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Hillsborough County Permits
Whether your project is in unincorporated Hillsborough County or inside the City of Tampa, Plant City or Temple Terrace, we prepare the permit package, submit it through the correct online portal as your authorized agent and work the review until the permit is issued.
A Hillsborough County address does not always mean a Hillsborough County permit. The county’s Development Services department, through Building Services, handles permits for unincorporated areas. Properties within city limits go to that city’s own building department instead. In Hillsborough, that means the City of Tampa, the City of Plant City and the City of Temple Terrace each run their own permitting.
We confirm the jurisdiction from the parcel record first, because filing in the wrong system is an easy way to lose weeks.
Unincorporated Hillsborough County’s portal for applications, fee payments and inspection scheduling. Services not yet offered in HillsGovHub go through the county’s Digital Drop-off process.
Tampa handles permit applications through its Accela Citizen Access portal, where documents such as a recorded Notice of Commencement are uploaded directly to the permit record.
Plant City’s online permitting portal covers building, engineering and planning and zoning permits, including uploads, fee payment, status tracking and inspection requests.
Because these systems are fully online, we work inside the same portals the reviewers use.
These local review points are the ones we plan for before anything is uploaded:
Under Florida law, when a direct contract is over $5,000, a copy of the recorded Notice of Commencement must be filed with the building department before the first inspection (A/C repair or replacement has a higher threshold). The notice is recorded with the Clerk of Court first. In the City of Tampa, uploading the recorded notice to the Accela record releases the NOC hold on the permit. We make sure the recorded copy reaches the permit so inspections are not blocked.
Hillsborough County allows homeowners to act as their own contractor under the state owner-builder exemption, with conditions: the property must be in the owner’s name and be their primary residence, an Owner Builder Disclosure Statement is required, and the county notes the property cannot be sold within one year after the work is complete. If an owner-builder permit is not the right fit, we can refer you to a licensed contractor.
In our experience, delays here rarely come from the code review itself. They come from missing pieces: an expired or missing EPC wetland survey, a site plan without flood elevations or setbacks, product approvals that do not match the wind requirements, an application filed with the county when the property is inside Tampa, or a Notice of Commencement that was never uploaded. Work started without a permit creates its own problem, because the county requires an after-the-fact permit. If you are dealing with an older permit that never closed, see our open and expired permit services.
We handle residential and commercial projects, over-the-counter permits, special permits and permit research for buyers and lenders. For an overview of our statewide service, visit our Florida permit expediting page.
Hillsborough County has 3 municipalities with their own building departments, and a large unincorporated area permitted by the county through HillsGovHub. We handle permits in all of them:
It depends on whether the parcel is inside city limits, not on the mailing address. A Tampa mailing address does not guarantee a city permit; some properties with a Tampa address are in unincorporated Hillsborough County and are permitted through HillsGovHub. We confirm the jurisdiction before filing anything.
For residential new construction and additions in unincorporated Hillsborough, the county’s site plan checklists require any wetland and surface water limits on the property to be reviewed and approved by the EPC, and the survey must be current. If the parcel has no wetlands nearby, this may not apply. We check early so it does not surface as a review comment.
No. The HVHZ applies to Miami-Dade and Broward. Hillsborough projects still must meet Florida Building Code wind design and wind-borne debris requirements, and the county provides a map viewer to check them for a given site.
Often, yes, for your own primary residence that is in your name. The county requires an Owner Builder Disclosure Statement and limits selling the property for one year after the work is done. We can prepare and submit an owner-builder application for you.
Unincorporated Hillsborough County reassesses those fees at current rates when an expired permit is reissued, so keeping the permit active until the project is finished usually matters.
Tell us the address and scope. We will confirm the permitting office, outline what the submittal needs and send a flat-rate quote.