Broward specifics · Broward Is HVHZ
Two Counties in Florida Have Their Own Code. You Live in One.
Miami-Dade and Broward are the only counties inside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. It is a genuinely different approval regime, and it is the single fact that should shape a Broward quote.
Give us the address and a rough count of openings. We will tell you what the design pressures are before anyone quotes you a price.
HVHZ
Broward is inside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone
NOA
Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance is the approval that governs here
Our crews
We measure, we schedule, and our own people install
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
Quotes written for the wrong county
Florida Product Approval covers the state. HVHZ covers two counties, and requires a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance for the product going into the opening. A quote that names Florida Product Approval on a Broward job has been written for a different jurisdiction — usually by a company that works statewide and has not adjusted. It will often be cheaper, because the product is cheaper. It is also not what your inspector is going to ask for.
What HVHZ actually requires
- A Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance for the specific product and size.
- Large missile impact testing — a nine-pound timber fired at the glass.
- Cyclic pressure loading after the impact, not instead of it.
- Anchoring and substrate detail specified by the NOA, and inspected.
- Documentation at permit that names the NOA rather than a brand.
What this does to the price, honestly
HVHZ product costs more than statewide-approved product, and the installation carries more prescribed detail. A Broward job is therefore genuinely more expensive than the same house in Orlando, and a quote that matches an Orlando price is usually specifying an Orlando product.
The way to check is not the total. Ask for the NOA number against each opening. It takes one line on a schedule, any compliant contractor has it, and its absence is the clearest signal you will get.
How we handle it
- 01Specify every unit by NOA number.
- 02Provide the approval documents with the permit package.
- 03Anchor exactly as the NOA specifies, including embedment depth.
- 04Tell you plainly when a quote you have been given is not HVHZ compliant.
The practical effect is that the field of legal products is smaller here than anywhere else in Florida, and the installation detail is prescribed rather than left to the fitter. That is inconvenient and it is also the reason Broward housing stock performs the way it does. We specify by NOA and hand over the paperwork, because at inspection that is the document that matters.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We cannot make a non-HVHZ product compliant by installing it well. Where somebody has already fitted one, the honest position is that it is not approved for the address, and we will say so rather than sign off around it.
FAQ
Common questions
- Is HVHZ the same as the wind-borne debris region?
- No, and they are often confused. The wind-borne debris region is much larger and covers most of coastal Florida. HVHZ is Miami-Dade and Broward only, and carries the stricter approval regime.
- My neighbour used a cheaper company. Were they wrong?
- Possibly not — but ask what approval their product carries. If it is Florida Product Approval rather than a Miami-Dade NOA, it was priced for a different county and the saving has an explanation.
- Does the NOA cover the installation as well as the product?
- It covers the assembly and prescribes how it is anchored. That is why the anchoring schedule is not a matter of installer preference here, and why it is inspected.
What we install
Impact Windows
The core product, and the one most often quoted wrong. What matters is not the brand on the sticker but whether that exact unit holds an NOA for the pressure your specific opening has to resist.
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Sliding Glass Doors
The widest opening in the house, usually facing the water, usually carrying the highest design pressure on the elevation. It is also the one most likely to have been under-specified.
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Entry Doors
An entry door is a small opening carrying a large expectation. On a luxury elevation it is also the piece everyone looks at, which makes the trade-off between approval and appearance sharper here than anywhere else on the house.
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Garage Doors
On most houses the garage door is the single largest opening in the envelope, and the one whose failure does the most damage. It is also the one most often left out of an impact upgrade.
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French & Specialty Openings
Arched heads, French pairs, fixed picture units, corner glazing. These are the openings that give a house its character, and the ones where approval and appearance argue with each other most.
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Impact Glass Retrofit
Replacing the glazing while keeping the existing frames. On the right building it saves real money and real disruption. On the wrong one it produces something that is not approved and cannot be made so.
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More broward specifics
Design Pressure
Design pressure is calculated per opening from the building, the site and the unit. It is the number that decides what may legally go in the hole, and most homeowners are never shown it.
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Waterfront & Exposure
Broward is cut through with waterway. A house on the Intracoastal, a finger canal or the ocean carries higher design pressures and a corrosion problem the inland houses do not have.
Read more →
Older Housing Stock
A great deal of Broward housing predates the code changes that followed 1992. On those buildings the window is the easy part; what the window is fixed into decides the job.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.