AKOURI CONSULTING ENGINEERS   

The Board of Rules and Appeals has established a building safety inspection program for buildings and structures that have been in existence for a period of 40 years or longer. The Board of Rules and Appeals by written policy shall establish the guidelines and criteria which will be the minimum requirements for the Building Safety Inspection Program. The building official shall enforce the building safety inspection Program.

Exceptions:

All single family residences, duplexes and minor structures defined as buildings or structure in any occupancy group having a gross floor area less than 3,500 square feet.

In order for the Board  to implement the new Building Safety Inspection Program in an orderly manner to clear a backlog of buildings needing inspection, implementation shall proceed as follows:

 A) 40 year or older buildings of 11,000 square feet or more - compliance in calendar year 2006.

 B) 40 year or older buildings 7,000 square feet or more – compliance no later than calendar year 2007.

 C) 40 year or older building 5,500 square feet or more – compliance no later than calendar year 2008.

 D) 40 year or older buildings 4,650 square feet or more – compliance no later than calendar year 2009.

 E) 40 year or older buildings 3,800 square feet or more– compliance no later than calendar year 2010.

 F) 40 year or older buildings 3,500 square feet or more – compliance no later than calendar year 2011.

 Subsequent building inspections shall be required at ten (10) year intervals

Akouri Consulting Engineers have performed thousands of inspections in Miami-Dade  County and             Broward County.

If your building is over 40 years of age and 4,650 square feet or more in floor area.  You may be required to provide to the Local Building Department a safety inspection report prepared by an Engineer or Architect.  Please call this office for an estimate to comply with this requirement.

The 40 year and older Building Safety Inspection Program was created in 2005 and has become effective throughout Broward County in January 2006. Modeled after Miami-Dade County’s program, which was established in the mid 1970s, Broward’s program calls for structural and electrical safety inspections for buildings 40 years old or older and every ten years thereafter. One and two family dwellings, US Government, State of Florida buildings, schools under the jurisdiction of the B.C. School Board, and buildings built on Indian Reservations are exempt from this program. Miami-Dade County’s effort exempts other buildings under 2,000 square feet while the Broward program excludes all buildings under 3,500 square feet. Both Counties have had instances of structural building failures. By having such a program in effect they are minimizing the possibilities of future building failure and trying to better prepared for hurricane winds.

The program for 2009 is fourth year a six year phase-in to help reduce and manage the work load of buildings to be inspected. This year only buildings 4,650 square feet or more and dating from 1924 to 1968, are to be reviewed. In 2010 buildings 3,800 square feet and larger will be included. There are checklists and guidelines for buildings to be inspected for structural integrity and electrical safety. State licensed architects and engineers should be hired by private building owners to do the safety inspection . The local government has the authority to establish a fee to review the Safety Inspection Reports. The Building Department will review the reports submitted to verify if the inspecting agency has deemed the structural and electrical systems as safe. If any deficiency is noted, the building department shall follow the guidelines of Policy #05-05.

Each January a list of buildings meeting the program requirements are provided to the Building Officials from a data base that the Board of Rules and Appeals obtains from the County Property Appraiser’s Office.  The program is then be administrated by City Building Department or the County Building Department and a notification letter is sent.

The owner of a building or structure shall then furnish within 90 days the required Safety Inspection forms to the Building Official prepared by an engineer or architect. In the event that repairs are necessary, the owner has 180 days from the date of the building inspection report in which to correct the structural and electrical deficiencies that pose an immediate threat to life safety. Repairs that are incidental and nonlife threatening can be completed at a later date.

In 2009, 910 property folio numbers are listed for inspection in Broward County only, but since a number of units and individual property owners may be in a single building, the number of structures to be inspected County-wide is significantly less than the 910. We anticipate less than 900 structures annually in Broward County will fall under the program guidelines in future years.