Florida law gives local building departments up to 60 business days to review complete applications for structures at or above 7,500 square feet, versus 30 for smaller ones — and that clock restarts with each significant round of corrections, so total timeline depends heavily on how clean the first submission is.

Any building over three stories or 50 feet tall, or a large assembly-occupancy space, qualifies under Florida law and requires a special structural inspector in addition to normal plan review. A lot of mid-rise commercial buildings meet this definition without owners realizing it going in.

Yes, in most commercial projects fire marshal review is a distinct track from building department plan review, with its own comments and its own required sign-off before occupancy is approved.

Often, yes — a Temporary CO can allow occupancy of a finished, code-compliant portion of a project while construction continues elsewhere, which is common in phased retail and office build-outs.

Florida law requires the local government to reduce the permit fee by 10% for every business day it exceeds the statutory deadline, with exceptions for applicant-caused delay, agreed extensions, or extraordinary circumstances — a real, if underused, piece of leverage.

Both benefit, but tenant build-outs are often more time-pressured because of lease terms and opening dates, even though the physical scope is usually smaller than ground-up construction.

Design drawings become a formal, sealed construction document set — including life safety plans, occupancy data, and product approvals — before submission; the two aren't the same document even when the design itself hasn't changed.

Often yes, especially if the occupancy classification changes (retail to restaurant, for example), since that can trigger different life safety, parking, and fire code requirements even without major construction.