Roof Replacement in Florida: Code, Permits and Who May Do the Work

What part of Florida this site covers

Tampa Bay (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco), Polk, Hardee and DeSoto, Sarasota and Manatee, the southwest coast and inland (Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Hendry), and Palm Beach, Martin and Broward on the southeast coast. Miami-Dade is not on this site.

Which code applies

Florida builds to the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), in force since December 31, 2023. The Building Commission plans a 9th edition; this page will be checked again when it takes effect.

Layers: when the old roof has to come off

Florida’s existing-building code requires a tear-off to the deck where the old covering is water-soaked or deteriorated, where it is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile, or where the roof already has two or more layers (FBC Existing Building 706.3).

What a Florida reroof brings with it

Florida limits partial work: if more than 25 percent of a roof or roof section is redone in 12 months, the whole roof or section has to meet the current code. Roofs built or replaced under the 2007 Florida Building Code or later are exempt; only the new part must meet the code in effect (FBC Existing Building 706.1.1; Fla. Stat. § 553.844(5)).

If your site-built single-family home was permitted before the Florida Building Code took effect (March 1, 2002), a full roof replacement must include a secondary water barrier and re-nailing of the roof deck: at least two 8d nails per rafter, a nail counting as 8d if it is at least 0.113 inch thick and 2¼ inches long (Fla. Stat. § 553.844(3); FBC Existing Building 706.7).

For such a home in the wind-borne debris region with an insured or appraised value of $300,000 or more, the roof-to-wall connections are improved as well, up to 15 percent of the reroofing cost (§ 553.844(3)(b); FBC Existing Building 706.8).

Broward County is in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (FBC Building, Chapter 2). Every roofing product needs a current product approval (§ 1512.2.1), and the contractor goes through a required owner’s notification with you, which you initial (§ 1524), including that the existing wood deck may have to be re-nailed.

The Florida rules for older site-built houses above apply to “site-built, single-family residential structures” (Fla. Stat. § 553.844(3)); a manufactured home is not one. Tell the person on the line it is a manufactured home.

The rules in full, with the statute text: replacing a roof in Florida.

Contractor and contract

Florida requires a state license for roofing: Certified Roofing Contractor (CCC), valid statewide, or Registered Roofing Contractor (RC), valid only where the contractor holds a local certificate. 9,419 CCC licenses were active on October 23, 2026. Ask for the number and look it up on DBPR before you sign.

More: Florida roofing licenses. Reading the paperwork: the estimate and the contract.

What a new roof costs in Florida

No public source gives a statewide price, and a price no source backs is not printed here. What changes the number in Florida, line by line: new roof cost in Florida.