Existing buildings
Which rules reach your building, how Florida’s milestone inspection is met in your county, and structural safety inspections when no notice has come.
- Applies to
- Existing buildings
- Coverage
- Miami-Dade & Broward County, Florida
When you need it
Which inspection does the building owe?
Florida’s milestone law overlaps with Miami-Dade’s recertification and with Broward’s Building Safety Inspection Program, and it is easy to conclude that a building owes two separate inspections — the state’s and the county’s. In Miami-Dade and Broward the milestone inspection is met through the county program. What a board needs is someone to say which rules reach the building, what was actually observed, and what has to happen next.
- 01Your board needs to know whether Florida’s milestone law reaches the building, and how it is met in your county.
- 02A report found substantial structural deterioration, and the further investigation it calls for — testing or opened finishes — has to be scoped and carried out.
- 03There is no notice, but there is a reason to look: a purchase, visible distress, or a lender’s or insurer’s request.
Condominium and cooperative associations · Buyers, lenders and insurers · Owners and managers of aging or coastal buildings
Scope & deliverables
What's included
- Review of which rules reach the building — the state milestone law, the county program, or neither
- Visual inspection of the primary structural system
- Balcony, walkway and railing structural review
- Concrete distress mapping — spalling, cracking, corrosion staining
- Further investigation where a report found substantial structural deterioration, with testing located where it disturbs least
- Separating cosmetic from structural, and urgent from monitorable
What you receive
- Inspection report with photographic record
- Condition findings organized by priority
- Summary of findings for unit owners, for condos and co-ops
- Scope and findings of any further investigation the inspection calls for
- Signed and sealed documents where the scope requires it
Next step
Tell us the building’s county, age and number of stories, and what raised the question — a notice, a report, a sale. We reply with which rules apply and a proposal for the inspection.
When it applies
State of Florida — milestone inspection
- Applies to
- Condominium and cooperative buildings of three habitable stories or more
- First due
- By December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years, counted from the certificate of occupancy — 25 years where the local enforcement agency requires it, for conditions such as proximity to salt water
- Then
- Every 10 years
- Phase two
- Only where phase one finds substantial structural deterioration
- Unit owners
- Within 14 days of receiving the notice, the association tells unit owners about the required inspection and the date it must be completed; within 45 days of receiving the report, it sends every owner the engineer’s summary, posts it in a conspicuous place on the property, and publishes the report and the summary on its website where it is required to have one
Florida Statute 553.899 · Last verified:
In Miami-Dade and Broward the state milestone inspection is met through the county program — your county’s is just below. The board’s duties to unit owners apply in either county.
In Miami-Dade & Broward
In Miami-Dade, the recertification report is your milestone inspection →
Miami-Dade’s recertification serves as compliance with the state milestone inspection — no separate milestone report is filed there. The deadline on your notice is the county program’s, and it is on that page.
In Broward, the BSIP report is your milestone inspection →
Broward’s BSIP report serves as phase one and phase two of the state milestone inspection. The deadline on your notice is the county program’s, and it is on that page.
Recertification, BSIP, milestone inspection and SIRS, side by side
Miami-Dade recertification
- Who requires it
- Miami-Dade County. The notice comes from the Building Official of your city, or from the county in unincorporated areas.
- Which buildings
- Almost every building other than single-family homes and duplexes; the full list is on the Miami-Dade page.
- What it produces
- A structural report and an electrical report, each on the county’s own form, filed with the certificates and attachments the county asks for.
- Where it is filed
- With the Building Official who sent the notice.
Broward BSIP
- Who requires it
- Broward County, through its Board of Rules and Appeals. Your city’s Building Official enforces it.
- Which buildings
- Almost all building types, in every Broward city; the homes and minor structures outside it are listed on the BSIP page.
- What it produces
- A written narrative report with the Board’s own structural and electrical forms and color photographs.
- Where it is filed
- With your city’s Building Official.
State milestone inspection
- Who requires it
- The State of Florida.
- Which buildings
- Condominium and cooperative buildings of three habitable stories or more.
- What it produces
- A phase one inspection report and, only where phase one finds substantial structural deterioration, a phase two. In Miami-Dade and Broward the county report serves as it.
- Where it is filed
- With the association and the Building Official — in Miami-Dade and Broward, as the county program’s report.
Structural integrity reserve study (SIRS)
- Who requires it
- The State of Florida, under its condominium and cooperative laws.
- Which buildings
- Residential condominium and cooperative buildings of three habitable stories or more.
- What it produces
- A reserve study, not an inspection report: what the roof, the structure and the other parts of the building the law lists will cost to repair or replace, and what the association should set aside each year.
- Where it is filed
- The association shares it with unit owners and tells the state’s condominium division that it was completed.
Source: Code of Miami-Dade County, Section 8-11(f) · Broward County Board of Rules and Appeals, Policy #05-05 · Florida Statutes 553.899, 718.112 and 719.106 · Last verified:
How the work runs
Applicability
We confirm which rules reach the building and what any notice in hand is asking for. Where a county program applies, the work runs as that program, and our team delivers the complete package that county asks for.
Records review
Available drawings, prior reports and repair history reviewed before the site visit.
Field inspection
Systematic visual inspection with photographic documentation and location mapping.
Evaluation
Observations evaluated structurally — distinguishing cosmetic from structural, and urgent from monitorable. Where deterioration is substantial, the further investigation is scoped.
Report
Findings issued with clear priorities and, for condos and co-ops, a separate summary the board can send to unit owners.
Good to know
Which buildings the law reaches, and what an inspection can see.
- The state law reaches only the condominium and cooperative buildings described above. Other buildings can still fall under a county program, which covers almost every building type.
- Further investigation is as limited or as extensive as the distress requires. Its scope is set from what the inspection finds, not before.
- Visual inspection covers accessible, observable conditions. Concealed deterioration may require testing or selective demolition.
- For buildings over three stories or 50 feet, each county asks additional qualifications of the engineer who signs the structural report. We confirm this for your building before we propose.
- An inspection reports condition at a point in time; it is not a warranty of future performance.
Next step
A county notice in your hand, a building that worries you or a new project — describe it and attach what you have. A phone photo of the letter is enough. You hear back from the engineer, with questions or with a written proposal.
The proposal is free. We usually reply within two hours.