Miami-Dade County
The demolition is the fast part. This is the part that sets your date.
Asbestos survey, federal notice, permit review, utility disconnects, disposal. Run in the wrong order they add a month. Every figure on this page carries its source, and where the public record is silent we say so instead of guessing.
Asbestos comes first
Rule
An asbestos survey is required for all demolition projects in Miami-Dade, with no exemption by building age.
Age is not the trigger
The county rule turns on the work, not on the year the building went up, so a pre-1980 cutoff is the wrong test.
Renovation threshold
For renovation the trigger is different: a survey is required when the work will disturb more than 160 square feet of friable asbestos containing material, or of Category I or Category II nonfriable material.
Who performs it
The county directs owners to the DBPR license search to find asbestos consultants and contractors, so the survey is done by a state licensed asbestos consultant rather than by the demolition crew. That means two separate contracts for the owner.
Affidavit
An affidavit for an asbestos survey can clear plan review for a renovation while the survey is still pending. It does not replace the survey, and a copy of the report has to be available to RER staff during the project.
The notice runs ten working days
Duration
10 working days, 14 calendar days.
When the clock starts
The countdown starts when the notice form is deemed complete, not when it is first submitted, so an error in the form pushes the start of work back.
Emergency
Ordered demolition and emergency renovation are the exception to the 10 day rule, and even then the notice is filed no later than the next working day.
Rule 1
40 CFR 61 Subpart M, the National Emission Standards for Asbestos (NESHAP).
Rule 2
Florida Statutes Chapter 469, Asbestos Abatement.
Rule 3
Chapter 62-257, Florida Administrative Code, the state asbestos program administered by Florida DEP.
Rule 4
29 CFR 1910.1001, OSHA general industry.
Rule 5
29 CFR 1926.1101, OSHA construction.
- Miami-Dade County — global
- Miami-Dade County — permits (PDF)
- Miami-Dade County — permits
- Florida DEP — air
- Florida DEP — sites (PDF)
- Florida DEP — sites (PDF)
Who files, and what with
Jurisdiction
City of Miami
Who may apply
Only a qualified licensed contractor may apply for a demolition permit.
Homeowners
A property owner cannot file the demolition application themselves. There is no owner-builder route to a demolition permit here.
First review cycle
The first review cycle runs up to 14 business days, and correction cycles can follow.
Documents
- A current site survey from a certified surveyor, to scale, no more than 6 months old.
- DERM approval from the county.
- A tree boundary survey showing every tree on the lot, including trees in the right of way, with tree protection drawn onto the demolition plan.
- Tree protection details and specifications. The protection zone runs roughly 8 to 12 inches for every inch of trunk diameter at breast height.
- For residential and duplex properties the owner may prepare the tree survey. For commercial properties it has to come from a Florida licensed surveyor and may be up to 1 year old.
- Public Works, Environmental Resources or Zoning may ask for further documents.
The sequence
City of Miami
- 01Confirm the property sits inside city limits by its folio number. A folio beginning with 01 is a City of Miami property.
- 02Open an iBuild account, start the total or partial demolition permit application and name a main point of contact.
- 03Choose the submittal route, electronically or in person at 444 SW 2nd Ave, 4th Floor.
- 04Pay the upfront fee through the online portal using the transaction ID.
- 05Print and notarize the package, then upload it to ePlan.
- 06Name every file to the city naming convention before upload, because names cannot be changed once assigned. Documents carrying a professional seal need a digital signature.
- 07City pre-screening.
- 08Plan review by the reviewing departments.
- 09Final approval and permit issuance. The printed permit card has to stay on the job site.
- 10After the permit is issued, apply for the sewer cap sub-permit through iBuild. It is payment only, with no review.
- 11Where the demolition follows an unsafe structure violation, close the violation through the Unsafe Structures division.
Utilities
Requirement 1
Disconnect letters from the utilities: electric, gas and telephone.
Requirement 2
Water and sewer capping.
Requirement 3
In City of Miami the sewer cap is a separate sub-permit, applied for in iBuild after the demolition permit has been issued.
Requirement 4
A sidewalk bond and a fence permit also appear on the municipal submittal checklist.
Where the debris goes
Transfer stations
The three regional transfer stations do not take construction and demolition debris, only garbage and trash. In the county system C&D goes to one of the two landfills, which is what sets the haul distance on a job.
| Facility | Address | C&D |
|---|---|---|
| North Dade Landfill | 21500 NW 47 Ave. | Yes |
| South Dade Landfill | 23707 SW 97th Ave. Gate A | Yes |
| Northeast Transfer Station | 18701 NE 6 Ave. | No |
| Central Transfer Station | 1150 NW 20 St. | No |
| West Transfer Station | 2900 SW 72 Ave. | No |
- $76.12 Contract rate, per ton
- $115.80 Non-contract rate, per ton
- $100.00 Asbestos disposal, per ton
- $16.66 contract, $17.30 non-contract, added to the disposal fee Transfer fee per ton for waste delivered to a regional transfer station
- $140.00 Waste tires, per ton
Fees
Authority
Miami-Dade fees for Regulatory and Economic Resources are set by Implementing Order 4-63.
Effective
The revised fee schedule adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on 30 June 2025 took effect 1 October 2025.
- 0.30% of the estimated cost of the project, minimum $15, maximum $1,926 Demolition permit fee
- Permit fee is doubled, plus $110 Demolition that follows a violation
- $100.00 per ton Asbestos disposal
- $87.85 per load, added to the disposal fee Solid waste requiring special handling
Miami-Dade County's own dollar figure for a demolition permit sits inside Implementing Order 4-63 and is not reproduced here because we have not read it off the order itself. Third-party sites quote figures between $100 and $1,000 for it; those numbers mix different fees together and should not be relied on.