Do I need a permit for interior remodeling in Palm Bay?

Florida and local notes for Palm Bay

Electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas, and structural work still need a permit regardless of cost. HB 803 bars splitting a project to stay under $7,500 and does not apply in flood-hazard areas. Local departments implement HB 803 individually, so confirm the policy in your jurisdiction. Brevard County's own permitting office is the Brevard County Building Permits office, reachable on 321-633-2187 at https://www.brevardfl.gov/PlanningAndDevelopment/BuildingPermits/BrevardCountyBuildingPermits. Its online permit portal is https://aca-prod.accela.com/brevard/Default.aspx. It issues permits for the unincorporated county. If your city does not run its own building department, this is the office that will handle the job. Brevard County publishes its wind speed requirements as a set of maps, one per Risk Category, that you search by street address. Most houses are Risk Category 2. Screen enclosures are explicitly Risk Category 1, which is a lower design requirement than the house they attach to. Be aware the county's own map instructions still tell you to install Microsoft Silverlight, which no current browser supports, so in practice you may need to call the Building Department on 321-633-2187 to get the design wind speed for your address. Palm Bay accepts written HB 803 exemption requests for small home improvement projects under $7,500 on single-family homes, duplexes, and townhomes. The request must be made on the city's Permit Exemption Form, with the contract, before work starts. The exemption is not available for properties in a flood zone, cannot be used by splitting a project into smaller jobs, and does not cover structural, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, or gas work. The city's post-storm guide lists paint, carpet, interior doors, and drywall removal or replacement as repairs that do not need a permit. A remodel that adds a bedroom on a septic property needs an Environmental Health approval stamp on the survey.