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Sweetwater.
Two published thresholds.
Neither one is a guess.

Licensed general contracting and renovation in Sweetwater — where the City publishes a $100 construction-value line and its own memorandum on the state’s $7,500 exemption, and where a kitchen or bathroom remodel needs a permit either way.

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Miami-Dade · Broward & Palm Beach Counties

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Tell us the scope
and the address.

We will tell you which of the City’s two published thresholds your work falls under, and which of its two permit tracks it belongs to.

Why both numbers matter

One page says $100. One memorandum says $7,500. Both are the City’s.

The Building & Zoning page states that all construction with a value over $100 requires a building permit. The Building Department’s own memorandum on House Bill 803 says the City must exempt certain single-family work valued under $7,500 from 1 July 2026. We are not going to pretend those read the same, and we are not going to pick one for you. What we can do is show you the carve-out list the City published alongside the exemption, because for most remodeling it settles the question.

Prefer to talk now(754) 236-0675

Sun–Fri 7am–7pm · Saturday closed. Licensed, bonded and insured · CBC1265280.

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.

Sweetwater · Miami-Dade County

A state exemption,
and a city that
publishes its limits.

Plenty of municipalities mention House Bill 803. Sweetwater wrote its own memorandum about it, listing exactly which work still needs a permit whatever it costs, requiring a written request with documentation from anyone claiming the exemption, and stating plainly that a substantial portion of the City sits in designated flood hazard areas — which is where most of the exemption quietly goes.

Open-plan kitchen by Elbaz Construction with a granite-topped island, a stainless island extractor, grey shaker cabinetry and a dining area beyond
What we build

Kitchens, bathrooms and whole-home renovation, permitted properly

Cabinetry, worktops, tiling and the electrical, plumbing and mechanical work behind them, run by one licensed general contractor. All of it sits on the City’s list of work that needs a permit regardless of value, which makes the paperwork question simple rather than arguable.

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The exemption, as the City states it

Under $7,500, from 1 July 2026

The memorandum’s own words: HB 803 requires local governments to exempt certain work on single-family residential properties from permit requirements where the total value is less than $7,500 — and, immediately after, that the exemption is limited and does not apply to many common residential projects.

What it never covers

Five trades, and a flood map

A permit is still required regardless of value for electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas and structural work — and for any work on property located partially or entirely within a flood hazard area as defined by the Florida Building Code.

Named, so there is no argument

Kitchen and bathroom remodels

The City lists the projects that continue to need permits: window and door replacements, fences, driveways and concrete slabs, water heater replacements, kitchen and bathroom remodels, air conditioning replacements, electrical panel upgrades, gas appliance installations, and structural repairs or alterations.

It is claimed, not assumed

A written request, with documentation

Anyone seeking the exemption must submit a written request to the Building Department with documentation showing the scope qualifies and the total value is under $7,500. The City decides; the contractor does not.

How the process actually runs

Two departments,
two permit tracks,
one property.

Five things about building in Sweetwater that are not true of the city next door.

01 · The track most people do not know exists

Anything that reaches the street is a different permit.

Building & Zoning is one department. The Engineering Division issues permits for all work to be done in the public right-of-way, and it runs on its own rules: applications by email only, no hard copies, plans digitally signed and sealed, an upfront fee of $100 with the application, and a tracking number issued within 48 hours that has to appear in the subject line of every email after it. A driveway that ends at the swale can touch both tracks.

02 · No permit without a named contractor

And the contractor must be registered

The Engineering Division states a permit will be issued only if a contractor has been assigned to the job, with the contractor’s details notified by email, and that contractors must be registered with the City — registration that has to be updated annually. Choosing the builder is therefore part of getting the permit, not something that follows it.

03 · The clock that empties the file

Dormant for 180 days, and you reapply

A rule worth reading twice: permits that are in the approval process and dormant for 180 days will be deemed not active, and applicants have to reapply. An application parked over a slow winter does not wait for you.

04 · What the counter runs on

A code edition, and a lunch hour

Inspectors receive applications, issue permits and inspect to the 2023 Florida Building Code, 8th Edition. Building & Zoning is open Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and closed from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. — a daily closure it shares with Miami Springs rather than one unique to here. Permit and inspection status is tracked through the City’s eSuite portal.

05 · Splitting the job does not work

Phasing is expressly prohibited

The City’s memorandum records that HB 803 specifically prohibits dividing a larger project into multiple smaller phases for the purpose of avoiding permit requirements, and that where a project is found to have been artificially segmented, permits may still be required. Two $6,000 invoices are not two exempt projects.

06 · The exemption is not a clearance

Zoning, HOA and covenants survive it

Even where a building permit is not required, the City notes that zoning approvals, homeowner association approvals, covenant restrictions and other applicable regulations may still apply. Not needing a permit and being allowed to build are two different findings.

Outside the house

Driveways, slabs
and everything
that reaches the street.

Exterior work from Elbaz Construction projects — separate properties, shown as individual examples of the work described, never as one project.

Where the two tracks meet

A driveway is both questions at once

Driveways and concrete slabs are named by the City as needing a permit regardless of value — and where the work reaches the public right-of-way it becomes an Engineering Division permit as well, which for driveways requires a signed and sealed survey less than two years old, plans at 11 by 17 inches minimum, and 24 hours’ notice before the site is worked.

Textured concrete driveway finished across the full width of a single-storey home, running up to a closed garage door

A driveway finished in textured concrete, kerb to garage.

Outdoor kitchen and bar counter with stools, set under the terrace roof with the waterway beyond

An outdoor kitchen counter, built under the terrace roof.

Timber steps rising from a spa to the covered terrace, with the paved deck and glazed elevation behind

Timber steps up from the spa to the covered deck.

The covered terrace seen from the poolside, with the dark soffit, columns and the outdoor kitchen counter beneath it

The terrace read from the poolside, with its columns and soffit.

A custom home under construction, with the structural frame and window openings formed and a site trailer standing on the compacted pad

Structural work on a custom home, before the openings were glazed.

The same house from the front, showing the two-storey glazed elevation and the projecting roof plane before the openings were glazed

The same house from the front, with the roof plane formed.

The flood-hazard sentence

The line that
decides most of it.

One sentence in the City’s memorandum does more work than the rest of it put together, and it is worth understanding before planning around any exemption.

The City’s own qualifier

A substantial portion of Sweetwater is in a designated flood hazard area

And because the exemption never reaches any work on property located partially or entirely within a flood hazard area, the City states in terms that many residential projects that might otherwise qualify may still require permits. Note what that turns on: the property, not the room you are working in. A property partly inside the area takes the permit requirement with it, wherever on the plan the work sits.

It is a finding, not an opinion

Ask before you plan around it

Whether a given property sits partially or entirely inside a designated flood hazard area is a determination for the Building Department against the Florida Building Code definition and the flood maps — not something a contractor should assert from a postcode. We ask the department before we price around any exemption.

The five trades are separate

And they cover most of a remodel

Electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas and structural work are excluded from the exemption in their own right, wherever the property sits. Between them they account for nearly everything behind a wall in a kitchen or bathroom.

The threshold on the other page

$100 of construction value

The Building & Zoning page states that all construction with a value over $100 will require a building permit, alongside a list of activities requiring permits that runs from new construction and additions through interior remodeling, roof replacement, fencing, driveways, patios and decks to heating and air conditioning, electrical, plumbing and sewer work.

So what do we do with two numbers?

Confirm, in writing, before starting

We take the City’s carve-out list at face value, treat kitchen and bathroom work as permitted work, and where a scope genuinely looks exempt we make the written request with documentation the memorandum requires and wait for the answer. That is slower than assuming. It is much faster than unpermitted work discovered later.

Owner’s guide

Five things worth
settling first.

Specific to this city, and in the order they actually bite.

01

Assume your remodel is permitted work

Kitchen and bathroom remodels are named on the City’s own list of projects that still require a permit whatever the value. Starting from there removes the entire argument.

02

Ask about the flood hazard area early

It is decided on the property, not the room, and a substantial portion of the City is inside one. It changes whether an exemption is even available.

03

Pick the contractor before you file

A permit will be issued only once a contractor has been assigned, and the contractor has to be registered with the City with documentation updated annually.

04

Work out whether the street is involved

Anything in the public right-of-way is an Engineering Division permit: email only, digitally signed and sealed plans, $100 upfront, and for driveways a signed and sealed survey under two years old.

05

Do not let an application go quiet

An application dormant in the approval process for 180 days is deemed not active and has to be started again.

And one caution

Two published thresholds mean you confirm, not choose

This page carries both of the City’s figures because both are current and both are its own: $100 of construction value on the Building & Zoning page, and the $7,500 statutory exemption in the Building Department’s HB 803 memorandum. We are not reconciling them for you and we would be suspicious of anyone who did. Confirm your own scope with the Building Department before starting. We publish no fee figures and no review durations for Sweetwater, and neither does the City.

Common questions

Before you start.

What owners in Sweetwater ask first, answered from the City’s Building & Zoning page, its HB 803 memorandum and its Engineering Division permit procedures rather than from what is usually true elsewhere in the county.

Usually not, and the City has published exactly why. Its Building Department memorandum confirms that from 1 July 2026 HB 803 requires local governments to exempt certain single-family residential work valued under $7,500 — and then states that the exemption is limited and does not apply to many common residential projects. A permit is still required regardless of value for electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas and structural work, and for any work on a property located partially or entirely within a flood hazard area.

No. The City names them. Its memorandum lists the projects that continue to require permits: window and door replacements, fences, driveways and concrete slabs, water heater replacements, kitchen and bathroom remodels, air conditioning replacements, electrical panel upgrades, gas appliance installations, and structural repairs or alterations. That list is the reason this page treats remodeling as permitted work from the first phone call.

Both are the City’s own and both are current, so we carry both rather than choosing. The Building & Zoning page states that all construction with a value over $100 will require a building permit. The Building Department memorandum sets out the $7,500 statutory exemption and its limits. For most remodeling the two do not actually collide, because the memorandum’s carve-out list puts the work back inside the permit requirement anyway. Where a scope genuinely sits between the two, confirm it with the Building Department before starting — and be wary of anyone who tells you the answer without asking.

In writing. The City requires that property owners or contractors seeking the HB 803 exemption submit a written request to the Building Department with documentation showing that the scope qualifies and that the total project value is under $7,500. It is a determination the City makes, not one a contractor can make on your behalf.

No, and the City addresses it directly. Its memorandum records that HB 803 specifically prohibits dividing a larger project into multiple smaller phases for the purpose of avoiding permit requirements, and that where a project is determined to have been artificially segmented, permits may still be required. Two invoices are not two projects.

Everything, potentially. The exclusion is written against the property, not the room: any work on a property located partially or entirely within a flood hazard area as defined by the Florida Building Code falls outside the exemption. And the City states that a substantial portion of Sweetwater is located within designated flood hazard areas, so many projects that would otherwise qualify still need permits. Whether your address is inside one is a determination for the Building Department.

Yes. Building & Zoning issues building permits. The Engineering Division issues permits for all work to be done in the public right-of-way — the swale, sidewalk and street. That track takes applications by email only, with no hard copies, requires plans digitally signed and sealed, takes an upfront fee of $100 with the application, and issues a tracking number within 48 hours that must then appear in the subject line of every email about the job.

You can start, but you will not be issued. The Engineering Division states that a permit will be issued only if a contractor has been assigned to the job, that the contractor’s information must be notified to the division by email, and that contractors must be registered with the City, with documentation updated annually. Choosing the builder is part of getting the permit rather than something that follows it.

It expires. The City states that permits that are in the approval process and dormant for 180 days will be deemed not active, and that applicants will have to reapply. If a project is paused for finance, design or a survey, it is worth knowing that clock is running on the application as well as on the plans.

Driveways and concrete slabs are on the City’s list of work requiring a permit regardless of value. Where the work reaches the public right-of-way it is also an Engineering Division permit, and for driveway permits that division requires a signed and sealed survey less than two years old, plans and details drawn to scale at a minimum paper size of 11 by 17 inches, and 24 hours’ notification once the site is ready to be worked.

The City states that its inspectors receive applications, issue permits and make inspections as required by the 2023 Florida Building Code, 8th Edition. Building & Zoning is open Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and closed from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. daily. Permit and inspection status is checked through the City’s eSuite portal.

Not from a page. The City sets its permit fees by ordinance and we do not republish fee figures, because the one that matters is current on the day you file. What we can do first is tell you which of the two thresholds and which of the two permit tracks your scope falls under, what the drawings and survey will need to carry, and where the flood-hazard question has to be asked. Then we price against drawings.

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(754) 236-0675

104 municipalities across three counties — and we hold the licence to build in all of them. Not sure about your address? Ask us.

Start your project

Tell us what you
are planning.

Send the scope and the address. We will come back with which track it is on and what the City will want to see.

What happens next

Three steps, and no showroom appointment

  • 01We call you back and sort the scope against the City’s own carve-out list
  • 02We walk the property, check whether the right-of-way is involved, and ask the department the flood-hazard question in writing
  • 03You get a written scope priced against drawings, not against a description
What to expect

A straight read, including when the exemption does not apply

If your scope looked exempt and is not, we would rather tell you on the first call and show you the City’s own memorandum than find out at an inspection.

Prefer to talk now(754) 236-0675

Sun–Fri 7am–7pm · Saturday closed. Licensed, bonded and insured · CBC1265280.

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.

Start your Sweetwater project

Ready when you are

Find out which threshold, and which track.

Send us the scope and the address. We will tell you what needs permitting, whether the Engineering Division is involved, and what the drawings and the survey will have to carry. Licensed, bonded and insured, CBC1265280.

Textured concrete driveway finished across the full width of a single-storey home, running up to a closed garage door