Townhomes of three stories or fewer with separate entrances for each unit generally qualify under the Florida Building Code Residential volume, with each unit treated as its own building separated by a fire-rated wall. Apartment or condo buildings fall under the Building code volume, with different — generally stricter — fire-partition and structural requirements.

This depends on local zoning, not a single statewide number — density limits, parking ratios, and site plan thresholds vary by municipality within Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. We verify this against the specific parcel's zoning designation before recommending a unit count.

It depends on how the project is phased. Many multi-family projects issue Certificates of Occupancy per building or per unit as each is completed and passes its final inspection, rather than waiting for the entire project to finish before any unit can be occupied.

It's a fire-resistance-rated wall assembly — at least two hours of fire resistance in most townhome applications — that separates one unit from its neighbor and is designed to contain a fire within one unit long enough to protect occupants and adjacent units. It's a code requirement, not an optional upgrade, on attached townhome construction.

Local zoning sets both the maximum number of units allowed on a given lot and the minimum parking spaces required per unit, and the two interact directly — a site that technically allows a certain density may not have room to also meet the parking requirement, which effectively caps the buildable unit count.

We coordinate directly with civil engineers on stormwater and drainage design as part of site plan approval — it's a licensed engineering discipline separate from general contracting, but managing that coordination alongside the rest of the project is part of what we handle as GC.

Site plan approval alone typically adds significant time beyond a standard single-family permit review, and construction is usually phased across multiple buildings or units rather than built all at once. Total project timelines vary widely with unit count and site complexity, but are generally longer than a comparable-sized single custom home.