🔍 Quick Overview: The $7,500 Permit Exemption Starting July 1, 2026, Single-family homeowners no longer need a building permit for repair or improvement work valued under $7,500 — as long as the work doesn’t involve electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas systems. Other restrictions apply… https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/803
What Could Trip You Up
You may still need a permit for kitchens and bathrooms. Even if your remodel comes in under $7,500, the exemption does not apply if the work involves plumbing or electrical — and most kitchen and bath projects do. Don’t let this catch you off guard!
You can’t divide a project into lower cost pieces. In an effort to sides step this rule, you are not allowed to divide up a project into smaller costs in order to keep the cost under $7,500 rule, so don’t try it.
The exemption isn’t automatic — you have to ask for it. You or your builder must submit a written request for the exemption to your local building department, along with documentation describing the work and its value. Don’t assume silence is approval.
Flood zone? The exemption doesn’t apply to you. If your property is wholly or partially in a designated flood hazard area, permitting requirements remain fully in place — the exemption does not apply to you. This affects a significant portion of South Florida. For example, roughly 65% of the Town of Palm Beach falls under this exception alone. Check your flood zone before assuming you’re exempt.
Do NOT try to calculate your own permit fees right now. This is important. Florida building departments are in the middle of a major transition — moving from cost-based permit fees to square footage & additional fees. While they have tried to plan for every scenario, they are still scrambling to build a workable fee schedule, and there are almost certainly situations they haven’t accounted for yet. Those gaps will only surface as time passes and real projects come through. Until each building department has a complete, published fee schedule you can reference, do not try to predict what your permit will cost. You will likely be wrong. Either contact the building department directly for the fee schedule (permits may need to be submitted) or wait until the fee schedule is finalized and available online before budgeting around it.
Fees aren’t going down — they may actually go up. Building departments will add supplemental fees on top of the square footage base to make up for lost revenue. After all, they can’t just expect one person to do everything. In certain situations — like demolition — fees could end up higher than they were under the old system. Don’t plan your budget around the assumption that permits just got cheaper.
Permit expiration just got more complicated. It appears that single-family residence permits now expire in 1 to 3 years depending on where you are in the Florida Building Code cycle. Florida’s code updates on January 1, 2027. Pull a permit today and it expires in 12 months. Pull one on January 2, 2027 and it’s good for 36 months (less 1 day). If your project runs long, this matters. Building department may be still able to provide extensions on a per situation basis. NOTE: This is an assumption based on what is currently understood. Building departments may have to adopt changes on the fly.
What HB 803 Actually Does
What HB 803 Actually DoesNow that you know what to watch for, here’s the full picture.
Faster Permitting — Automatic Approvals Strict turnaround deadlines are now placed on local building departments. If a department misses its review window, the permit is automatically issued. This is a significant shift.
Standardized Permit Applications All building departments statewide must now use the Florida Building Commission’s uniform residential and commercial permit application forms. Departments cannot modify these forms or require additional information beyond what the standard form includes. This eliminates a major source of local delay and inconsistency.
Permitting Fees — Square Footage Based Palm Beach County and local municipalities can no longer calculate permit fees based on the total cost or value of construction. They must transition to square footage-based fees. As noted above — expect supplemental fees to be added, and do not try to calculate your own fees until a complete schedule is published or submit your permit and wait for the fee to be calculated.
Private Providers — Commercial Only (For Now) HB 803 expands the authority of licensed private provider inspectors and plan reviewers. When a private provider is used on a commercial project, local governments must reduce permit fees by 25% if the provider handles either plans review or inspections, and 50% if they handle both. At this time, private providers are approved for commercial construction only. This may expand to residential in the future.
HOA and Architectural Review Committees HOAs and architectural review committees are prohibited from requiring a government-issued building permit as a condition of reviewing your project plans. They must evaluate your plans on their own community standards — they can no longer use “get the permit first” as a delay tactic.
The Bottom Line
The Bottom LineHB 803 is a real step forward for Florida homeowners and contractors. But the exemptions have limits, flood zones are a major carve-out, the fee transition is unsettled, and local rules still apply. The work that carries the most risk — structural, electrical, plumbing — still goes through the permit process for good reason. It’s also important to note that it may be some time until building departments have fully wrapped their arms around how this change will affect their workflow and therefore what you can expect from them. Hold the posture of “rules may be changing on the fly”, and you’ll be able to adapt faster.
If you’re not sure whether your project needs a permit, or you want a professional opinion before work begins, contact the authority having jurisdiction over your property — your local building department is the right call.
Happy Hunting!
— Toby
