Except Florida’s building code is more robust because of hurricanes, so it is more regulated than other states. They had lax standards up until 1993 when hurricane Andrew wiped Homestead, FL off the map over the course of a weekend. In 1996 they strengthened the building code to account for better construction methods to deal with hurricanes and tropical storms.
FTR, I’m not advocating for people that decide to move to Florida, I lived there myself from 1996 to 1999, and I have family that still reside in the state. The political climate in Florida is so much different now than it was back when I lived there…the “head in the sand” when it comes to climate change is real, and up until the water creeps into their living rooms in Tallahassee they might admit it’s real.
Their codes are decent, but their construction firms and inspections have a reputation for putting up actual structures well below code, to put it mildly.
Building codes are only as good as their enforcement. If the firms aren’t competent enough to implement them and the local councils don’t have the will to punish bad actors, they mean nothing. And given that Florida is already in a nation-setting inflation crisis, I truly doubt they’ll be changing policy in a way that makes homes more expensive – like strictly enforcing code – any time soon.
Could you cite an article that proves that? I’m not trying to be confrontational here. I’m just making a statement on Florida’s building code. Because there is a definite improvement and difference between pre Andrew and post Andrew construction in Florida. It is visibly evident in construction methodology.
By its nature, the discussion is going to be financially motivated (typically by realty/inspection firms peddling wares or construction firms insisting their work standards are great). The reason for this is straightforward; the inspections/construction are almost entirely private and there are virtually no reporting requirements for issues, so most of those issues are invisible to the public (they get fixed privately if at all).
So you can easily find stuff like this, which I admit is basically marketing material for a service vendor. But it’s a quite robust industry for a reason.
It’s really very hard to make objective claims one way or the other. These things are very hidden from the public, so the stories are inherently anecdotal. But I’ve lived in a few places in the world, and when I lived adjacent to this Florida stuff, the stories of just shoddy workmanship were every day. Texas also has a similarly bad reputation in my experience. I could link a bunch of news stories about homeowners that went public with lawsuits against builders, but that probably would not be persuasive.
But it’s a fair criticism. I really can’t back it up. It’s just my opinion, and I do not trust developers, especially large developers, and especially large developers in the south, and especially especially large developers in Florida, to not try to sell a pig in a poke to ignorant buyers. That was the lesson of Surfside, to me. That the government in Florida isn’t looking out for you and the developers don’t care if you die, they just want their money.
Except Florida’s building code is more robust because of hurricanes, so it is more regulated than other states. They had lax standards up until 1993 when hurricane Andrew wiped Homestead, FL off the map over the course of a weekend. In 1996 they strengthened the building code to account for better construction methods to deal with hurricanes and tropical storms.
FTR, I’m not advocating for people that decide to move to Florida, I lived there myself from 1996 to 1999, and I have family that still reside in the state. The political climate in Florida is so much different now than it was back when I lived there…the “head in the sand” when it comes to climate change is real, and up until the water creeps into their living rooms in Tallahassee they might admit it’s real.
Their codes are decent, but their construction firms and inspections have a reputation for putting up actual structures well below code, to put it mildly.
Building codes are only as good as their enforcement. If the firms aren’t competent enough to implement them and the local councils don’t have the will to punish bad actors, they mean nothing. And given that Florida is already in a nation-setting inflation crisis, I truly doubt they’ll be changing policy in a way that makes homes more expensive – like strictly enforcing code – any time soon.
Could you cite an article that proves that? I’m not trying to be confrontational here. I’m just making a statement on Florida’s building code. Because there is a definite improvement and difference between pre Andrew and post Andrew construction in Florida. It is visibly evident in construction methodology.
By its nature, the discussion is going to be financially motivated (typically by realty/inspection firms peddling wares or construction firms insisting their work standards are great). The reason for this is straightforward; the inspections/construction are almost entirely private and there are virtually no reporting requirements for issues, so most of those issues are invisible to the public (they get fixed privately if at all).
So you can easily find stuff like this, which I admit is basically marketing material for a service vendor. But it’s a quite robust industry for a reason.
It’s really very hard to make objective claims one way or the other. These things are very hidden from the public, so the stories are inherently anecdotal. But I’ve lived in a few places in the world, and when I lived adjacent to this Florida stuff, the stories of just shoddy workmanship were every day. Texas also has a similarly bad reputation in my experience. I could link a bunch of news stories about homeowners that went public with lawsuits against builders, but that probably would not be persuasive.
But it’s a fair criticism. I really can’t back it up. It’s just my opinion, and I do not trust developers, especially large developers, and especially large developers in the south, and especially especially large developers in Florida, to not try to sell a pig in a poke to ignorant buyers. That was the lesson of Surfside, to me. That the government in Florida isn’t looking out for you and the developers don’t care if you die, they just want their money.