How to Look Up Building Permits in Miami-Dade
Every building permit filed in Miami-Dade, FL is public record, maintained by the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources (Building Division). Here's how to pull the full history for any address — and the shortcut when you'd rather not do it by hand.
Why you'd want the permit history
- Buying a home: confirm that additions, remodels, and major repairs were permitted and finaled.
- Selling or refinancing: unpermitted work surfaces in inspections and appraisals — know before the buyer does.
- Insurance and disputes: a dated permit record is the evidence that work was done to code.
- Finding the contractor: the licensed contractor is named on most Miami-Dade permits.
Step by step, using the city's own tools
- Open the county's Building Permit search (secure.miamidade.gov) and search by address or folio number.
- Each permit lists the permit number, the type, the work description, the estimated value, the owner, and the licensed contractor with license number and phone.
- The county also publishes permits issued over the last two years as open data through its ArcGIS open-data portal.
- Municipalities inside the county — Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah — issue their own permits, so check the city's own portal for addresses inside city limits.
Things that trip people up
Miami-Dade permits are tied to the folio number, and a property that has been split or combined may carry history under an old folio. Also check for open permits with no final inspection — in Florida those follow the property to the next owner.
The shortcut
PingPermit pulls the same city records live and puts them on one page: a free preview (permit count, years active, declared work value, most recent filings), and the full report — every permit with description, value, status and dates, and the contractor and owner named on the permits that record one — for $29, one time, delivered instantly.