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Surfside, Miami-Dade County

Demolition in Surfside

Surfside is where Champlain Towers South partly collapsed on June 24, 2021, killing 98 people, and the state's milestone inspection law followed in 2022. The town sits between the ocean and Biscayne Bay, and a 2025 town ordinance sets conditions on total demolition of single-family homes, duplexes and townhouses in certain districts.

Surfside incorporated in 1935. Champlain Towers South was in its 40-year recertification when it fell, and Miami-Dade now starts recertification at 30 years, repeating every 10. Older condominium buildings in town face that cycle, and repair or demolition decisions can follow from it.

Before planning a house, duplex or townhouse demolition, read the 2025 ordinance against your lot's zoning district and confirm with the Building Department what it requires first. Oceanfront lots also sit along the Coastal Construction Control Line, where DEP permits work that alters, excavates or constructs seaward of the line.

The town publishes the sea turtle nesting season for Miami-Dade, April 1 to October 31. Beach-side work in that window is planned around it, and the season is checked before any start date is offered.

Sources: Wikipedia: Surfside, Florida · WQCS: condo safety bill after Surfside (2022) · Town of Surfside Ordinance 2025-1790 · Miami-Dade County: building recertification · Rule 62B-26.012, Dade County CCCL · Town of Surfside: sea turtle nesting season

Who issues the permit in Surfside

Town of Surfside Building Department

Use the town's building permit application. A 2025 ordinance sets conditions on total demolition of single-family homes, duplexes and townhouses in certain districts.

See the official page

This is general information, not legal advice. If you hire Romco, we apply for the permit as contractor of record. Miami-Dade demolition permit guide

What we quote in Surfside

Other work we quote

From first call to final

The order a Miami-Dade job follows

Romco Builders is a licensed Florida general contractor, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale. A garden shed and a mid-rise run through the same steps.

  1. Call or send the request

    Give us the address, photos or plans if you have them, and a plain account of what goes and what remains.

  2. Site visit

    We check how the building is framed, where the services enter, how trucks and machines get in, and what stands on either side.

  3. Scope and quote in writing

    You get a written scope listing removals, protections and haul-off, with any item that hangs on the asbestos survey called out.

  4. Survey, notice and permit

    A licensed asbestos survey, the DERM notice where it applies, the utility disconnects, then the permit from the city or the county.

  5. Take-down and hauling

    Work runs in the agreed sequence. Loads go to permitted facilities, and we keep the tickets.

  6. Final and closeout

    The inspector signs off the permit. You are left with a clean lot, or the shell you asked us to keep.

Questions

Demolition in Surfside

Before demolishing a house in Surfside, what should an owner check first?

Whether the lot falls in one of the districts covered by the town's 2025 ordinance on total demolition of single-family homes, duplexes and townhouses. Read the ordinance and confirm its conditions with the Building Department before any demolition date is planned.

How much will my demolition cost?

We quote each job after seeing it, in person or through photos and plans when they show enough. The figure moves with the construction type, the floor area and height, the asbestos survey result, the utilities to be cut off, how machines reach the work, what stands next door, what must be kept, and how far the loads travel. A 1950s concrete block house and a 1990s frame addition can sit on the same street and quote very differently, which is why we publish no rates.

Why does Miami-Dade want an asbestos survey even for a house?

The county's own demolition requirements call for an asbestos survey on every demolition project, which is stricter than the federal rule for some small homes. A notice of demolition also goes to DERM, the county's environmental resources office, no later than ten working days ahead of the start date. The building permit is a different document and cannot stand in for it. We arrange a licensed survey, and a licensed abatement firm removes anything the work would disturb. Romco coordinates both and is not an abatement contractor.

How long does it take to get from first call to a cleared site?

We will not guess before the facts are known. The answer depends on the plan review queue at your city or the county, how fast the utilities issue their disconnect letters, what the survey turns up and the notice period that follows, any historic or condo board approval, and how big the building is and what it is built from. When we know those, you get a sequence that names what each step waits on.

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Every type, every size, all of Miami-Dade

Tell us what is coming down. We will put a quote on it.

Romco Builders is a licensed Florida general contractor, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale. A single interior partition or a complete building gets the same thing: a written scope and a quote.

Call (305) 760-9827Request a quote