What affects a construction estimate in Florida?
Six items move Florida numbers: the Florida Building Code edition your jurisdiction has adopted, wind-borne debris and product approval requirements, FEMA flood zones and finished floor elevation, high water table and muck soils, hurricane-season scheduling, and ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor pricing. Each one changes quantities, unit costs or both. Confirm the adopted code edition and any local amendments with your building department before you lock a number.
Do you price with Florida-specific labor and material rates?
Yes. We price with ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor data using RSMeans, so the same scope carries different unit costs in Miami and Gainesville. Concrete, rebar, CMU and roof tile move by truck, and port access in Miami and Jacksonville changes some material costs while inland cities pay more for the last mile. We do not publish a rate sheet because rates change; we price to the ZIP code on your project.
How do you handle wind-borne debris and impact glazing in a takeoff?
We match each opening to the product approval number shown on the plans, then count impact glazing, shutters or laminated glass separately from standard units. The wind-borne debris region boundary and the design wind speed drive the count, so we check the wind speed map for the project address. If the plans do not list product approvals, we flag the openings as an allowance and say so in the estimate.
What do you need from me to start a Florida estimate?
Send the architectural, structural, civil and MEP sheets as PDFs, plus any geotechnical report, flood zone determination and the local code edition if you have it. If you have a bid date, tell us. Most projects turn in 24–48 hours, and rush turnaround is available. We return Excel and PDF organized by CSI MasterFormat division with marked-up plan sets.
Do you cover both Miami and Jacksonville?
Yes. We cover 25 Florida cities including Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, Tallahassee, Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and others. The permit mix differs sharply by city: Miami is about 98% multifamily, while Jacksonville led single-family with 3,611 units in 2025. We price to the ZIP code on your project, not a statewide average.
How do you treat muck and high water table in a takeoff?
If a geotechnical report is available, we take off the foundation type it recommends, whether that is spread footings, auger-cast piles or a raised structural slab. We count dewatering, wellpoint runs, structural fill and utility bedding depths separately. If no soils report is issued at bid time, we price the foundation as an allowance and note the assumption, because muck excavation can change the sitework division substantially.
Are permit and impact fees included in your estimate?
No. Permit fees, impact fees and concurrency costs vary by county and city and are frequently revised, so they belong in a separate line outside the CSI divisions. We can carry a placeholder if you give us the current fee schedule, but you should confirm amounts with the local building department. Construction divisions cover the work, not the jurisdiction's fees.
What software do you use for Florida takeoffs?
We use Bluebeam Revu and PlanSwift for quantity extraction, and RSMeans data for ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor pricing. Deliverables are Excel and PDF organized by CSI MasterFormat division, with marked-up plan sets returned alongside. That structure lets you trace every square foot of roofing, drywall and concrete back to the sheet it came from, which matters when you defend a number at a bid opening.
Where does the permit data on this page come from?
The numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, annual place-level data, and they count new privately-owned residential units only. They do not include commercial construction or total project counts. For 2025, the 25 Florida cities we cover permitted 38,215 residential units, up 12.9% from 33,857 in 2024, with a permitted value of $10.3B.
Can you estimate a project outside the 25 cities listed?
Yes. The 25 cities are the ones we track permit data for, but we estimate projects anywhere in Florida. ZIP-code-adjusted pricing means the unit costs follow the project location, not a metro average. Send the plans and the project address, and we will confirm coverage and turnaround. Most projects turn in 24–48 hours, and rush turnaround is available.