Orange County, FL Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Section 104.4 assigns the inspection duty in mandatory terms: the Building Official "shall make the required inspections" for work permitted in unincorporated Orange County. Orange County adopted this provision as part of its local amendments to the Florida Building Code, Building, codified at Orange County Code § 9-33(b)(D).

The section then opens an alternative path. The Building Official has authority to accept reports of inspection from approved agencies and individuals in place of a county inspection, but only under the conditions spelled out in the text: the report must be in writing, and it must be certified either by a responsible officer of the approved agency or by the approved responsible individual. An uncertified report, or a report from an agency or individual that has not been approved, does not satisfy the section, so a builder in unincorporated Orange County cannot simply substitute a private inspector of its own choosing for the county's process.

Finally, § 104.4 authorizes the Building Official to engage outside expert opinion as deemed necessary to report on unusual technical issues that arise during inspections. That authority is not unlimited: the text makes engaging an expert subject to the approval of the appointing authority, so the official must secure that approval rather than retain the expert unilaterally.