Subdivision Platting Process in Florida

A simple lot split (2-8 lots) takes 2-4 months from boundary survey to recorded plat. A full subdivision plat (9+ lots) takes 6-18 months depending on county review timelines, infrastructure complexity, and the number of review cycles. County staff review typically takes 4-8 weeks per cycle, and most plats require 2-3 review cycles. The engineering phase for roads, drainage, and utilities adds 4-12 weeks. DRIs (Developments of Regional Impact) can take 2+ years.

The cost separates into components billed by different parties: the boundary survey and plat preparation by your surveyor, civil engineering by your engineer, legal review by your attorney, and application and recording fees by the county and Clerk of Court. Only the government fees are published — your county fee schedule lists them, and Volusia County, for example, charges $72.00 per lot for a Final Plat Development Order of 20 lots or fewer plus $121.00 recording and Clerk fees (effective October 1, 2025). Professional fees are quoted per project and are not published in Florida. For a full subdivision, infrastructure construction — roads, drainage, utilities — is normally the largest cost by a wide margin, and it varies with lot count and county requirements far more than the surveying does.

Florida does not set a statewide minimum lot size — this is determined by your county zoning district. Common minimums: 5,000-7,500 sq ft for urban residential, 10,000-15,000 sq ft for suburban, and 1-5 acres for rural. Your county land development code specifies the minimum lot size, width, and depth for your zoning classification. Additionally, lots in flood zones must have adequate buildable area above Base Flood Elevation.

For lot splits of 8 or fewer lots (under FL HB 1143), most counties grant administrative approval without a public hearing. For full subdivision plats of 9+ lots, a public hearing before the planning board and/or county commission is typically required. Some counties require public hearings for any subdivision creating new roads. Check your county's land development code for the specific threshold.

County reviews rarely result in outright rejection. Instead, reviewers issue comment letters listing required revisions. Your surveyor and engineer address each comment and resubmit. This cycle repeats until all agencies approve. Common reasons for comments: insufficient drainage design, missing easements, setback violations, incomplete title exception plotting, or non-compliant plat format. An experienced county surveyor anticipates these issues before first submission.

Chapter 177 does not itself prohibit selling land before a plat is recorded — but recording is what lets land be conveyed by reference to the plat (§177.021), and where a developer used the expedited building-permit program in §177.073, the developer may contract to sell but may not transfer ownership of a home, and may not obtain a certificate of occupancy, until the final plat is approved and recorded (§177.073(7)). Local subdivision ordinances commonly impose their own restrictions on conveying unplatted lots, so check your county's land development code before you market or close on individual lots.

Requirements vary by county. Some counties require roads and infrastructure to be constructed and inspected before plat recording (construction-first approach). Others allow recording with a surety bond guaranteeing future construction (bond-first approach). A third option in some counties is phased development — recording the first phase with constructed infrastructure, then recording subsequent phases as infrastructure extends. Your surveyor and engineer should confirm your county's requirements during feasibility.

Florida Statutes §177.091 sets the monument requirements for a recorded plat. Permanent reference monuments (P.R.M.s) go at each corner and change of direction on the plat boundary, no more than 1,400 feet apart, and must be set before the plat is recorded (§177.091(7)). Permanent control points (P.C.P.s) go on street centerlines at intersections, termini and changes of direction, no more than 1,000 feet apart (§177.091(8)). Monuments go at all lot corners, points of intersection and changes of direction inside the subdivision (§177.091(9)). A monument must be at least 18 inches long, have at least 0.2 square inches of cross-section, carry a durable cap bearing the surveyor's LS or the firm's LB number, and be detectable with conventional magnetic locators (§177.031(22)) — it does not have to be visible at the surface. Monument locations should be documented with coordinates for future reference.