Seawall contractor · Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach
Seawall construction and repair in Miami under one price-cap contract
New seawalls, replacements and repairs for waterfront homes in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, built as part of a turnkey project. You pay the actual cost plus a fixed fee, and the contract sets the maximum price.
Seawalls
Seawall contractor in Miami for new walls, replacement and repair
Florida Home Build is a general contractor that builds, replaces and repairs seawalls across South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach) as part of a turnkey waterfront project. The wall and the house go into one estimate and one contract, and the city and county permits and inspections are ours to handle.
The city or county sets the minimum height of a seawall, the permit can involve the county, the state and the Army Corps, and the wall holds the soil and the yard behind it. On our projects the wall is priced next to the house, and we look at it at the first site visit.
Signs that a seawall needs attention:
- 01Cracks in the cap or the panels, and spalling concrete with corrosion stains where the rebar shows.
- 02A wall that leans toward the water or sags along the top.
- 03Soil erosion that washes dirt out from behind or under the wall, or sinkholes in the yard.
- 04Open joints, or water coming through or over the wall at high tide.
- 05A dock or posts attached to the wall that have started to shift.
A damaged cap, loose tiebacks or open joints often call for seawall repair.
A leaning wall or washed-out soil at the base usually means replacement, and which one your wall needs is decided once we have seen it.
We take seawalls and docks as part of full waterfront projects, which start at $250,000, and the seawall is priced once we see the site.
Out of state
Building a house in Miami while you live somewhere else
- A client portal with the schedule, selections, photos, inspections and invoices
- Video at every stage and drone footage of the site
- Cameras on site, so you can look in any day
- A weekly confirmation of next steps from your superintendent
- A project manager who speaks English, Spanish or Russian
Seawall height
Minimum seawall height in Miami Beach, Broward and Fort Lauderdale
A new seawall must reach 5 feet NAVD88 in Broward County and 5.7 feet in Miami Beach (4 feet if the wall is designed to be raised later), and 2023 reports put Fort Lauderdale at 5.0 feet. In Broward the wall must work as a barrier against tidal flooding, and a seawall repair can trigger the same height, so the rule matters before you choose between repair and replacement.
| Where | Minimum top of a new seawall | When a repair counts as a rebuild |
|---|---|---|
| Miami Beach | 5.7 ft NAVD88, or 4 ft if designed to be raised to 5.7 ft | Repair costing $500 or more per linear foot, since June 25, 2025 |
| Broward County | 5 ft NAVD88; 4 ft for applications before January 1, 2035 if the wall is designed to reach 5 ft by January 1, 2050 | Work along more than 50% of the length of the lot's shoreline |
| Fort Lauderdale | 5.0 ft since March 2023, per news reports | — |
| Other Miami-Dade cities | No figure confirmed here; the minimum depends on the city and county rules | — |
What NAVD88 means
NAVD88 is the vertical reference these numbers use. A wall top at 5 feet NAVD88 sits 5 feet above that reference, which can be higher or lower than your yard, so your surveyor's current reading of the wall cap is the starting point. The Miami Beach figures come from the city's own memos. Ordinances change, so we confirm the current version for your address before design.
Read more
How the extra height moves a quote is in our seawall cost guide, and the house side of a lot on the water is on our page for waterfront construction in Miami.
Start my estimate
Your money
How a Miami home build works when you're not paying ahead
4 payments, not a big deposit
At signing, at the start of work, at the midpoint and at about 99% completion. Each payment is for a stage you have approved.
A price cap in the contract
Cost plus a fixed fee, with a maximum price. Savings stay with you. Anything above the cap is paid by the builder.
Every bid and invoice in view
A shared budget tracker shows each subcontractor bid, each change and each invoice.
One contractor, one contract
The same permanent subcontractors on every job, and one company answering for all of them.
3-year warranty, exclusions in writing
The warranty term is a number in your contract, and so is the list of what it does not cover.
An answer in under 24 hours
By phone, WhatsApp, text or email, in English, Spanish or Russian.
One contract
How the seawall, the permits and the house fit into one contract
On a waterfront project the seawall is not a separate job with a separate bidder. It sits in the same contract as the house, so the maximum price and the four stage payments cover the wall the same way they cover the walls of the home. Three things connect the two.
The wall's height and condition set the scope
The minimum height in your city and the state of the existing wall change the work on the lot, so we look at both at the first site visit. Engineering and permit fees sit outside the construction price, as they do for the house. For the house itself, see our page on storm-resistant houses in Florida.
The permits come from several agencies
In Miami-Dade, a new or replacement seawall in tidal water typically goes through a Class I permit, the county's tidal-water permit issued by DERM, which asks for proof of your right to the submerged land. Restoring a wall in its old place can be exempt from the state environmental permit, and a federal general permit program for small shoreline work can reduce the need for a separate approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). We file the wall's permits together with the house's, and which of these apply depends on your waterway.
One contract carries the wall and the house
As a general contractor in Miami, we write the seawall into the same cost plus fixed fee contract as the house. How the cap and the payments work is on our page for pricing and terms, and the stages on site are on how we build.
After the keys
A 3-year home builder warranty and a full handover
- 01
3-year warranty on the work
The term and the list of exclusions are written in your contract, not explained later.
- 02
Handover package
As-built drawings, manuals, a maintenance schedule and manufacturer warranties registered in your name.
- 03
A walkthrough of every system
We walk the house with you and show how each system works before you move in.
- 04
Care after move-in
Home maintenance by arrangement, with the same team that built it.
FAQ
Questions about seawall construction and repair in Miami
How much does a seawall cost in Florida?
One 2026 Florida contractor guide puts a new wall at roughly $400–1,000+ per linear foot, depending on the material (vinyl, concrete or steel), and a typical 100-foot wall at $40,000–100,000+. Those are market ranges, not our prices, and the breakdown by material is in our seawall cost guide.
Do I need a permit for seawall repair or construction in Miami?
Usually yes, and often from more than one agency. In Miami-Dade a new or replacement wall in tidal water typically needs a Class I permit from DERM, and some restoration work is exempt from the state permit. The agencies are described in the permits section above.
Can a general contractor build a seawall in Florida?
Florida defines a general contractor as one whose services are unlimited as to the type of work (section 489.105). On our waterfront projects the seawall is in the same contract as the house, so you deal with one contractor.
How tall does a new seawall have to be in Miami?
It depends on the city. Miami Beach requires 5.7 feet NAVD88 (4 feet if the wall is designed to be raised later), Broward County 5 feet, and Fort Lauderdale 5.0 feet according to 2023 reports. The table above lists the repair thresholds too.
Can my seawall be repaired, or does it need replacement?
Small damage such as a cracked cap or open joints can often be repaired, while a leaning wall usually means replacement. A Long Island contractor's guide suggests replacing once repair costs approach half the price of a new wall. We decide after we have seen the wall.
What happens if a seawall fails?
Water and soil start moving through the wall, and the yard settles. Under Broward code a wall is in disrepair if water flows through or over it onto a neighbor's land or the street, and after notice the owner has 60 days to start repairs and 365 days to finish. Miami Beach says about 91% of its 55 miles of seawall sits on private land.
Do you build the seawall and the dock together with the house?
Yes. Seawalls and docks for waterfront homes are part of our turnkey projects, which start at $250,000. Our page on waterfront construction in Miami covers the rest of the build on the water.
Who pays if the seawall costs more than the estimate?
For the agreed scope of work, the construction total cannot pass the maximum price in the contract, and we pay anything above it. The seawall is part of that scope. The cap and the four payments are explained on pricing and terms.