AC permits and inspections in Florida, from Casselberry

A residential air conditioning changeout always requires a building permit in Florida. The new $7,500 exemption created by HB 803 (2026) expressly excludes any electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical or gas work on a single-family property, so it never applies to an AC changeout at any price.

The correction — read this before you believe anyone

The new $7,500 permit exemption does not apply to an air conditioning changeout. Not at any price.

CS/CS/HB 803 (2026), chapter 2026-63, signed 6 May 2026 and effective 1 July 2026, created s. 553.79(1)(g), Fla. Stat. It requires local governments to exempt a single-family homeowner or their contractor from needing a building permit for work valued under $7,500. That is real, and it is new.

It also carves out, verbatim: “Any electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work performed on property containing a single-family dwelling.” An AC changeout is mechanical work, and almost always electrical work at the disconnect as well. It is excluded by two of the five named trades, at any dollar value. The statute also says a project may not be divided into more than one project to evade the requirement.

A separate carve-out excludes any property partially or entirely in a Florida Building Code flood hazard area — relevant across Seminole County given the Little Wekiva, Howell Creek and Lake Jesup basins. So: a residential air conditioning changeout always requires a building permit in Florida. There is no dollar-amount exemption. The baseline requirement in s. 553.79(1)(a) continues to control.

Getting it right

What HB 803 did and did not do

Two more things get attributed to HB 803 that do not belong to it, and one that does.

Not HB 803

“Single-trade inspection”

This is s. 553.791(1)(r) — the private provider statute — and it predates HB 803. The definition already appears in the 2025 edition of the statute and traces to ch. 2024-191. HVAC replacement is named in it. But it is an inspection category, not a permit category: it defines a class of inspection or plans review that a fee owner (or their contractor, with explicit written authorisation) may hire a licensed private provider to perform instead of the local building department. The permit is still required.

Is HB 803

The five-business-day clock

s. 553.792(1)(a)1., created by s. 10, ch. 2026-63, requires a local government to approve, approve with conditions or deny within 5 business days of a complete and sufficient application — but only for an existing single-family dwelling, only where the value of the work is less than $15,000, and only where the applicant uses the local government plans reviewer. Plenty of 2026 changeouts clear $15,000, and a longer tier then applies. Do not expect the five-day clock unconditionally.

Casselberry’s own published guidance is more conservative than the statutory floor anyway: the city asks applicants to allow a minimum of five to seven business days for residential permits.

The rest of it

Deadlines, licence classes and your warranty

Statutory deadlines in the same section, for context: 30 business days for structures under 7,500 sq ft; 60 business days for larger structures, signs, non-residential under 25,000 sq ft and multifamily up to 50 units; 12 business days for site-specific permits under a master permit program; 10 business days for CDBG-DR single-family work. A local government must also notify an applicant of missing information within 5 business days of receipt, and must act within 10 business days of receiving revisions.

Who can pull it: an air-conditioning contractor licensed under Chapter 489, Part I. Under s. 489.105(3) a Class A contractor is unlimited; a Class B is limited to 25 tons of cooling and 500,000 Btu of heating in any one system, which comfortably covers residential changeouts. A certified contractor may work in any jurisdiction in the state; a registered contractor is limited to the jurisdiction that registered them. State-certified A/C licences carry a CAC prefix; registered ones carry RAC. Check any of it at the DBPR licensee search.

And a consumer protection worth knowing about, from a different 2024 bill entirely: under s. 559.957, Fla. Stat. a manufacturer’s HVAC warranty runs from the date of installation when installed by a Chapter 489 licensed contractor, and may not be conditioned on returning a product registration card. Nobody can void your warranty because a card was not posted.

Locally

Which desk permits your Casselberry address

This page is the statewide picture. The Casselberry-specific part — which of two building departments permits your address, the flat $200 city fee, the portal, and the Deer Run and Fern Park split — is on the Casselberry permit guide.

The Casselberry line item

Inside city limits the permit is a flat $200.00. Not a percentage. Not a guess.

The City of Casselberry publishes one flat fee for HVAC, grouped with Electric / Plumbing / Gas: $200.00. It does not scale with the contract, so it is the same $200 on a $6,500 changeout as on a $14,000 one. If a Casselberry-city quote shows a permit allowance of $450 “to cover permitting,” ask what the other $250 is.

If your address is in Deer Run or Fern Park (32730), this fee does not apply to you — those are unincorporated Seminole County and permit through the county Building Division in Sanford. Which desk is mine?

Being told your job does not need a permit?

It does. Ask the contractor for the permit number after the job is applied for, and check it on the city or county portal.

Call for service Request a visit

Phone: (689) 308-3675 · Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

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Sources

Where the facts on this page come from

Every figure above is either a primary-source document or a named third-party cost guide. All of it was checked in September 2026. Fee schedules, rebate amounts and market prices change without notice — if you are about to spend money on one of these numbers, open the source and check it.