Building Inspections — Sebastian, Florida

A Sebastian building inspection is requested through the MGO Connect customer portal at least one day ahead, and the permit holder can then call the assigned inspector that morning to agree on a time.

Permit entry starts the inspection trail. After an application arrives by portal or by email to the Sebastian permits address, the permit is created in MGO and the applicant receives an e-mail requesting payment, which carries the permit or project number later used to book every inspection (City of Sebastian Online Permits). Emailed files are limited to 30MB, while portal uploads have no size limit.

The city's Online Permits page states that all inspections must be scheduled one day in advance, and the Building / Business Tax page repeats that inspection requests go through the MGO Connect portal. The same portal holds the permit, the uploaded plans, payment and the running list of tasks for each Sebastian project, and it is also offered as a phone app for Apple and Android devices. Software problems go to MyGovernmentOnline customer support at 866-957-3764, while scheduling help by phone comes from the Sebastian Building Department at 772-589-5537.

The department works from Sebastian City Hall, 1225 Main Street, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and closes from noon to 1 p.m. (City of Sebastian Building Department). Inspections requested outside those hours, on weekends or on holidays are billed at $45 an hour with a 4-hour minimum. An owner acting as builder carries the inspection duty personally: the city FAQ says the owner is responsible for the permit and all required inspections under the Florida Building Code and cannot hand that authority to anyone who is not a licensed contractor.

City of Sebastian inspections are carried out by a nine-person Building Department team led by the Building Official, who also serves as the city Fire Marshal.

The department page lists a Deputy Building Official, a Chief Building Inspector, two Building Inspectors, a part-time Fire Inspector and a part-time Electrical Inspector, with permit technicians and an administrative assistant at the Sebastian City Hall counter. Inspectors carry city cell phones, and the contact list on the Building / Business Tax page is the one the scheduling instructions point to. Because the Building Department and Fire Prevention Office share staff, a Sebastian commercial job can see building and fire inspections from the same office.

The report shows Sebastian conducted every one of the 11,483 inspections and re-inspections requested in fiscal year 2025, roughly 3.3 visits for each permit issued (City of Sebastian utilization report). Florida Statute 553.80 requires the city to post this report and update it before any change to its fee schedule.

Sebastian offers Remote Video Inspections at no cost for air conditioning replacements, electrical panel change-outs and plumbing water heater or re-pipe inspections, using a live smartphone call between the inspector and someone at the site.

The RVI choice shows up in MGO Connect at the moment of scheduling when the inspection type qualifies, and the City of Sebastian describes it as a no cost service that needs only a smart phone. The city notes the video route suits jobs that would otherwise require the homeowner to be at the residence to let the inspector in, a common situation for a quick A/C swap in a Sebastian Highlands house while the owner is at work. The program has its own page on the Sebastian Remote Video Inspections menu, with a flyer that walks through the call.

State law sets the outer limits. Florida Statute 553.79 lets a local enforcement agency such as the Sebastian Building Department perform virtual inspections at its discretion, but not structural inspections on a threshold building, and defines a virtual inspection as one using visual or electronic aids so the inspector need not be physically present (s. 553.79).

A Sebastian owner or contractor may hire a state-licensed private provider to inspect the work instead of city staff, after notifying the Sebastian Building Official in writing, and the city then audits a share of that work.

For a Sebastian permit, Florida Statute 553.791 sets the notice deadline: the private provider must be named at permit application, or by 2 p.m. local time two business days before the first scheduled inspection by the local building official (s. 553.791). The same statute says a private provider may inspect in person or virtually and that local agencies may not limit their virtual inspections where a code does not prohibit them.

Sebastian posts the paperwork on its Private Provider Information page: a private provider auditing procedure, an audit report form and a private provider registration form, along with a list of audits it has performed. The statute bars auditing a provider before such a standard procedure exists and caps audits of the same provider or firm at four a year unless the building official finds an immediate threat to public safety.

The numbers in Sebastian are small. In fiscal year 2025 private providers conducted 46 inspections and the city audited private provider work 5 times, against 11,483 inspections by city staff. Hiring a provider also cuts the city bill: the Other Administrative Fees page reduces the Sebastian building permit fee by 33 percent for private inspection services and 33 percent for private plan review.

When work fails a Sebastian inspection, the item is corrected and booked again in MGO Connect, and repeat visits for the same violation cost $45 each for the first three and $60 after that.

Those re-inspection charges cover both building and fire visits under the City of Sebastian Other Administrative Fees schedule. Fire inspections of existing Sebastian occupancies follow a separate pattern, with the first and second visits free and $50 for each one after.

Florida law puts a clock on the inspector. Under Florida Statute 553.79, if work fails and the inspector does not give the permitholder a code-based reason within 5 business days, the agency must refund 10 percent of the permit and inspection fees, so a written failure notice is part of every Sebastian red tag.

Much of what Sebastian inspectors check on roofs, windows and new houses traces to wind design. Under City Ordinance O-12-08 and the 2023 Florida Building Code 8th Edition, effective December 31, 2023, Sebastian applies ultimate wind speeds of 150 mph for Risk Category I, 160 mph for Risk Category II, which covers ordinary houses, and 170 mph for Risk Categories III and IV (City of Sebastian Ultimate Wind Speeds). Last verified: October 10, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website.

Some Sebastian jobs now skip inspection entirely. Under House Bill 803 of 2026, single-family work valued under $7,500 can be exempted from a permit through the city's exemption request form, but no exempt job gets a city inspection, and the Sebastian exemption page warns that the city has no legal duty to the owner for exempted work. Exempt work later found in violation can still draw stop work orders, correction notices and daily fines. Structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing and gas work, flood hazard area property and fences on Sebastian lots with pools are never exempt, so those always go through the inspection schedule above.