HVHZ House Plans for Miami-Dade and Broward
HVHZ house plans are a project problem, not a sticker on a catalog cover. The High-Velocity Hurricane Zone is a place: Miami-Dade County and Broward County. A drawing becomes appropriate for a lot in that place only after a licensed professional designs or reviews it for that project, and after the products in the envelope are approved for that use.
These notes are general education from Guini Design Studio, owned and operated by Guini Productions LLC. They are not a site-specific engineering or architectural opinion, and they are not a permit review.
The zone is two counties
In the Florida Building Code, the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone consists of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. Older code text says Dade County; it is the same county. A lot in Palm Beach, Collier, Pinellas, or the Panhandle can still have serious wind and flood demands. Those demands are real, and they are not the HVHZ.
The practical consequence is that a plan sold as a general Florida house, a coastal cottage, or a waterfront study is not an HVHZ set because someone likes the elevation. The county line is the county line. Your surveyor, your design professional, or the building department can tell you which side of it the parcel is on. This website will not guess from a city nickname.
Sources
- Florida Building Commission, 2026 code regulatory statement Identifies the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone as Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
- Florida Building Commission The commission site states that the 8th Edition (2023) Florida Building Code took effect December 31, 2023.
Product approval is part of the design
HVHZ work is not only a higher wind speed written in a general note. Exterior products that make up the building envelope are approved for specific assemblies. In practice, teams look for a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, or a Florida Product Approval that is actually marked for use in the HVHZ. A statewide approval that does not carry HVHZ use is not a substitute.
An approval is narrow. It names the product, the tested sizes and pressures, the substrate it was fastened to, the anchors, and the limitations of use. A window that is acceptable at one size and pressure is not automatically acceptable at a larger size on a different wall. Swapping a door, a garage door, a shutter, a skylight, or a piece of roofing can change the approval that has to be in the permit set. That check is project-specific. The studio does not publish a list of approved products, and a stock plan does not freeze those choices forever.
A wind speed on a sheet is not the HVHZ
Some drawings state a design wind speed. That number is the criterion used when the sheets were drawn. It is not a Notice of Acceptance, and it does not mean the house has been accepted for a lot in Miami-Dade or Broward. If a published plan states a wind speed, it is quoted on hurricane resistant house plans with that limitation in writing. Unpublished studies are not quoted there.
Outside the HVHZ, many Florida lots are still in a wind-borne debris region. Openings on those lots need protection that meets the code edition in force for the permit. The map is not the same shape as the two-county HVHZ. Someone has to read the site against the code, not against a blog summary.
Which code edition applies
As of November 2026, the Florida Building Commission states that the 8th Edition (2023) Florida Building Code took effect on December 31, 2023. Miami-Dade County has published that the 9th Edition (2026) takes effect on December 31, 2026, and that permit applications submitted on or after that date have to comply with it. The edition that matters is the one the building department applies to your application, which depends on when you submit. A stock set is not updated on this website the morning a new edition goes live. Your design professional confirms the edition for the submittal.
Sources
- Florida Building Commission The commission site states that the 8th Edition (2023) Florida Building Code took effect December 31, 2023.
- Miami-Dade County, October 7, 2026 Notice that the 9th Edition (2026) Florida Building Code takes effect December 31, 2026, for permit applications submitted on or after that date.
How to approach a stock set if the lot is in the HVHZ
Treat the stock set as a design study and a drawing base, not as the permit set. Ask a Florida-licensed engineer or architect who actually practices in the HVHZ to say whether the geometry is worth adapting. Sometimes the honest answer is no: the roof form, the glazing, the wall system, or the flood elevation would be redesigned rather than annotated.
Concrete block is common in South Florida, and it is still not an HVHZ certificate. See concrete block house plans. The studio's optional seal is a lot-adaptation service on a qualifying CAD set, described on signed and sealed house plans. Buying it does not mean the project has passed Miami-Dade or Broward product control.
- Confirm the county. HVHZ means Miami-Dade or Broward only.
- Ask which code edition will apply to the submittal date you are aiming for.
- Budget for project-specific product approvals, not just for the plan PDF.
- Expect the reviewer to revisit structure, openings, roofing, and the continuous load path for that site.
- Keep flood and wind as separate questions. A high floor does not approve a window.
Questions
Does Guini Design Studio sell HVHZ-approved house plans?
No. The stock catalog is not HVHZ-approved, HVHZ-ready, or certified for Miami-Dade or Broward. Etsy Studio and other basic plans are non-HVHZ. A project in those counties needs its own design review and product approvals.
Which counties are the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone?
Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The Florida Building Code's definition of the zone is those two counties. Other coastal counties have wind and flood requirements and are not the HVHZ.
Is a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance the same as a Florida Product Approval?
No. A Notice of Acceptance is Miami-Dade product control's acceptance of a specific product assembly. A Florida Product Approval is the state system. For HVHZ use, the state approval has to be marked for HVHZ use. Either way, the approval is limited to the tested configuration, not to every house that might specify the product.
Will a signed-and-sealed upgrade make a stock plan legal in the HVHZ?
Not by itself. The upgrade is a site-specific review of a qualifying CAD set. It is not a product approval, not an HVHZ certification, and not a guarantee that the permit will be issued. The professional's scope still has to cover the actual lot.
Can you tell me the design wind speed for my city?
No. This page does not publish wind speeds for cities or lots. The design professional reads the code maps for the risk category, exposure, and topography of the project.
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