separate from both of the Town’s approvals.
Miami-Dade County product control
Product Approvals or Notices of Acceptance are supplied with the application in two sets, together with product specifications, for openings and other rated assemblies.
Florida State Statutes
A recorded Notice of Commencement is required with the application for all work exceeding $2,500 in job cost.
Sub-contractors, individually
Multi-disciplined work requires each sub-contractor’s application, licence and insurance to be submitted with the master plan and application.
The Department, on anything else
The Town states that its published list of required documents is not all-inclusive and that additional documents may be required on an individual review basis.
Rear elevation with the structure set and the slab poured, before deck finishes
REFSlab poured and structure set, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
A-04Architectural
SHEET A-04 / MATERIAL AND DESIGN LANGUAGE
04

Design and material language

The decisions design review actually looks at

Five categories from the Town’s own published trigger list, and what changes when the choice is made early rather than late.

Dark-framed canopy beside a pool with large-format pavers being set
DETDark-framed canopy over large-format pavers being set, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
Raised spa beside wide timber-faced steps under a dark-fascia covered terrace
DETCompleted travertine terrace under a white-posted cover, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
M-01

Paint and exterior finish

Named on the list

Named on the Town’s list Paint appears on the Town’s published list of exterior modifications requiring review and approval by the Town Planner and/or the Design Review Board. On many houses this is the only trigger the project has, and it converts a maintenance job into a design submission.

Other options. Choose the colour at the start, with the elevation drawn, rather than at the end from a fan deck on site. The decision is the submission.

M-02

Windows and glazed openings

Named on the list

Named on the Town’s list Windows are on the trigger list and are also a product question: the Town asks for two sets of Product Approvals or Notices of Acceptance and product specifications with the application, and Miami-Dade sits inside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone.

Other options. A product that satisfies the rating and changes the proportion of the opening is two decisions, not one. Settle both before ordering, because lead times on glazing do not forgive a redesign.

M-03

Doors and entries

Named on the list

Named on the Town’s list Doors are listed separately from windows. An entry is usually the most-looked-at square metre of a house, and the Town treats it as its own category rather than as part of a general elevation.

Other options. Where a door and its surround are changing together, draw them together. Approving a leaf and then altering the frame is the expensive order to do it in.

M-04

Driveways and paving

Named on the list

Named on the Town’s list Driveways are on the list alongside the building elements. Ground plane work is also the part of a project most likely to involve deliveries, plant and material stacking on a narrow island street.

Other options. Agree the material and the layout at design stage, and the delivery and working sequence at the same time — the Town’s construction-hours rules apply to the noisy part of the job most of all.

M-05

Fences and boundary treatment

Named on the list

Named on the Town’s list Fences are on the list. On lots this size the boundary is a shared condition: what you build on your line is what your neighbour looks at from theirs.

Other options. Height, material and transparency are design decisions with a neighbourly dimension. They are much easier to settle on a drawing than after installation.

On what is shown. Nothing here is a determination. The Town decides whether a scope is an exterior modification and what its review requires, and it does not publish the standards the Design Review Board applies — so this page describes the decisions, not their outcomes.

G-02General
SHEET G-02 / PROCESS · 11 STAGES
05

Process

How we run a project here

Eleven steps. The order is set by the Town’s own sequence: the exterior test first, then the approvals, then the permit, then the work — inside permitted hours.

01
Consultation

What you want to change, and how much of it is visible from outside.

02
Exterior test

We establish with the Department whether the scope is an exterior modification, because that decides whether design review comes first.

03
Association

If the property is in a condominium, we start the letter of authorization early — it is required with the application and it is not in the Town’s gift.

04
Design

Elevations, openings, finishes and colour resolved as a design proposition rather than as a schedule of works.

05
Design review

Submission to the Town Planner and/or Design Review Board, with the drawings that show what will actually be seen.

06
Documents

Application with both signatures notarised, licences, insurance issued to the Town, product approvals and specifications, floor plan — in two sets.

07
Notice of Commencement

Recorded and submitted with the application for work exceeding $2,500 in job cost.

08
Permit

Application through the Town’s online portal, with sub-contractors’ applications travelling with the master where the work is multi-disciplined.

09
Mobilisation

A working plan built around permitted construction hours, with deliveries and the noisiest operations scheduled inside them.

10
Construction

Sequenced so each trade is genuinely ready for its inspection, requested through the Town’s portal.

11
Completion

Final inspections, certification, and the documents handed over in a form you can produce again when the property is sold.

P-01Permitting
SHEET P-01 / PLANNING, PERMITTING AND REVIEW · TOWN OF BAY HARBOR ISLANDS
06

Technical brief

What the Town publishes, and what it says exactly

Twelve references, each read off an official Town source on 2026-08-16. Where the Town’s own pages disagree, both versions are here.

Long covered run with columns installed and the ground still open
PCovered run structurally complete with the ground still open, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
Covered terrace with ceiling fans installed and paving in progress below
PDeck paving part-laid under a finished cover, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
R-01

The exterior modification trigger

The Town’s instruction to applicants: for any exterior modification, the Town requires review and approval by the Town Planner and/or the Design Review Board. The list published with it names additions, awnings, doors, driveways, fences, paint, signs and windows.

R-02

Permissible construction hours

Under Town Code Section 12-26, construction hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding holidays. The Town states that no contractor work is permitted on Town recognised holidays, Saturdays or Sundays.

R-03

The penalty ladder

Published in full by the Town: a first violation $1,000; a second $2,000 plus one workday of Stop Work Order; a third $3,000 plus three workdays of Stop Work Order; and each subsequent violation $5,000 plus five workdays of Stop Work Order.

R-04

Both signatures, notarised

The application is submitted completed, with the owner’s signature as well as the qualifier’s signature notarised.

R-05

Contractor licensing

The contractor’s appropriate licences: a local business tax receipt from the county or municipality in which the contractor’s office is located, and municipal and/or state licensing.

R-06

Insurance issued to the Town

A certificate of insurance issued to the Town of Bay Harbor Islands indicating Liability and Workers’ Compensation coverage. Where the qualifier is exempt from Workers’ Compensation, a copy of the exemption must be presented.

R-07

The association’s letter

A letter of authorization from the Condominium or Management Association forms part of the required submittal.

R-08

Two sets of everything

Two sets of: plans which meet Florida Building Code specifications, Product Approvals (NOA), product specifications, and the floor plan.

R-09

Sub-contractors with the master

Multi-disciplined work requires submission of the sub-contractors’ applications, with proper licence and insurance, with the master plan and application.

R-10

Notice of Commencement above $2,500

All work exceeding $2,500.00 in job cost must submit a recorded Notice of Commencement with the application, as per Florida State Statutes.

R-11

The contract itself

A copy of the contract, proposal, estimate or paid invoice/receipt is part of the required information.

R-12

Where the Town’s own pages disagree

Two conflicts, both current on the Town’s site and neither resolved here. On the code edition: the Town’s apply page states that it operates under Florida Building Code 2017, while the Building Department’s document shelf publishes a Special Inspector form for the FBC 8th edition (2023). On hours and address: the Department page gives 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at 1045 95th Street, Trailer 3, while the Permit Application General Information sheet gives 8am to Noon and 1pm to 3:30pm at 9665 Bay Harbor Terrace. Confirm both with the Department before you rely on either.

Disclaimer. Nothing on this sheet is a determination about a specific property. The Town decides what a scope requires, and its own published list of documents states that it is not all-inclusive.

S-01Structural
SHEET S-01 / REVIEW ROUTE · INDICATIVE
07

Assembly

The route an application takes, drawn.

An indicative diagram of the Town’s published structure, not a determination. Whether a scope is an exterior modification decides whether design review comes first; the building permit follows either way; and a condominium adds the association’s letter before the Town sees the application at all.

Indicative diagram of the Bay Harbor Islands review routeA scope of work is tested for whether it modifies the exterior. If it does, the Town Planner and/or the Design Review Board review and approve it before the building permit. If it does not, it proceeds directly to the building permit. In a condominium, the association’s letter of authorization is required with the application in either case. The permit is followed by inspections and certification.Scope of workdefinedDoes it modifythe exterior?Town Planner and/orDesign Review BoardStraight to thebuilding permitPermit, inspections,certificationyesno

Key

01
Scope of work defined
02
Exterior modification test applied
03
Town Planner and/or Design Review Board
04
Condominium association letter obtained
05
Application assembled and submitted
06
Building permit issued
07
Inspections and certification
N-01

Visibility before size

The test the Town publishes is whether the work is an exterior modification, not whether it is large. Paint is on the list and a full interior refit is not, which is the opposite of the intuition most owners arrive with.

N-02

The association is not the Town

A letter of authorization from the Condominium or Management Association is a required part of the application. The Town asking for it does not make the Town responsible for obtaining it, and association timelines are their own.

N-03

Two sets, not one

Plans, Product Approvals, product specifications and the floor plan are all submitted in two sets. It is a small thing that turns a counter visit into a second counter visit.

N-04

Both signatures, notarised

The Town asks for the completed application with the owner’s signature and the qualifier’s signature notarised. Booking the notary once, for both, is the sensible version.

N-05

Sub-contractors travel with the master

Multi-disciplined work requires each sub-contractor’s application, licence and insurance with the master plan and application, rather than following it later.

N-06

The list is not the whole list

The Town states plainly that its required-documents list is not all-inclusive and that more may be required on an individual review basis. Treat it as the reliable core and the Department as the authority on the rest.

REFERENCE 02 · THE GROUND PLANE AND THE BOUNDARY

The two categories a passer-by actually sees

Driveways and boundary treatment are both named on the Town’s exterior modification list. South Florida projects by Elbaz Construction; neither property is in Bay Harbor Islands.

01Paver driveway laid to the planting edge.
02Freestanding structure on a paved plinth, read against the boundary.
Q-01Quality
SHEET Q-01 / PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY
08

Performance and quality

How we work

Eight commitments, each one a direct consequence of something this Town publishes.

Pavilion columns braced with post bases still open to grade before backfill
QColumn bases set with the ground open, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
Covered terrace with slim dark posts, a white soffit and ceiling fans
QCompleted covered terrace, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
The exterior test comes first
We establish with the Department whether the scope is an exterior modification before design work is commissioned, because that answer sets the whole sequence.
Colour is a design decision, not a finishing one
Where paint is in scope it is drawn and submitted, not chosen on site at the end.
The association letter is started early
It is required with the application, the association sets its own pace, and it is the single most common reason a submission waits.
We work inside permitted hours
Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., no weekends and no Town holidays. The penalty ladder is published and it attaches stop-work days to money.
Deliveries are scheduled, not assumed
On two small islands the noisy end of a project is the visible end. Deliveries and breaking-out are planned inside the permitted window.
Two sets, assembled before we file
Plans, product approvals, specifications and floor plan, in the two sets the Town asks for, with both signatures notarised in one sitting.
Sub-contractors documented with the master
Their applications, licences and insurance travel with the master application rather than following it.
One licensed contract
Design coordination, Town submittals, permitting and construction under CBC1265280, so no approval falls between two parties.
C-01Cost
SHEET C-01 / COST AND SCHEDULE VARIABLES · 13
09

Cost and timeline

What moves the number

We publish no permit fees for this Town — the fee schedule is set by Town resolution and we have not opened it, and the figure that matters is current on the day you file. These are the variables that actually move a price.

Travertine patio with a hot tub beneath a tiki structure and palms
CCompleted travertine patio, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
Large-format grey paver driveway running to a double garage
CLarge-format paver driveway, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
#VariableWhy it moves the number
01Whether it is an exterior modificationDesign review adds drawings, a submission and a decision point before construction can be permitted. It is the largest single fork in the programme.
02How much of the elevation changesA single opening and a whole frontage are the same category and very different projects.
03Condominium or single-familyA condominium adds the association’s authorization, its own rules on hours, access and protection, and usually a longer lead time before anything starts.
04Access on a small islandWhere material can be stood, how it is delivered and how far it is carried is a real cost on constrained lots with close neighbours.
05Permitted-hours working onlyA programme confined to weekdays between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. is longer in elapsed time than one that can use a Saturday, and that is a scheduling cost rather than an hourly one.
06Number of disciplinesEach additional trade brings its own application, licence and insurance to be submitted with the master, and its own inspections.
07Product approvals and ratingsRated assemblies for openings carry their own documentation and their own lead times, and substitution late in a job is rarely cheap.
08Structural interventionRemoving or altering structure brings engineering, and engineering brings its own review and inspection sequence.
09Existing conditionsWhat is behind the finishes on an older building is the largest genuine unknown on most renovation projects anywhere.
10Survey and existing documentationHaving a current survey and any previous Town approvals for the property shortens the front of the job appreciably.
11Specification levelFinishes, joinery and fittings move a renovation budget more than square footage does, once the shell is settled.
12Notice of Commencement thresholdAbove $2,500 in job cost a recorded Notice of Commencement is part of the submission — a small administrative step, and one that has to happen before the application rather than during it.
13How early the decisions are madeThe cheapest version of this project is the one where colour, openings and boundary treatment were settled before the first submission rather than after the first comment.
I-01Information
SHEET I-01 / QUESTION INDEX · 15
10

Question index

Questions we are asked here

Answered from the Town’s own published material. Where the Town publishes two different answers, both are given.

01 / Design review

Do I really need approval to repaint my house?

On the Town’s own published instruction, yes — paint is named on the list of exterior modifications for which the Town requires review and approval by the Town Planner and/or the Design Review Board. The full list published with it is additions, awnings, doors, driveways, fences, paint, signs and windows. Whether your particular scope is an exterior modification is the Town’s determination, and it is the first thing we confirm with the Building & Zoning Department.

A-06Architectural
SHEET A-06 / CONSTRUCTION STUDY
Construction study

What to establish first

Dark-framed canopy beside a pool with large-format pavers being set
STUDYCanopy structure over large-format paving being set, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.

Four questions worth answering before a drawing is commissioned. All four are answered by the Town or by your association, not by a contractor.

Observations

01
Is any part of it visible from outside
This is the branch that decides everything else. If the scope modifies the exterior, the Town requires review and approval by the Town Planner and/or the Design Review Board — and its published trigger list is broad enough that most projects touch it somewhere.
02
Whether the property is in an association
A letter of authorization from the Condominium or Management Association is required with the application. Their process is not the Town’s, and it is usually the longer of the two.
03
Which code edition your drawings must meet
The Town publishes two different answers on two of its own pages. Ask the Department which applies before drawings are commissioned rather than after they are submitted.
04
What the job value is
Above $2,500 in job cost the application needs a recorded Notice of Commencement. It is a small step with a fixed lead time, and it belongs at the front of the programme.
G-03General
SHEET G-03 / DELIVERY AND CREDENTIALS
11

Credentials and delivery

Why Elbaz Construction

Six things that are verifiable rather than asserted.

Freestanding pavilion over a paved plinth on artificial turf, complete
REFCompleted freestanding structure over a paved plinth, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.
01

Licensed general contractor

CBC1265280 — certified building contractor, bonded and insured. Verifiable in the Florida DBPR licence register.

02

One contract, both approvals

Design coordination and Town submittals run alongside the construction contract, so the design approval and the building permit are one party’s responsibility.

03

We read the Town’s own material

Every regulatory statement on this page was taken from an official Town source and is attributed to it, including the two places where the Town contradicts itself.

04

We say what we do not know

The Design Review Board’s standards, the DRC’s remit and the fee schedule are not on this page, because we have not read them. That is a better guide than a confident guess.

05

Honest photography

Every image here is a real Elbaz Construction project in South Florida, captioned as such. None is claimed as a Bay Harbor Islands property.

06

Across three counties

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — so a small town’s particular review architecture is a normal part of the work rather than an exception to it.

I-02Information
SHEET I-02 / CLIENT RECORD
12

Google reviews

In their words, unedited.

Reproduced verbatim from the connected Google Business Profile, including original spelling. No review schema is emitted from this page.

★★★★★

“Amazing experience with the entire company! They did a great job in my house for some work that needed to be completed, and I am extremely happy with the result. Super professional & great service. I highly recommend Elbaz Construction.”

Mia Zafrani · Google review

★★★★★

Very professional. Met my exact requests with so much patience and knowledge. They renovated my whole house and the whole process was such a breeze.

Lee Morali

★★★★★

We hired them to renovate our investment property and they provided exceptional quality service for an affordable price!

Shir Partush

★★★★★

From start to end- personal kind treatment, always respectful. Value for money 10/10.

roni yonani

★★★★★

Amazing job Did a total renovation of my house with them

Elie Elancry

G-04General
SHEET G-04 / ENQUIRY
13

Start here

Start a Bay Harbor Islands project

Tell us the scope and the address. We will establish whether it is an exterior modification, what the application has to carry, and how the permitted-hours rule shapes the programme.

Paver driveway with mature planting either side of the approach
REFCompleted paver driveway and planting, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.

What happens next

01
We call or email within one business day, Sunday to Friday.
02
An exterior test: whether the scope modifies the exterior, whether the property is in an association, and which code edition the Department says applies.
03
A site visit, then a written scope and a proposal against it — with the review path stated in it, not assumed.
Useful to have
A survey if you have one, your association’s requirements, and photographs of the elevation from the street.
Preferred contact method

We use your details only to respond to this enquiry. No lists, no resale.

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.

G-05General
SHEET G-05 / END OF SET

Find out whether it is visible.
Then build it properly.

Design coordination, Town submittals, permitting and construction under one licensed general contractor — in the Town of Bay Harbor Islands and across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Raised spa beside wide timber-faced steps under a dark-fascia covered terrace
ENDCompleted travertine terrace under a white-posted cover, South Florida project by Elbaz Construction.