Our method · Wall Dock Deck

How we verify every rule on this site

Every elevation, setback and deadline published here was read out of the primary code, not copied from another website. Each one carries the section it came from and the month we checked it. If we cannot confirm a rule from the code itself, we do not publish it — and we say so rather than filling the gap with a plausible guess.

The standard

Four rules, applied to every figure on the site without exception.

Primary sources onlyCounty and municipal code, state statute, administrative code, and official guidance published by the authority itself. Not contractor blogs, not directories, not other summaries. Where a city publishes its own guidance, we read it alongside the ordinance.

The section is recordedEvery figure is stored with the exact code section it came from, and that citation is printed on the page. If you want to check us, you have what you need to do it in about two minutes.

The date is recordedEvery rule carries the month we last checked it. That date is the one in our records, never today’s. A page that silently restamps itself is lying about its freshness.

No source, no pageThis one is enforced mechanically, not by good intentions. Our build only publishes a rule marked verified with both a citation and a date. An unfinished entry produces no page at all, which is why some cities are missing rather than thin.

What we do when it is not clear

Regulations in South Florida are genuinely inconsistent between neighbouring towns. These are the cases that come up most, and how we handle each.

When the county and the city disagreeWe publish both and say which one governs. In Broward the county sets a standard every city had to adopt, and several cities went stricter — so the number that applies to you is your city’s, not the county’s. We say that on the page rather than averaging it away.

When the rule is not in the codeIt happens more than you would expect. Some towns publish their seawall elevation in an engineering standards manual rather than the ordinance, and the code can carry an older figure of its own. Boca Raton is the example: 4.0 to 6.0 ft NAVD88 in its design manual, plus 5.00 feet with no datum in Code Sec. 22-31(5). We cite both and say so.

When the datum differsA height means nothing without the datum it is measured from. Where a town states its rule in mean sea level or NGVD29 and its neighbour states theirs in NAVD88, we print both as given and do not convert between them. The offset is local, and converting by rule of thumb produces a wall at the wrong height.

When we cannot confirm itWe publish nothing. A city we have not read stays marked unverified, and a row we cannot source stays unpublished. An empty space is honest. A guess that reads like a fact is not.

When a rule changesRules move, sometimes quickly. Miami-Dade rewrote its seawall permitting in July 2025 for the first time in decades. When we find a change, the figure and its date are updated together.

What this is not

Not legal or engineering adviceThis is published information with its sources attached. It is not a legal opinion and it is not an engineering determination.

Not a substitute for your building departmentConfirm the current requirement with your city before you design or sign anything. We print the date we checked precisely so you can see how old our reading is.

Not a priceWe do not publish cost estimates. No honest figure exists before someone surveys your wall, and we will not republish anyone else’s bid.

Found something wrong?

We would rather hear it than not. If a figure here does not match what your building department told you, send us the section and we will re-check it against the code and correct the page. A corrected page is worth more than one that was never challenged.

Are your quotes comparable?

Two seawall quotes rarely cover the same work. Tell us where to reach you and we will send you somewhere to upload them, then tell you what each one leaves out.

We do not sell the work. We have no reason to steer you to the expensive quote.

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