HVAC permit requirements in Florida

A residential AC changeout requires a mechanical permit everywhere in Florida — no county exceptions. Florida Statute 553.79(1)(a) makes it unlawful to construct, alter, modify, or repair any building without first obtaining a permit, and Florida Building Code, Building 105.1 specifically requires one to install, alter, repair, remove, convert, or replace any mechanical system. The 8th Edition (2023) code is in force now; the 9th Edition takes effect December 31, 2026 — the permit requirement does not change.

Who pulls it: your HVAC contractor, licensed under FS Chapter 489. That is the normal path, and the paperwork is their job, not yours. The only other route is doing the work yourself as an owner-builder under the FS 489.103(7) exemption — you cannot hire an unlicensed installer and pull the permit for them.

What it costs: roughly $75-$400 depending on jurisdiction. Treat that as approximate — official county fee schedules are not reliably published, so the range comes from third-party summaries.

HVHZ: in Miami-Dade and Broward, the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone adds wind-load tie-down and product-approval requirements for condensers. The permit and inspection are how those get checked.

Unpermitted work: the statute flatly makes it unlawful, and the permit is what triggers the required inspection — skip it and nobody independently verifies the tie-downs and code compliance on equipment that has to survive hurricane season. A contractor who offers to “skip the permit to save you money” is asking you to carry that exposure for, at most, a few hundred dollars in fees. Given that pulling it is the contractor’s job anyway, there is no good reason to say yes.