Roofing in Broward County

The median Broward home was built in 1980, and only 6.9 percent of the county's housing went up in 2010 or later (ACS 2020-2024). Florida had no single statewide building code until March 1, 2002, when the first Florida Building Code replaced the local codes, so most roofs here sit on decks framed and nailed under older rules.

At re-roof time, HVHZ Section 1521.5 makes that old deck part of the job; the Broward re-roof page explains how.

The building mix matters too. Single-family detached houses are 40.0 percent of Broward's housing, buildings with 10 or more units 35.9 percent and mobile homes 2.6 percent; owners live in 63.6 percent of occupied homes, and 7.2 percent of units are held for seasonal use.

FEMA lists seven major disaster declarations for Broward since 2016: six for named storms and one for the April 2023 flooding.

Hurricane Irma in 2017 is the benchmark. NHC logged a 97-knot gust at Deerfield Beach, nearly all inland stations in Broward and Miami-Dade ran just below hurricane force, and 2 to 4 feet of surge reached coastal Broward, where a Pompano Beach canal sensor read 3.4 feet.

Tropical Storm Eta in 2020 did its damage with rain. Its highest U.S. total, 20.74 inches, fell in Pembroke Pines, with 16 to 18 inches elsewhere in Pembroke Pines and Miramar, and flooding put water inside some buildings in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill and Davie.

Tornadoes ride along with the big storms. Hurricane Ian produced an EF-1 at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines in 2022 that damaged buildings and aircraft, and on October 9, 2024, Hurricane Milton spun up a tornado in western Broward near the I-75 and US-27 interchange.

Isaias in 2020 brought the storm's top southeast Florida gust, 50 knots, to the Dania Beach Pier. Matthew (2016) and Nicole (2022) drew declarations but no Broward damage figure from NHC, and Dorian (2019) stayed offshore.

Broward adds a referee of its own. The Broward County Board of Rules and Appeals, known as BORA, weighs local amendments to the state building and fire codes, rules on appeals from building and fire officials' decisions, and publishes formal code interpretations.

Historic preservation is a second layer in some cities; Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Davie, Deerfield Beach and Oakland Park are among those with preservation programs or boards. If your house is a designated property or sits in a historic district, ask the city's preservation staff whether a change of roof material or color needs their review before you apply for the permit.

Water is the third pressure: OpenFEMA counts 84,562 flood insurance policies in force here and 8,541 NFIP claims since 2016, so where roof water lands matters (Broward gutters).

Broward's 1,203 square miles of land run from barrier-island towns on the Atlantic to cities that end at the Everglades, and the housing changes as you go west.

The oldest stock is in the east and south: Hollywood and Lighthouse Point have median build years in the late 1960s, West Park's is earlier, and most homes in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach predate 1980.

Out west the numbers flip. Parkland's median home dates to 2006, and Weston's and Miramar's to the mid-1990s. Mobile homes cluster in a few places: about half the homes in Pembroke Park are mobile homes, and Davie and Dania Beach both sit well above the county's 2.6 percent.

On the coast, most housing in Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Hallandale Beach is in buildings of 10 or more units, much of it seasonal. Find your town in the list below.