FAQs and resources

A balcony inspection is a documented assessment of the condition of a balcony and its visible components — the walking surface, the guardrails and handrails, the attachment points, the drainage, and the visible underside and edges.

Our standard offering is a general visual condition inspection. An inspector observes what can be seen and safely reached without taking anything apart, photographs it, and writes up the observations location by location.

We look at everything that is visible and safely accessible on and around the balcony, and we photograph it.

• Walking surfaces, coatings, sealants and visible cracking
• Guardrails, handrails, pickets, welds and attachment points as visible
• Visible staining, efflorescence, spalling, rust jacking or corrosion
• Drainage, slope away from the building, scuppers and weep paths
• Soffits, undersides, edges and transitions where safely visible
• Doors, thresholds and adjacent wall conditions where they relate to water

You receive a written report in the format agreed in your scope, containing dated photographs keyed to each location and plain-language observations about what was seen there.

The report states clearly what was inspected, what could not be seen or reached, and which observations, in our judgement, warrant review by a licensed engineer. Exact report format and delivery are confirmed in writing before the inspection, as part of your scope.

Yes. William Knight is a Florida licensed inspector and an InterNACHI Certified Inspector, and the business is insured. Inspections are carried out to the InterNACHI Standards of Practice, with the written scope for your property governing wherever a balcony scope goes beyond what that standard addresses.

An inspection certification is not an engineering credential and does not authorise structural certification. Where a condition needs an engineer, the report says so rather than stretching the scope to cover it.

Not under this name. First Coast Balcony Inspections is the balcony and elevated exterior component specialism, and it is a d/b/a of High Tide Inspections — the same owner, the same inspector and the same licence.

Everything else goes through the parent practice at hightideinspections.com: home inspections, wind mitigation and 4-point insurance inspections, condo, roof, foundation, crawl space, new construction and commercial inspections. If you need a balcony inspection and a 4-point on the same building, ask us and it is one conversation, not two.

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No. A general visual balcony condition inspection does not, by itself, satisfy any Florida statutory inspection requirement.

Florida has several distinct inspection regimes with their own triggers, scopes and qualification rules — including milestone inspections for qualifying condominium and cooperative buildings, structural integrity reserve studies, and balcony inspection certificates for certain public lodging establishments. Each of these is a separate requirement with its own rules about who may perform it. Confirm what applies to your property with your association attorney and the authority having jurisdiction, and verify current requirements against the official Florida statutes.

A milestone inspection is a statutory structural inspection of qualifying Florida condominium and cooperative buildings, and it is not the same as a balcony inspection.

Under Florida law it applies to buildings meeting statutory height and ownership criteria, is triggered by building age, recurs on a statutory cycle, and must be performed by an architect or engineer licensed in Florida. Its scope is the building’s structural systems, not an individual balcony.

First Coast Balcony Inspections does not perform milestone inspections. Because the statute and the rules around it have been amended in recent years, confirm the current triggers, deadlines and qualification requirements against Fla. Stat. § 553.899 and with your association’s attorney or licensed design professional before relying on any summary, including this one.

A SIRS is a statutory reserve study required of qualifying Florida condominium and cooperative associations, covering specified structural components and the reserves needed to maintain them.

It is a funding and planning instrument, not a condition inspection of your balconies, and Florida law restricts who may prepare one. First Coast Balcony Inspections does not perform structural integrity reserve studies. Your association attorney, licensed engineer or architect can confirm who must prepare yours and when it is due.

Not according to the rule. Florida’s balcony certificate for public lodging establishments does not name a licence — it asks for an inspector whose education and experience make them competent to inspect multi-storey buildings, and it puts the duty of verifying that competency on the operator.

The requirement applies to public lodging establishments of three or more stories. The inspection covers balconies, platforms, stairways and railings, and “balcony” is defined broadly enough to include unenclosed landings and porches the public uses. The certificate is filed on DBPR form HR-7020 with the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, is valid for three years from the date of inspection, and a copy has to be kept on the premises and produced on request. A change of ownership has its own procedure.

You will find vendor pages stating that an engineer, architect or general contractor is required. That is an interpretation, not the rule’s language, and it is worth knowing the difference before you pay for the wrong thing. What the form actually asks the signer to do is explain why the inspector is competent, and it asks the operator to record their verification of that.

First Coast Balcony Inspections does not advertise this filing as a service. Ask us what we can do for your property, and confirm your own obligation with the Division of Hotels and Restaurants and your counsel — the rule and form text cited here were last reviewed on 2026-10-30 and the most recent published versions date from 2015.

Go to the primary sources: the Florida Statutes published by the Florida Legislature, the rules and forms published by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and your local building department as the authority having jurisdiction.

Anything you read on a vendor website, including this one, is a summary written on a particular date. Florida’s inspection statutes have been amended repeatedly in recent legislative sessions, so for a decision that carries money or liability, read the current statute and talk to your association attorney.