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View all servicesLicensed general contracting and renovation in Delray Beach — where three named permit types are issued inside three days, and an after-the-fact permit costs three times what it should have.
Miami-Dade · Broward & Palm Beach Counties
ScrollWe will tell you whether any of it is on the City’s express list, and what the rest of it needs before anyone lifts a tool.
Delray Beach publishes both halves plainly. Three permit types are expedited and issued within three days. Everything else follows the normal route — and if work has already started without a permit, Code Enforcement issues a stop work notice and the after-the-fact permit costs three times the normal amount, with third-party engineering fees on top where the work has been covered up.
Sun–Fri 7am–7pm · Saturday closed. Licensed, bonded and insured · CBC1265280.
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.
Most municipalities have one or the other. Delray Beach publishes both, in plain language, on its own pages — a three-day express list with a narrow emergency allowance, and a tripled after-the-fact cost with a stop-work notice attached. Between them they describe exactly how this City wants work to be sequenced.
Cabinetry, worktops, tiling, and the electrical, plumbing and mechanical work behind them — run by one licensed general contractor, with the permit in hand and the inspections booked before the trades arrive rather than after.
Start your projectThe City states that A/C change-out, water heater replacement and re-roof permits are considered express permits and will be expedited and issued within three days. That is the City’s own commitment about its own service, and it is the only duration on this page.
The one after-the-fact route the City publishes: emergency A/C change-outs and water heater replacements can be accommodated if the permit is submitted within 24 hours of doing the work. It is a genuine provision for a genuine failure — and it covers two things, not everything.
Start without a permit and a stop work notice will be issued by Code Enforcement, the cost of the after-the-fact permit will be tripled, and where the areas of work are concealed there may be fees for a third party engineering analysis. Without an application at all, a Notice of Violation can follow, and fines with it.
Contractors must register and maintain their current licence on file prior to permit submittal. It is not something to sort out while the application is in the queue — it gates the submittal itself.
Five things about building in Delray Beach that are not true of the city next door.
The City’s wording deserves reading twice: permits expire and become null and void if work is not started and an inspection is requested within 180 days; after work has commenced, the permit expires when work is suspended or abandoned within 180 days — and lack of an inspection within this time will serve as validation that the job has been suspended or abandoned. You do not have to decide to stop. Going quiet is the evidence.
The City requires a recorded NOC before the first inspection for all permits valued above $5,000, or for air conditioner replacements valued at $15,000 or greater. It must be recorded at a Palm Beach County Court House, and the City points out that the most convenient one sits just south of City Hall.
The list of required inspections is on the back of the white permit placard, and instructions for scheduling them come with the permit. The City is explicit that it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure all required inspections are made before proceeding with work — not the inspector’s, and not ours to assume.
Permitting is fully digital: submit documents, pay fees and download permits online, with electronic plan review being introduced gradually, more permit types at a time. Paper is still accepted — the City will scan your documents for you, for a fee.
Under state statute an owner who owns and occupies the home may act as their own contractor. The City adds that owners acting as their own contractor, or listed as a subcontractor, are required to personally appear and sign the permit application — and that a contractor is required for all commercial and multi-family property.
On choosing a contractor, the City says: check references, ask to see the State licence, check the number on the state website for complaints — and “if they ask to secure the permit, beware. They may not be licensed, which puts the homeowner at risk.” A contractor who wants the permit in your name is telling you something.
A kitchen renovation from Elbaz Construction’s South Florida portfolio. The photographs record the rooms, not the address — nothing here is claimed as a Delray Beach project.
The kitchen from the living side, once the island was set.
The sink run under the window, with the range along the same wall.
Base drawers and bar handles, looking through to the range.
The tall appliances, with the worktop returning past them.
The sink and mixer, once the quartz was templated and set.
Structural work on an Elbaz Construction project, shown as one property at successive stages rather than as separate jobs.
The City warns that an after-the-fact permit can carry third-party engineering analysis fees where the areas of work are concealed. Once framing is boarded, services are buried and a slab is poured, proving what is behind them stops being an inspection and becomes an investigation. That is the practical argument for calling the inspection at the open stage.
The frame and openings formed, before anything was covered.
The same house from the side, roof plane in place.
The structure from across the site, glazing still to come.
Neither is difficult. Both are much easier before drawings exist than after.
Delray Beach maintains a Local Register of Historic Places and historic districts, and publishes a lookup so an owner can check whether a property is listed or sits inside a district. We are not going to tell you what that means for your project, because the standards and the review process are the City’s to state and we have not read them. What we will do is check the lookup with you at the start, because if it applies it changes the order of everything that follows.
The City requires contractors to register and maintain a current licence on file prior to permit submittal. Registration runs through the City’s business tax receipt process, and an application cannot be filed on an unregistered contractor.
Delray Beach’s Building Division also handles reviewing and inspecting all landscaping to new single-family units, commercial and multi-family projects, and says it encourages water conservation and the preservation of trees and coastal vegetation where possible. On a project that touches the grounds, that is one more review in the same building.
For new dwellings, once all fees are paid and all required inspections are completed, a Certificate of Occupancy is issued. For minor projects, a Certificate of Completion can be obtained on request — worth asking for, because it is the document that proves the work was closed out properly.
The City publishes a Milestone Inspection page and a permit and inspection utilization report. We have not read either, so this page does not describe what they require. If your building is one where milestone inspection applies, that is a conversation with the City rather than with a contractor’s website.
Bathroom work on a different South Florida property, shown as its own job rather than folded into the kitchen above.
The shower behind its sliding screen, tiled to full height.
The vanity and backlit mirror, with the shelving beside it.
The linear drain, where the floor falls to meet the wall.
The brassware, set after the waterproofing was signed off.
Specific to this city, and in the order they actually bite.
The City publishes a lookup for whether a property is on the Local Register or inside a district. If it applies, it changes the sequence, and finding out late is expensive.
A/C change-out, water heater replacement and re-roof are issued within three days. If your project includes one of those, it may not need to wait for the rest.
A stop work notice, a tripled permit cost, and possibly a third-party engineering analysis if it has been covered up. There is no version of this that is cheaper than waiting.
Above $5,000, or for an air conditioner replacement of $15,000 or more, it has to be recorded at a Palm Beach County Court House and in place before the first inspection.
The City treats the absence of an inspection inside the window as validation that the job was suspended or abandoned. Keep the inspections moving even if the finishes are waiting.
The only timeframe on this page is the City’s own three-day express commitment, and the only money figures are its published rules — the tripled after-the-fact cost, and the $5,000 and $15,000 Notice of Commencement thresholds. We publish no permit fee amounts for Delray Beach, because the City sets them on the contracted amount and the scope of work, and the figure that matters is current on the day you file. Confirm everything here with the Building Division before you rely on it.
What owners in Delray Beach ask first, answered from the Building Division’s own FAQ and permit pages rather than from what is usually true elsewhere in Palm Beach County.
It gets expensive, and the City says so plainly. A stop work notice will be issued by Code Enforcement, and the cost for an After the Fact permit will be tripled. On top of that, there may be fees for a third party engineering analysis if the areas of work are concealed — because once the work is covered up, proving what is behind it is no longer a normal inspection. And if no permit is applied for at all, a Notice of Violation can be issued and fines levied.
Yes, but only for two specific things. The City states that emergency A/C change-outs and water heater replacements can be accommodated if the permit is submitted within 24 hours of doing the work. That is the only after-the-fact allowance it publishes. Everything else falls under the tripled after-the-fact rule above.
Three types. The City states that A/C change-out, water heater replacement and re-roof permits are considered express permits and will be expedited and issued within three days. That three-day figure is the City’s own commitment about its own service — it is the only timeframe on this page, and we do not extend it to anything else.
Two clocks, and one sentence that catches people. Permits expire and become null and void if work is not started and an inspection is requested within 180 days. Once work has commenced, the permit expires when work is suspended or abandoned within 180 days. And the City adds: lack of an inspection within this time will serve as validation that the job has been suspended or abandoned. You never have to decide to stop — going quiet is itself the evidence, so we keep inspections moving even when a finish is on back-order.
The City requires it before the first inspection for all permits valued above $5,000, or for air conditioner replacements valued at $15,000 or greater. It has to be recorded at a Palm Beach County Court House — the City notes that the most convenient one is just south of City Hall. Note that other municipalities phrase the same statutory pair differently, so use this City’s wording for a Delray Beach job.
A contractor is required for all commercial and multi-family property. For a home you own and occupy, state statute allows you to act as your own contractor. The City adds the conditions: if you do not do all the work yourself you must supervise it and hire licensed trade subcontractors for electrical, plumbing, a/c and roofing; and owners acting as their own contractor or listed as a subcontractor are required to personally appear and sign the permit application.
The City’s own answer is blunt, and worth quoting: “If they ask to secure the permit, beware. They may not be licensed, which puts the homeowner at risk.” Its wider advice is to ask for and check references, ask to see the State licence, and check the number on the state website for complaints. A licensed contractor pulls permits in their own name because they carry the responsibility that goes with them. Ours is CBC1265280.
They are printed where you will actually find them: the list of required inspections is on the back of the white permit placard, and scheduling instructions are provided when the permit is issued. The City is clear that it is the applicant’s responsibility — owner-builder or contractor — to ensure all required inspections are made before proceeding with work.
Digitally. The City describes its permitting process as fully digital: submit documents, pay fees and download permits online through its eServices portal, with an electronic plan review system being implemented gradually, adding more permit types over time. Paper has not been abolished — you can bring documents in and the City will digitise them for you with its scanning service, for a fee.
Possibly quite a lot, and this is one place we will not guess. Delray Beach maintains a Local Register of Historic Places and historic districts, and publishes a lookup so you can check whether a property is listed or sits inside one. We have not read the City’s preservation standards or its review process, so this page says nothing about what they require. What we do is run the lookup with you at the very start, because if it applies it changes the order of everything after it.
Yes — landscaping. The Building Division states that it handles reviewing and inspecting all landscaping to new single-family units, commercial, and multi-family projects, and that it encourages water conservation and the preservation of trees and coastal vegetation where possible. On a project that reshapes the grounds as well as the house, that is one more review sitting in the same department.
Not from a page. The City sets permit fees on the contracted amount and the scope of work, so we publish no figures. The only duration here is the City’s own three-day express commitment. What we can do first is check the historic register, tell you which parts of your scope are express and which are not, work out what the Notice of Commencement will need, and then price against drawings.
No questions in that topic yet.
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104 municipalities across three counties — and we hold the licence to build in all of them. Not sure about your address? Ask us.
Where to go next, depending on which part you are trying to pin down.
Send the scope and the address. We will come back with what is express, what is not, and what has to be recorded before the first inspection.
If something has already been done without a permit, we will tell you plainly what regularising it is likely to involve here — including that the permit itself costs triple — rather than quietly building over it.
Sun–Fri 7am–7pm · Saturday closed. Licensed, bonded and insured · CBC1265280.
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.
Send us the scope and the address. We will tell you what is on the express list, what the drawings and the Notice of Commencement have to carry, and how to keep the permit alive through to the final inspection. Licensed, bonded and insured, CBC1265280.
