Planning a roof replacement in Venice and Sarasota

What the City of Sarasota publishes

The city's permit requirement guidelines state that section 105.1 requires a permit to construct, alter or repair a building, and that under City Ordinance 08-4778 no permit is required for repairs not exceeding $1,000 that involve no structural work or code violation. Roofs are not named in the guideline, and the research found no published reroof submittal requirements for the city. The revision mark is 12/20. Whether a given roof repair is structural is a local determination, so the $1,000 line is not a reroof threshold.

The state rules that apply everywhere

Section 553.844 requires a roof replacement on a site-built single-family home to incorporate the secondary water barrier and roof-deck attachment techniques it specifies, and in the wind-borne debris region requires roof-to-wall connections at gable ends or corners for buildings insured or valued at $300,000 or more where that can be done for 15 percent of the replacement cost. Where a roof was built, repaired or replaced under the 2007 Florida Building Code or later and 25 percent or more is repaired, replaced or recovered, only that portion must meet the current code, and the section states that local governments may not amend this. That last clause is why this part of the answer does not change between the three jurisdictions.

Section 553.79(1)(g) requires local governments to exempt single-family work valued under $7,500 on written request, except in a flood hazard area or for electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical or gas work, and projects may not be split. Roofing is not named in the paragraph, much of this market sits in a flood hazard area, and whether a given roof repair is structural is decided locally, so the exemption should not be assumed for a reroof.

Section 489.103(7) exempts owners improving one- or two-family residences for their own use and not offered for sale or lease, with a sale or lease within one year of completion presumed to defeat the exemption. The owner must sign the permit application in person and directly supervise work not done by licensed contractors. Local owner-builder procedures vary, and this draft read none for Venice or Sarasota.

Where this guide has nothing to say

The Sarasota County building and permits page and the City of Venice building department page both answered HTTP 403 to the tracked research's bounded retrieval. This draft therefore makes no statement about the City of Venice's or Sarasota County's reroof permit requirements, submittal packages, inspection sequence or owner-builder procedures, and nothing above should be read across to them. Each jurisdiction publishes its own, and a reroof is permitted and inspected by whichever one the address falls in.