Highland Beach
Vilano Engineering performs building recertification inspections for commercial, condominium, and threshold buildings in Highland Beach — the structural inspection and the electrical inspection, sealed and submitted to the Town as one package.
Highland Beach runs its own recertification program under a Town ordinance, separate from and in addition to the statewide milestone requirement. Palm Beach County has no county-wide program, so what your building must produce is set by the Town — and it differs from what Boca Raton or Boynton Beach require a few miles away.
A notice from the Highland Beach Building Department means your building falls under the Town's recertification ordinance and names the date your reports are due. The Town gives substantial advance warning, which is enough time to do this properly and not enough to leave alone.
What the Town is asking for is two separate reports: a structural report and an electrical report, each carrying specific content the Town enumerates, and each signed by a professional the Town accepts for that scope.
Send us the notice and we can tell you what your submittal needs to contain.
Send us your notice →The structural inspection runs in two phases. Phase One is a visual examination covering the foundation, columns, bearing walls, steel framing, roof system, windows, and the movement of structural components relative to one another, with an assessment of material deterioration and its effect on structural integrity.
Phase One must state plainly whether a Phase Two is required. Where it is, Phase Two investigates further and identifies the repairs needed and the timeframe for making them.
The Town enumerates what the structural report must contain, down to the inspector's license number and the building's type of construction. Photographic evidence is strongly encouraged.
The electrical report covers the electrical service — its size, voltage, and current capacity — along with the condition of the disconnects, feeders, branch circuits, conduits, and emergency lighting throughout the areas outside the dwelling units. The report must certify and attest that the building is electrically safe, or identify the deficiencies that prevent that and recommend repairs with a timeframe.
The Town's requirement covers common and service areas rather than the panelboards inside individual units, so the inspection does not depend on getting access to every apartment.
Highland Beach does not accept a visual review of the service disconnects. They must be cycled on and off, and the fact that they were cycled must be documented in the report.
This is the requirement that needs planning rather than paperwork. Operating a service disconnect interrupts power to what it feeds, so the building's management needs occupants notified, elevators and life safety equipment accounted for, and staff on hand. We schedule it with the building's management and the electrical contractor in advance so the interruption is brief and expected.
Highland Beach does not require an infrared thermographic scan as part of recertification. Miami-Dade, Boca Raton, and Boynton Beach do, where a building's electrical service reaches a certain size. An owner or association with buildings in more than one jurisdiction should not assume the packages are the same.
Palm Beach County does not operate a county-wide recertification program. Highland Beach, Boca Raton, and Boynton Beach each run their own, and they differ in substance rather than in paperwork.
Highland Beach names the qualification required for each report and requires the service disconnects to be operated and documented. Boca Raton and Boynton Beach require an infrared thermographic scan where a building's electrical service is large enough; Highland Beach does not. A building elsewhere in the county, outside any municipal program, is subject to the statewide milestone inspection, which is structural only.
For the Town's program details, see the Highland Beach Milestone Recertification page. For the statewide milestone requirement, see Florida Statute 553.899. For what happens between receiving a notice and closing the file, see what to do when you receive a recertification notice.
The electrical report must be prepared by a Florida-licensed electrical engineer. For buildings the Town has designated as threshold buildings, the structural report must be prepared by a Florida-licensed Threshold Special Inspector. Confirm your building's designation with the Town before engaging anyone.
Because operating them is the only way to establish that they work. The Town requires them to be cycled rather than inspected visually, and requires the report to document that it was done. It means a brief planned power interruption, which we arrange with the building's management in advance.
No. The Town's electrical requirement covers the areas outside the dwelling units rather than the panelboards inside them.
No. Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, and Miami-Dade require a scan where the building's electrical service is large enough. Highland Beach does not.
The notice from the Town names it. The schedule is set by the Town rather than the county, so confirm with the Highland Beach Building Department.
Vilano Engineering, LLC is a licensed engineering firm providing building recertification and safety inspections, infrared thermography, electrical design, expert witness services, developer turnover, and property condition assessments.
Nicholas Strachan, PE
Licensed Professional Engineer — Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, New York, North Carolina, Texas
Certified Level II Thermographer
Licensed Plans Examiner — Florida
25+ years in engineering design, inspection, and quality assurance