Completed work
One property,
carried the whole way.
A completed Elbaz Construction guest-house conversion in South Florida shown end to end - approach, entry, kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms - alongside kitchens and accessible bathrooms from other completed projects. Different properties; each caption says which.
All photographs are of real Elbaz Construction work in South Florida. None was taken in North Miami Beach, and no frame here is a statement about the flood position of any address.
Building here
Two questions,
one office.
On most projects in South Florida there are two separate conversations. One is about the building code - what the structure has to do, what the products have to be rated for, what gets inspected. The other is about the flood plain - what the ground is doing, where the finished floor sits, what may be enclosed below it. They are usually held with different people, often weeks apart, and often in the wrong order.
North Miami Beach publishes them as one job. Its Building Official is listed as Building Official/Floodplain Manager, and the department carries Floodplain Management, FEMA Requirements and Recertification as standing items alongside plan review and private provider. That is not a bigger hurdle. It is a shorter route - if you bring both questions at once, which is the part that has to be planned.
- One title, not two
The City lists the role as Building Official/Floodplain Manager. The same office that judges the code judges the flood plain.
- A long counter day
The Building Department publishes Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays - ten hours, at 17050 NE 19th Avenue, 1st Floor.
- Everything through eDMS
The City runs its permitting through eDMS, its online self-service portal, and publishes its own help guide for it.
Constraint and consequence
What one desk changes,
and what it asks of
your programme.
None of the below is a statement about your address. It is what the City publishes about how it is organised, and what each item does to the way a project is sequenced.
Ask the flood question first, not second
Because the same officer answers both, there is no advantage in getting the code question resolved before raising elevation. Bringing them together is the whole benefit of the arrangement.
The checklist for your scope already exists
The City publishes a named checklist per kind of work - air conditioning, awnings, kitchen and bathroom renovation, carports, decks, driveways, fences, screen enclosures, sheds, signs, solar. Find yours before drawing, not after.
Interior work has an electrical sheet of its own
Alongside the bathroom and kitchen renovation checklist the City publishes "Electrical Requirements - Kitchen and Bathroom Renovations". Rewiring scope is decided by that document, not by what the old circuit happened to be.
Recertification is a standing item
It sits in the department’s own quick links. On an older building it is a question to ask at the start of a remodel rather than to discover part-way through one.
The portal is the record
eDMS carries the application, the review and the inspection history. What is in it is what the City has; what is in an email is not.
The code moved, and the City said so
Its own words: "Effective December 31, 2020, the City must use the revised Florida Building Code, which now includes portions of the International Building Code." Older drawings are measured against the current book.
the City’s published Building Department counter day, Monday to Friday except holidays - ten hours, longer than any other municipality on this estate
| Element | Two separate offices | North Miami Beach |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers the flood question | A floodplain administrator, separately | The Building Official, who is also the Floodplain Manager |
| When it gets asked | Often after code review is under way | While the scope is still being drawn, in the same conversation |
| If the two answers conflict | A revision, and a second queue | A design decision, taken before either is submitted |
| What the owner sees | Two sets of comments, arriving apart | One department, one portal, one history |
| Where the scope rules live | In the code, to be interpreted | In a published checklist named for your kind of work |
| What is worth preparing early | Drawings | Drawings, plus the flood picture that may change them |
Both routes end in a permit. The difference is how many times you have to explain the project, and how late an elevation answer can arrive.
Stills from the two completed units on this page. They illustrate the stages; they are not photographs of the stage named beside them.
How we run it
Eight stages,
both questions together.
The sequence we follow on a North Miami Beach property. It is built around asking the code question and the flood question in the same breath, because the City is organised to answer them that way.
- 01
Pull the property’s history
What is on the address in eDMS: permits issued, permits still open, inspections, and whether recertification is in the picture. This is a records exercise and it happens before anyone forms a view about the design.
- 02
Find the checklist that names your scope
The City has already written down what a kitchen and bathroom renovation, a deck, a driveway or a screen enclosure needs. We start from that document rather than from a generic application, because it is the City’s own statement of what complete looks like.
- 03
Raise elevation in the same conversation
The question that would sit in a separate queue elsewhere is asked here at the same desk. In North Miami Beach that is the single biggest scheduling advantage available, and it is only available if you ask early.
- 04
Survey and scope together
What you want, what the building will allow, and what a survey finds. On an older house this is also where a previous owner’s unpermitted work surfaces, and it has to be resolved rather than built over.
- 05
Draw to the checklist and the code
Documents developed to what the named checklist asks for, against the revised Florida Building Code the City adopted. Signed and sealed where the scope requires it.
- 06
File through eDMS as one package
Application, drawings, product approvals and the flood-side documentation go in together. Comments come back through the portal and are answered by revising and resubmitting there, so the record stays in one place.
- 07
Build, with the trades sequenced
Constructed to what was approved. Where the electrical requirements sheet changes the scope of a kitchen or bathroom rewire, that is priced and programmed before the walls close rather than after.
- 08
Inspections and closeout
Booked and attended through the inspections the scope requires, then the permit is closed out rather than left open against the property.
Approvals
What the City asks for,
scope by scope.
North Miami Beach organises its permit requirements by kind of work rather than by trade. The result is a library: air conditioning and refrigeration, awnings, bathroom and kitchen renovation, carports, commercial work, concrete restoration, decks, doors and windows and shutters, driveways, electrical, fences, screen enclosures, septic and sewer connection, sheds, signs, solar systems and tents each have their own named checklist.
That is worth reading the way the City means it. A checklist is not a form to be completed at the end; it is the City telling you, in advance, what a complete submittal for your particular scope contains. Working backwards from it is the cheapest scheduling decision available on a project here.
Simplified sketch, for explanation only. It is not a permit drawing and not a plan of either project shown on this page.
From first call to closeout
- Bathroom and kitchen renovation
Its own checklist, and its own electrical requirements sheet published alongside it. Interior work is inside the system, not outside it.
- Doors, windows and shutters
Their own category, with published procedures. In Miami-Dade the products carry approval documentation that has to match what is physically installed.
- Driveways
A checklist and published detail sheets - so the specification is measured against the City’s drawing rather than against a supplier’s.
- Decks and screen enclosures
Separate checklists, including a specific wood deck checklist. Scope creep between the two is a real cause of resubmittal.
- Electrical
Its own permit, with a published list of electrical jobs requiring permits and separate requirements for service repairs and service changes.
- Concrete restoration
Published procedures and a special inspectors form. On a coastal building this is a scope that arrives with its own documentation.
- Solar systems
A checklist, a document guideline, a roof permit form and a property owner’s disclosure form - four published items for one scope.
- Recertification and flood
Both standing items of the same department, alongside FEMA Requirements. On an older or lower-lying property they belong in the first conversation.
The checklist is the schedule
When a City has already published what complete looks like for your exact scope, a resubmittal is almost always a decision not to read it. That is the cheapest week anyone can save on a project here.
None of the above is a statement about your property. The City of North Miami Beach Building Department determines what any specific address and scope requires, including any flood determination, and requirements change. We confirm what your project actually needs before anything is filed, and we do not publish fees, review durations or any assurance of approval, because the City publishes none.
Cost and time
What moves the number,
and what moves the date.
No figures here. The same square footage can carry very different amounts of documentation depending on which of the City’s checklists it lands on, and that is where the difference lives.
What moves the cost
- Which checklist your scope sits on
A kitchen and bathroom renovation, a screen enclosure and a concrete restoration are three different documentation loads for a similar-sounding brief.
- The electrical scope behind a finish
The City publishes electrical requirements specific to kitchen and bathroom renovations. What looks like a cosmetic refit can carry a real rewire, and it is better to know that before the price is agreed.
- The age and condition of the building
Recertification, concrete condition and what a previous owner did are all found at survey and resolved rather than covered.
- Structural alteration
Openings, spans and load paths need engineering, and engineering has to be in the drawing before it can be in the submittal.
- Product approvals
Windows, doors and shutters carry documentation that must match what is installed. Substituting a product late is a paperwork cost as well as a material one.
- Scope added after filing
The most reliable way to turn one review cycle into three, in any city.
What moves the schedule
- Assembling the named checklist
The most controllable part of the whole programme, because the City has already told you what it contains.
- Getting the flood question answered
Fast here if it is asked early, slow anywhere if it is asked late. That is the practical value of one officer holding both roles.
- Plan review through eDMS
Comments are answered by revising and resubmitting in the portal. A clean first submittal is worth more than a fast responder.
- Product and material lead times
Approved selections can be long. Ordering after approval is a date; ordering before it is a risk.
- Trade sequencing
Electrical, mechanical and plumbing inspections gate the finishes. The programme is built around them rather than around the decorating.
- Closeout
The inspections the scope requires, then the permit closed out rather than left open.
Owner’s guide
Six things worth knowing
before you draw anything.
Not rules - the City writes those, and it determines them per address. These are the things that most often change how a North Miami Beach project is planned.
Bring both questions to one meeting
The City has combined the roles. The saving only exists if you use it - ask about elevation and about code in the same conversation, at the start.
Read the checklist for your exact scope
Not a generic permit guide. The City publishes one named for the kind of work you are doing, and it is the closest thing to a written answer you will get before filing.
A kitchen refit may be an electrical project
The City publishes electrical requirements specific to kitchen and bathroom renovations. Find out what yours triggers before agreeing a finish budget.
Check the address in the portal first
Open permits, past inspections and recertification status are all part of what you are buying into. eDMS is where that history lives.
The code book changed and drawings age
The City states it must use the revised Florida Building Code including portions of the International Building Code. Old drawings for the same house are a starting point, not a submittal.
Ten hours is not the same as instant
A 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. counter is genuinely useful, and it does not shorten plan review. Use the access to ask questions early rather than to file faster.
What it is like
Living with a project
run through one department.
The honest version of the experience, including the parts that are more demanding here than the combined-role arrangement might suggest.
- The first meeting does more work
Because both questions can be asked at once, we prepare for that meeting harder than we would for a first counter visit elsewhere.
- Decisions arrive in batches
We will ask for product selections, electrical scope and finishes together, because they go into the same checklist.
- The portal is where things are
Status, comments and inspection results live in eDMS. We keep you told, and we do not rely on an email chain as the record.
- One point of contact
The same person from the first visit to the walkthrough. Design, permitting and construction sit in one company, so a reviewer’s comment does not wait on a hand-off between two firms.
- The site itself is ordinary
Protection, containment, deliveries, dust and noise are managed as on any job, and any association hours are respected without being asked.
- Closeout is not optional
Permits are closed out. An open permit stays with the property and reappears when it is sold, when it is someone else’s leverage.
Questions
Ask the
awkward ones.
Six categories. Pick one and the answers change.
It means the person who decides how your project meets the building code is also the person responsible for the flood plain. In practice it means you can get both answers in one conversation instead of two, provided you raise both. It does not mean the flood rules are lighter - it means they are earlier.
It costs one question, and on a lower-lying property it can change what the scope is allowed to be. Since the City has put both roles in one office, there is no reason to hold the question back.
The City publishes it at 17050 NE 19th Avenue, 1st Floor - which is a different address from City Hall at 17011 NE 19th Avenue. Hours are Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays.
The department carries Private Provider as a standing item alongside plan review guidelines, so the route exists. Whether it suits your project is a conversation about documentation and sequencing, and we will give you a straight answer.
Bathroom and kitchen renovation is a named permit category with its own published checklist, and the City publishes an electrical requirements sheet specifically for kitchen and bathroom renovations. Interior work is inside the system, not outside it.
Start from the checklist the City publishes for your kind of work - it is organised by scope rather than by trade, so there is usually one named for exactly what you are doing. If your project spans two, it needs both.
Driveways are their own category, with a checklist and published detail sheets. The detail sheets matter: they are how the City expects the construction to be shown, so drawing to them removes a round of comments.
Both are their own categories with their own checklists - the City even publishes a manufactured sheds walk-through checklist. Small structures are not informal here.
Through eDMS, the City’s online self-service permitting portal, for which it publishes its own help guide. Review comments are answered by revising and resubmitting there.
The City states that effective December 31, 2020 it must use the revised Florida Building Code, which now includes portions of the International Building Code. Drawings prepared against an older edition need bringing up.
Recertification is a standing item of the same department, so ask about it at the start of a remodel rather than discovering it part-way through. It can change the order in which work is worth doing.
We do not publish a number, because the City does not. What we can tell you is which checklist your scope sits on and what a complete first submittal for it looks like - which is the part that actually decides the answer.
Because two projects of the same size can land on different checklists and carry very different documentation and trade scope. A rate would be a guess. You get an itemised figure in writing after a survey, and it says what happens if something is found once work starts.
Sometimes, and the City has published the requirements that decide it. We check that sheet against what is actually in the walls before quoting, rather than pricing a finish and discovering a circuit.
Yes - across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, 104 municipalities. The filing routes genuinely differ between them, which is the reason we check rather than assume.
Why Elbaz
What we will actually
put our name to.
- Licensed, bonded and insured
Elbaz Construction is a licensed Florida general contractor, CBC1265280. Permits are pulled in the company’s name.
- We work from the City’s own checklist
Not a generic application pack. The published checklist for your scope is what we build the submittal against, because it is the City’s own statement of what complete means.
- We ask the flood question at the start
The City has put both roles in one office. We use that at the first meeting rather than treating elevation as something to deal with later.
- Design and construction in one contract
The people who draw it are the people who build it, so a reviewer’s comment comes back to the team that can answer it.
- We say what we do not know
Flood determinations are the City’s to make, per address. Any contractor telling you yours before checking it is telling you something the City has not.
- Permits closed out
Every permit we pull is closed out at the end of the job rather than left open against the property.
No awards, no rankings and no numbers we cannot show you. Everything above is either public record or visible in the work on this page.
Reviews
I highly recommend them for home improvement. They renovated my master bathroom and a few upgrades for other guest bathrooms. They are very professional, courteous and transparent. They are great at communicating and finding ways to streamline the work. Sean has impeccable project management and customer relationship management skills. Very pleased with the work!
Omri B
Genuine Google reviews of Elbaz Construction, shown as written. None of these reviewers is identified as a North Miami Beach client and none is presented as one - they are shown because they are real, not because of where they are.
Redid my whole bathroom and kitchen. Great service - Great quality - very quick - very professional !! Highly recommended!
Adir Davidov
They are amazing! 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. I highly recommend them!
Lee Morali
We hired them to renovate our investment property and they provided exceptional quality service for an affordable price!
Shir Partush
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
After I've been Looking for a good company to renovate my house , I found those guys! These people are super professional super honest super Fast !! Don't hesitate to Rent their service! They are number one!!
carmit cohen
Service Areas
Proudly serving homeowners across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach
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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.
Keep reading
Related guides
- Renovation vs Remodel
Where repair ends and remodelling begins, and why that line decides which of the City’s published checklists your job lands on.
- How Much Does It Cost to Remodel a House?
What actually moves a renovation number, and why the electrical scope behind a kitchen is so often the part nobody priced.
- How Much Will My Home Be Worth After a Remodel?
The relationship between what you spend, what you change and what it is worth after.
- A Guide to Choosing a General Contractor
What to ask, what to check and what a licence number actually tells you.
Related services
- Miami-Dade County
- Planning & Permitting
- HOA & Historic District Approval
- Residential Permit Expediting
- Zoning & Variance Assistance
- Full-Service Home Renovation
- Kitchen Remodeling
- Bathroom Remodeling
- Roofing
- Windows & Doors
- Design-Build New Homes
- Home Remodeling in North Miami
- Home Remodeling in Aventura
- Home Remodeling in Miami Gardens
Start here
Tell us about the property
The address, roughly when the building was built, what you want to change, and whether anything about the ground floor or the exterior is part of it. The address is what lets us pull the permit history rather than guess it.
We check what is already permitted on the property in the City’s portal, then survey it. What we price is what a survey found and what the checklist for your scope actually asks for.
A flood determination over the phone, a promised review date, or a fee quoted from a table. The City publishes none of those and neither will we.
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.
Ask both questions
while the drawing is still soft.
North Miami Beach has put the code and the flood plain in one office. The advantage is real, and it is only available early. Start with a survey and a conversation about what your scope will actually be measured against.
