Orange County Building Permits: Remodel Guide (2026)

If your home is in unincorporated Orange County, building permits come from the Orange County Division of Building Safety, and every new permit application and inspection request goes through the county’s online portal, Fast Track Online Services. Remodels that touch plumbing, electrical, gas, mechanical systems, walls, windows or doors need a permit. If your address is inside a city such as Orlando, Winter Park, Apopka, Winter Garden, Ocoee or Maitland, the city’s own building department issues the permit instead.

Unincorporated Orange County vs. city limits

Orange County is a patchwork. Large parts of the Orlando area are unincorporated, which means no city government, so the county handles zoning and building permits. Other areas are inside an incorporated city, and that city runs its own permitting.

We confirmed on each city’s official website that these cities in Orange County run their own building or permitting departments:

• City of Orlando (Permitting Services Division). See our City of Orlando permits guide.
• Winter Park (Building and Permitting Services).
• Apopka (Building Safety Division).
• Winter Garden (Building Department).
• Ocoee (Building Division).
• Maitland (Building Division, within Community Development).

One special case: the county says residents of the City of Edgewood must first get approval from the City of Edgewood, then apply for the building permit through Orange County under an interlocal agreement.

For any other town, or if you are near a boundary, call the town hall or the county before you apply. Boundaries change through annexation, and an Orlando mailing address does not mean you are in the City of Orlando. The City of Orlando’s Check Your Address page links to a lookup map that is a quick way to rule the city in or out.

What needs a permit in unincorporated Orange County

The county’s Do I Need a Permit page (on the Orange County government website, under Permits and Licenses) gives practical examples. For remodels, these are the ones that matter most:

Work	Permit the county lists
Additions or alterations	Building permit, plus electrical, roofing, mechanical or plumbing/gas sub-permits as needed
New or moved electrical outlets	Electrical permit
Electrical panel change	Electrical permit
Water heater replacement	Plumbing permit, and possibly electrical
Permanently installed A/C or heating equipment	Mechanical permit
New exterior windows, doors or garage doors	Building permit
Re-roof	Building permit with in-progress and final inspections
Sheds and small structures	Building permit for all structures (120 sq ft or less may be exempt from the building code, not the permit)
Pouring a concrete driveway, walkway or pad	Permit required (pavers need a zoning permit only)
Appliance that plugs into an existing outlet	No permit

What this means for kitchens and bathrooms

• Kitchen, same layout, cosmetic: new countertops, refaced or replaced cabinets in the same spots, backsplash, paint and flooring usually do not need a permit.
• Kitchen with new circuits or moved plumbing: electrical and plumbing permits. Moving a sink on a slab means cutting concrete for the drain, and that work is inspected.
• Opening a wall: a building permit for an alteration, plus permits for anything in the wall.
• Bathroom remodel with a new shower valve, drain or exhaust fan: plumbing, and often electrical and mechanical permits. Our bathroom remodeling jobs nearly always include at least a plumbing permit.

The $7,500 exemption in Orange County

Florida’s HB 803 took effect July 1, 2026 and is now in Florida Statutes 553.79. The Orange County Division of Building Safety lists the conditions on its website, and all must be met:

• The work is on an owner’s single-family dwelling. The county says rental properties and mobile homes are not eligible.
• The work is valued at less than $7,500.
• The property is not partly or entirely in a flood hazard area.
• The work is not electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical or gas. The county states that exterior window and door replacements count as structural under the Florida Building Code.
• The project is not split into smaller jobs to avoid a permit.
• The owner or contractor submits a written exemption request with the contract or other documents showing the nature and value of the work.

The county also points out that exempted work is not the county’s responsibility. The property owner is still responsible for code compliance, and violations from exempt work fall on the owner.

How to apply for an Orange County building permit

The county requires all new permit applications and inspection requests to be submitted online through Fast Track Online Services.

1. Confirm jurisdiction. Make sure the address is unincorporated Orange County, not a city.
2. Create a Fast Track account. Licensed contractors and non-contractors can both register. The county offers an interactive training course and a user guide.
3. Apply and upload documents. Residential applications are reviewed by the Zoning Division for zoning compliance, then forwarded to Building Safety for plan review and issuance.
4. Trade sub-permits. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical sub-permits are separate and are applied for by the licensed trade contractors.
5. Pay fees. Fees come from the county’s fee schedule, are based on the work, and are normally included in a contractor’s estimate.
6. Record a Notice of Commencement. The county requires a recorded Notice of Commencement for projects valued above $5,000 (and for mechanical permits above $15,000). It must be on the permit record before the first inspection can be scheduled.

Owner-builder permits in Orange County

Under Florida Statutes 489.103(7), you may pull an owner-builder permit for your own home if you do the work or directly supervise it, and you generally cannot sell or lease the home within one year of completion without it being presumed you built it for sale. The county lets owner-builders apply online through Fast Track as a non-license holder. To finish, you complete a video meeting to verify your identity with a valid photo ID and sign the Owner-Builder Disclosure Statement, which is uploaded before the permit is issued. The county also says permits for property owned by a corporation, LLC or trust must go through a licensed contractor.

Searching Orange County permits by address

Fast Track lets anyone view permit status in real time and look up permits by permit number, address or parcel ID. Use it to:

• Check that your contractor’s permit was actually issued for your address.
• Review a home’s permit history before you buy.
• Find old open permits that need to be closed before you sell.

Inspections and closing the permit

The county says it is the customer’s responsibility to schedule all required inspections, and every permit needs them. Inspections are scheduled on Fast Track with the permit number, and some can be done remotely.

A passed final inspection is required to complete every permit. If the final is not scheduled and passed within the allowed time, the permit expires, and reinstating it can cost more and may need updated plans. On a contractor-led job the contractor schedules inspections, but it is worth asking for proof that the final passed.

Planning a remodel in Orange County?

The first question on any Orange County project is which office issues the permit. Prime Construction is a licensed general contractor (CGC1535686) and plumbing contractor (CFC1433952); we confirm jurisdiction, pull the permits in our name and handle the inspections. Learn more about our general contracting services, or if you are in a city with its own department, such as Apopka, we handle that permit office too. Call (407) 404-3944 or request an estimate. Nearby homeowners can also read our Seminole County permits guide and Osceola County permits guide.