Latest / USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast / Florida's New Permit Law Won't Cover Your Bathroom

Transcript

Florida's New Permit Law Won't Cover Your Bathroom · USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome back to the Remodel Report by USA Cabinet
• 0:08
  Store. I am Chris and today we are heading south
• 0:11
  to Kissimmee, which might be the strangest bathroom
• 0:14
  market in central Florida. Jessica, why strange?
• 0:19
  Because it is really two cities wearing one name.
• 0:22
  Out along the Disney corridor you have Vacation
• 0:24
  Rentals, Champions Gate, Reunion, Story Lake,
• 0:29
  Windsor. Then you drive the other direction and
• 0:32
  you are in Buenaventura Lakes and Poinciana.
• 0:34
  where families actually live. Same town, two
• 0:38
  completely different bathrooms. And I understand
• 0:41
  it is the most affordable market in your whole
• 0:43
  Orlando cluster. It is. The median home runs
• 0:47
  about $360 ,000, the lowest of the four Orlando
• 0:51
  suburbs we cover. A typical metro bathroom lands
• 0:54
  between $5 ,700 and just over $15 ,000, and Kissimmee
• 0:58
  sits at the friendly end of that. Contractor
• 1:01
  pricing tends to run 5 to 10 percent below the
• 1:04
  city of Orlando, too. Give me the tiers. Five
• 1:07
  of them. Cosmetic refresh, 3 to 9 ,000. Partial,
• 1:12
  9 to 22. Full remodel, 15 to 35. Primary suite,
• 1:18
  25 to 50 plus. And a spa build, 50 to 80 plus.
• 1:24
  Newer homes in Buena Ventura Lakes and Poinciana.
• 1:27
  Land lower because they are on slab with modern
• 1:30
  plumbing, so there are fewer surprises behind
• 1:32
  the wall. Okay, now the part I did not know about.
• 1:36
  The permit situation is a trap. It is the biggest
• 1:39
  one in the whole series. A Kissimmee mailing
• 1:42
  address does not mean you are inside the city
• 1:44
  of Kissimmee. Poinciana, Celebration, Buenaventura
• 1:49
  Lakes, almost all the resort communities, those
• 1:53
  are unincorporated Osceola County. And that changes
• 1:56
  where you file. Completely. The city uses a portal
• 2:00
  called EnterGov. The county uses a different
• 2:03
  one. The Online Permit Center. File in the wrong
• 2:06
  system, and you do not just wait. You start over
• 2:09
  in the right office. The city's own website tells
• 2:12
  you to confirm your address is inside city limits
• 2:15
  before you do anything else, and they publish
• 2:17
  a map for it. Now there is also a new law people
• 2:20
  are confused about. Yes. And this one matters.
• 2:24
  Florida House Bill 803 took effect on July 1st.
• 2:29
  A lot of people heard that Florida stopped requiring
• 2:31
  building permits. That is not what happened.
• 2:34
  It created a narrow exemption for some residential
• 2:37
  work under $7 ,500, but plumbing, electrical,
• 2:41
  mechanical, gas, and structural work are all
• 2:43
  carved out. Which is basically every bathroom.
• 2:47
  Every real one. Move a toilet. Run a circuit
• 2:50
  for a vanity light. Replace a shower valve, and
• 2:52
  you permit it exactly like before. The City of
• 2:56
  Kissimmee says only two things realistically
• 2:58
  qualify for the exemption. Fencing and roof repairs
• 3:02
  under 25 % of the roof. A bathroom is not on
• 3:06
  that list. So if a contractor tells you the new
• 3:09
  law means you can skip the permit, that tells
• 3:11
  you something about them. Is there any good news
• 3:14
  in the law? There is, actually. Speed. For work
• 3:18
  under $15 ,000 on an existing single -family
• 3:21
  home, the reviewing office now has five business
• 3:24
  days. And they have ten business days to tell
• 3:27
  you an application is incomplete. For a market
• 3:30
  where permitting felt like an open -ended delay,
• 3:33
  that is a real change. Let us talk about the
• 3:36
  part nobody else covers. The vacation rental
• 3:38
  bathroom. This is the big one. If your bathroom
• 3:41
  is in a short -term rental, you are not building
• 3:43
  for resale. You are building for reviews. A real
• 3:47
  investor said it perfectly on Reddit about a
• 3:49
  Kissimmee property. He said the area is saturated
• 3:52
  and the homes that do well are the ones with
• 3:54
  updated interiors and strong reviews. And then
• 3:58
  he warned that the people who get burned are
• 3:59
  the ones who only look at revenue and forget
• 4:01
  the carrying costs, the repairs, the replacements.
• 4:05
  So the bathroom is a business asset. It is in
• 4:08
  the photos and it is in the reviews. You build
• 4:10
  for durability. Porcelain tile, quartz tops,
• 4:14
  frameless glass. slip -resistant floors, grab
• 4:17
  bar blocking, and you build for the camera. There
• 4:21
  is a licensing layer too. An Osceola County short
• 4:25
  -term rental license runs about $410 to start,
• 4:29
  plus a Florida state vacation rental license,
• 4:32
  and every booking carries 13 .5 % in tax. The
• 4:36
  county is not contracted with Airbnb or VRBO,
• 4:39
  so you collect and remit the 6 % tourist tax
• 4:42
  yourself. That is a lot of moving parts. Give
• 4:45
  people the takeaway. Three things. Confirm whether
• 4:49
  you are city or county before anyone pulls a
• 4:51
  permit. Spec for Florida humidity, which means
• 4:55
  porcelain over marble, plywood vanity boxes never
• 4:57
  particle board, and exhaust that vents outside.
• 5:01
  And decide who the bathroom is for, because a
• 5:04
  family bath and a guest bath are different products.
• 5:07
  Where can people get help with this? USA cabinet
• 5:10
  store serves the whole Osceola corridor from
• 5:12
  the Orlando area showroom. about 40 minutes north.
• 5:16
  Book a free consultation, and the team will confirm
• 5:19
  your jurisdiction and build you a line item estimate.
• 5:22
  The full written guide is on their site. No,
• 5:25
  you're kissing me. Thanks, Jessica, and thanks,
• 5:26
  everyone, for listening. See you next time. Bye.