Miami-Dade Special Inspector Employment Notice: Filing and Replacements

The Miami-Dade special inspector form is the “Notice to Miami-Dade County Building Official of Employment as Special Inspector,” a signed and sealed PDF the building owner files to designate the licensed engineer or architect who will oversee certain structural work on a permitted project. You download it from the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, complete it with your project’s permit process numbers and the inspection categories that apply, have the inspector seal it, and upload it through the county’s EPS Portal before the covered construction phase begins.¹

Projects That Require the Filing

Two separate rules can pull your project into this requirement. Florida Statute 553.79 requires a special inspector on any “threshold building,” which Florida Statute 553.71(12) defines as a structure taller than three stories or 50 feet, or an assembly-occupancy building exceeding 5,000 square feet that holds more than 500 people.²³

Separately, Miami-Dade County Code Section 8-22 requires a special inspector on specific construction activities regardless of overall project size: compaction of fill under slabs on grade, structural piles, reinforced masonry, welding and high-strength bolting, curtain wall systems on threshold buildings, and structural glazed panels. The Building Official can also require one when a building is unusually large or complex, when the pace of work calls for continuous observation, or whenever extra inspections are needed to confirm code compliance.⁴

One wrinkle worth checking before you assume you’re exempt: a fee simple title owner can voluntarily designate a sub-threshold building as a threshold building, which locks in the enhanced inspection requirements for future work. If a prior owner made that election on your property, the form is still required.³

Who Can Sign as the Special Inspector

You pay the inspector, but the inspector’s duty runs to the enforcement agency, not to you. Florida Statute 553.79(5)(b) is explicit on that split.³

The person who signs and seals the form must be a Professional Engineer licensed under Florida Chapter 471 or a Registered Architect licensed under Florida Chapter 481. For certain Building Official-directed inspections, Miami-Dade County Code Section 8-22(4) also requires certification by the Board of Rules and Appeals and relevant discipline experience.⁴

Your engineer or architect of record can double as the special inspector, but only if they appear on the Board of Professional Engineers’ or Board of Architecture and Interior Design’s list of qualified special inspectors.³ Using the same firm simplifies coordination; using an independent inspector gives you a second set of eyes. Either is acceptable.

Filling Out the Form

Download the PDF from the Miami-Dade permits forms library. The document is titled “Notice to Miami-Dade County Building Official of Employment as Special Inspector.”

Project and Retention Block

At the top, identify the party retaining the inspector (usually the owner or developer), the project name, and the date the inspector’s services begin. Enter every process number assigned to your building permit so the form links correctly to the electronic file. The form provides room for multiple process numbers if your project has them.

Inspection Categories

Check only the categories that match the scope of work in your approved permit. The listed options are:

Piling
Trusses longer than 35 feet or taller than 6 feet
Reinforced masonry
Steel connections
Soil compaction
Precast units and attachments (for tilt-up wall systems, the reinforcement must also be inspected)
Curtain wall
Structural glazing
Lightweight insulating concrete
Composite floor system

A blank line at the bottom covers any other category the Building Official specifies. Checking categories not in the permit, or omitting categories that are, creates problems during plan review and can delay acceptance of the form.¹

Inspector and Authorized Representatives

Print the inspector’s full name, address, and phone number. The inspector then signs and applies their Florida professional seal. The form has fields for up to four authorized representatives, which are individuals the inspector may send to the job site on their behalf. The inspector remains responsible for every written report, and reports must bear the inspector’s seal even when a representative conducted the site visit.³

Authorized representatives must be qualified by education or licensure. Acceptable qualifications include a Florida PE or RA license, a degree in civil or structural engineering or architecture, passing the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering exam, or registration as a building inspector or general contractor.¹

Where to Submit and By When

Submit the completed, signed, and sealed form through the county’s EPS Portal (Environmental and Permitting System), which attaches it to your project’s electronic permit jacket. The portal is reached through miamidade.gov under the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources.⁵ In-person filings go to the Permitting and Inspection Center at 11805 SW 26th Street, Miami, FL 33175.⁶

For a threshold building, the structural inspection plan has to be submitted and approved before the building permit issues.³ The special inspector notification form itself should be on file before the specific construction phase requiring oversight begins. If the Building Official finds Section 8-22 work going on without a properly designated inspector, Chapter 8 authorizes a stop-work order.⁷

After the Form Is Accepted

Acceptance of the form authorizes the inspector to begin site inspections within the categories you checked. A few obligations take effect right away:

The special inspector maintains an inspection log for each building, posted in a convenient on-site location where the county building inspector can review it.¹
Mandatory county inspections still happen on top of the special inspections. You continue to call for every required county building inspection.
The Building Official must be promptly informed of all inspection results in reports signed by the special inspector.⁴
Before the Certificate of Occupancy issues, each special inspector submits a signed and sealed statement to the Building Official confirming the inspected work conforms to the permitted documents and the Florida Building Code.

Designating a special inspector does not shift anyone else’s responsibilities. The inspector cannot stand in for the Building Official, the architect of record, or the engineer of record, and the contractor’s obligations are unchanged.³

Replacing the Inspector or an Authorized Representative

If the original inspector leaves for any reason, the replacement files a new Notice of Employment form. The form itself is the notification mechanism; a fresh copy is completed with the replacement’s credentials, seal, and the same project process numbers.¹ If you’re only swapping an authorized representative rather than the lead inspector, update the Building Official in writing. Don’t just send a new face to the site.

Any gap in coverage during active work on inspected components exposes the project to a stop-work order. Line up the replacement before the outgoing inspector’s last day.

1
Miami-Dade County. Notice to Miami-Dade County Building Official of Employment as Special Inspector
2
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 553.71 – Definitions
3
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 553.79 – Permits; Applications; Issuance; Inspections
4
Municode. Miami-Dade County Code of Ordinances Chapter 8 – Building Code, Section 8-22
5
Miami-Dade County. EPS Portal
6
Miami-Dade County. Inspections
7
Miami-Dade County. Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida Chapter 8 – Building Code