The High Velocity Hurricane Zone — a stricter section of the Florida Building Code that applies to Miami-Dade and Broward counties. It exists because of what Hurricane Andrew did in 1992.

Is Palm Beach County in the HVHZ?

No. Palm Beach uses statewide Florida Product Approval and different design wind pressures. It is a different specification, not a weaker one, and it is where contractors crossing the county line make mistakes.

What is a Notice of Acceptance?

A Miami-Dade NOA is documentation that a specific product, in a specific assembly, has passed the HVHZ testing. Products in Miami-Dade and Broward need one.

How do I check my contractor is using approved products?

Ask for the approval numbers before you sign, and ask which assembly they apply to. A product can be approved in one assembly and not in another.

Does this change what my roof can look like?

It narrows the options in Broward and Miami-Dade compared with Palm Beach. Add a historic district or an HOA colour list and the choice narrows further.

Does an approved product mean an approved installation?

No, and this is the important part. The approval covers the product in a tested assembly. Installing it differently voids the basis of the approval, which is why the inspection matters.

Code

Why the County Line Changes Your Roof

Broward and Miami-Dade sit inside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. Palm Beach does not. Drive twenty minutes north of Deerfield Beach and the rules governing what may legally go on your roof change.

Book a roof inspection Call (954) 807-3208

Photographs and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, you will get that answer.

What the HVHZ is

The High Velocity Hurricane Zone is a stricter section of the Florida Building Code applying to Miami-Dade and Broward counties. It exists because of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which removed any remaining argument about whether South Florida needed its own standard.

Inside the zone, roofing products must carry a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance — documentation that the specific product, in a specific tested assembly, passed HVHZ testing. Tile, underlayment, fasteners, membrane: all of it.

Side by side

The two regimes

	Broward & Miami-Dade	Palm Beach & north
Zone	Inside the HVHZ	Outside the HVHZ
Product approval	Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance	Florida Product Approval (statewide)
Material choice	Narrower — approved assemblies only	Wider range available
Attachment spec	Prescribed by the approved assembly	Calculated to the design pressures
Common mistake	Using a product with no NOA	Applying Broward habits north of the line

The part that gets missed

An approved product is not an approved roof

An approval covers a product installed in a particular tested assembly — a specified underlayment, a specified fastener, at a specified spacing. Use the approved tile with the wrong fastener pattern and the approval no longer describes what is on your house. This is why the inspection is not bureaucracy, and why an unpermitted roof is a genuine problem at claim time rather than a technicality.

Where each applies

Every market we serve, and which regime governs it.

Inside the HVHZ

Broward

Fort Lauderdale

Our home city, and a genuine mix: barrel tile on the mainland, flat and low-slope on the mid-century houses near Victoria Park, and metal appearing steadily on the newer waterfront builds. Broward is HVHZ, so every product on your roof needs a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance.

Broward

Wilton Manors

Compact lots and a large stock of 1950s and 1960s single-storey houses, which in practice means low-slope and shallow-pitch roofs rather than tile. Those roofs rely on membrane and flashing detail, so the failures here look different from the tile failures a mile east.

Broward

Oakland Park

A lot of housing built either side of 1970, now reaching the point where an original underlayment has certainly been replaced once and may be due again. HVHZ rules apply, and Oakland Park permitting is generally straightforward compared with the barrier-island municipalities.

Broward

Pompano Beach

Two different roofing markets in one city: older single-family inland, and a wave of oceanfront towers built in the last decade. The beachfront work is almost entirely low-slope with heavy salt exposure, which shortens the life of fasteners and terminations well before the membrane.

Broward

Lighthouse Point

Canal-front houses with long-tenured owners, which is exactly the profile where a tile roof has looked fine for twenty-five years while the underlayment quietly reached the end of its life. Salt air on the canals is hard on exposed fasteners and metal trim.

Broward

Deerfield Beach

The northern edge of Broward, and the last city before the HVHZ boundary — cross into Palm Beach County a mile north and the product approval rules change entirely. Large stock of 1970s and 1980s condominium with low-slope roofs held in common by the association.

Outside the HVHZ

Palm Beach

Boca Raton

Cross the county line and the rules change: Palm Beach County is NOT in the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. Products here are approved under statewide Florida Product Approval rather than Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, and the design wind pressures differ. A Broward roofer working here for the first time gets this wrong.

Palm Beach

Delray Beach

Non-HVHZ, and with a downtown historic district where the roof is visible from the street and the design guidelines say so. Older bungalows here often have metal that is worth restoring rather than replacing, which is not the advice most contractors lead with.

Palm Beach

Boynton Beach

A very large stock of 1980s and 1990s tile now at or past the age where original underlayment fails, spread across dozens of associations each with its own approved colour list. Non-HVHZ product approval applies, which widens the material options compared with Broward.

Palm Beach

West Palm Beach & Jupiter

The northern edge of our South Florida service area, non-HVHZ, and with the widest spread of housing age of any market we work in — 1920s El Cid bungalows through 2020s coastal construction. The roof questions in those two are not remotely the same conversation.

All 23 areas →

Before you rely on this

This page describes the regimes in general terms so you can ask better questions of anyone bidding your job. It is not a code determination for your address. Requirements change, and the authority having jurisdiction makes the final call.

FAQ

Common questions

What is the HVHZ?: The High Velocity Hurricane Zone — a stricter section of the Florida Building Code that applies to Miami-Dade and Broward counties. It exists because of what Hurricane Andrew did in 1992.
Is Palm Beach County in the HVHZ?: No. Palm Beach uses statewide Florida Product Approval and different design wind pressures. It is a different specification, not a weaker one, and it is where contractors crossing the county line make mistakes.
What is a Notice of Acceptance?: A Miami-Dade NOA is documentation that a specific product, in a specific assembly, has passed the HVHZ testing. Products in Miami-Dade and Broward need one.
How do I check my contractor is using approved products?: Ask for the approval numbers before you sign, and ask which assembly they apply to. A product can be approved in one assembly and not in another.
Does this change what my roof can look like?: It narrows the options in Broward and Miami-Dade compared with Palm Beach. Add a historic district or an HOA colour list and the choice narrows further.
Does an approved product mean an approved installation?: No, and this is the important part. The approval covers the product in a tested assembly. Installing it differently voids the basis of the approval, which is why the inspection matters.

Next step

Find out what is actually wrong with it.

An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.

Book a roof inspection (954) 807-3208