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What a Private Provider actually does
A private provider is a licensed firm that handles your plan review and inspections instead of the building department. They work to the Florida Building Code, the same as the county does.
Florida contractors have had this option since 2002. The building department is still where most jobs end up, and most contractors have made peace with the wait.
You still pull a permit. Your plans still get reviewed and your job still gets inspected.
The difference is who does it and how fast it moves.
What the law actually gives you
The first thing most contractors want to know is whether the county can make this difficult anyway. They can try. Florida Statute 553.791 is what you have backing you when they do, and it is worth knowing what it says before you need it.
When your private provider reviews your plans and certifies they meet code, the building department has to issue the permit on that basis. Not may. Has to. They are not allowed to review the plans over again themselves, and they are not allowed to send you back to the line because they would rather have done it.
They also do not get to sit on it. Once your package is in the clock is running, and if they blow the deadline the permit is approved by default. How long that clock runs depends on how your provider is qualified and what you are building, so nobody can hand you one number that holds for every job.
And you are not paying for everything twice. The county has to cut your permit fee when a private provider does the work, and it cannot bill you for inspections it did not perform.
All of that is state law, not a local program. It works the same way in every county you build in.
How it looks on a project
You or the owner file a notice with the building department naming the private provider you have elected. This happens before the permit is issued.
The provider reviews your drawings and cycles corrections with you until they comply. When the plans are clean, the provider certifies compliance under oath and that goes to the county with your permit package.
The county issues the permit. From there, when your crew is ready for an inspection, you request it through your provider instead of the county queue. Depending on the firm, those inspections happen in person or virtually.
When the last inspection passes, the provider files the certificate of compliance and the county issues your certificate of occupancy.
What a private provider does not cover
A private provider determines compliance with the Florida Building Code. The statute is specific that this does not include the fire prevention and fire safety codes. Those stay with the county.
You are also still responsible for every other government approval your job requires. Zoning is the usual one. A private provider does not touch it, and electing one does not make it move any faster.
That is worth knowing before you decide this is the answer. If plan review and inspections are what is holding you up, this moves the part that is actually slow. If you are stuck in zoning, it will not help you.
It is not a way around the building department. It is a way to take the heaviest piece off their desk.