The Florida Green Building Coalition‘s Green Trends newsletter reports the Florida legislature earlier this year passed a law (HB 115) creating the Master Building Permit Program. If a local building code administrator receives a written request from a builder to establish a master building permit program, the applicable local government must create the program within six months.
“The Master Building Permit program is intended for use by builders who expect to construct identical single-family or two-family dwellings or townhomes on a repetitive basis,” Green Trends reports. “In order to obtain a master building permit, builders must submit certain documents and a general construction plan to the local building department for review and approval. (A complete list of required documents is contained in the Florida Statutes.)”
To build to the master building permit, the builder must apply for a site-specific building permit and include the master building permit number with the application. The master building permit number may be submitted an unlimited number of times with the site-specific building permit applications so long as the builder uses the model design contained in the master building permit and the permit is valid. Approved master building permits are valid until the Florida Building Code is updated.
A builder or design professional who willfully violates the program requirements will be fined $10,000 for each dwelling or townhome built under the master building permit that does not conform to the master building permit on file with the local building department.