Home Inspections in Surfside, Florida

Most of Surfside's housing is condominium, much of it in buildings that predate the modern Florida Building Code, sitting a few hundred feet from the Atlantic. Two separate things matter when you buy here, and it's worth being precise about which is which.

The first is the building. Since 2022, Florida law has required condo and cooperative buildings three stories or taller to complete a milestone structural inspection once they reach 30 years of age, with coastal jurisdictions able to require it earlier at 25. Associations must also complete a structural integrity reserve study covering roof, structure, waterproofing, painting, foundation, plumbing, electrical and windows. Those are performed by a licensed engineer or registered architect and they are the association's responsibility.

We do not perform milestone inspections or reserve studies. What we'd tell any buyer here is to request both documents from the association before closing, and to read them. Findings in a milestone report can translate directly into special assessments, and that's a cost that has nothing to do with the condition of your individual unit.

The second is your unit, and that's what we inspect. A condo inspection covers the unit and the systems serving it — electrical, plumbing, HVAC, windows and doors, interior finishes — and we'll be clear about where your responsibility ends and the association's begins.

Surfside sits directly on the ocean, which puts it in the harshest exposure category in South Florida. Salt air reaches AC condenser coils, railings, exterior fasteners, window and slider hardware, and roof flashing, and those components age faster here than they would even a few miles inland. On oceanfront units they're among the first things we look at.

Surfside is also in Miami-Dade's high-wind zone. A wind mitigation inspection documents the features carriers apply credits for on Florida's OIR-B1-1802 form. For a condo unit, that generally comes down to opening protection — impact windows, sliders, and shutters — plus whatever the building's wind-rated features are, as reported by the association.