Margate, FL Swimming Pools & Spas: Pool Permits (2026)

Section 9-6.1 of the Margate Code, titled swimming pool construction and repair, attaches a bond to every pool permit. Under subsection (a), all pool contractors obtaining pool permits for construction of swimming pools in the city must, at the time of applying for the pool permit, place a cash bond of five hundred dollars ($500.00) with the city. Subsection (b) makes the bond a condition precedent to the issuance of a building permit for the construction and installation or repair of any pool in the city. In practice that means the permit application and the $500 deposit travel together: without the bond, the building department has no authority to issue the permit.

The bond does two jobs. First, it guarantees the reconstruction or repair of any city property injured or damaged by the pool contractor while building the pool. The section names sidewalks, curbs, gutters, streets, medians, alleyways, water or sewer pipes and fire hydrants, and adds all other city property. Second, it ensures each pool is properly constructed and completed. No cash bond is released until the city building department properly issues a certificate of occupancy as provided by the South Florida Building Code.

If city funds are drawn to repair or rebuild city property, the leftover balance of the cash bond stays in place as a performance bond securing proper completion of the pool under the South Florida Building Code, and the city commission holds an evidentiary hearing to determine that.

Other building chapter rules sit alongside this one. Section 9-4 makes it unlawful to construct, alter or enlarge any structure in the City of Margate without a certificate of competency from the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation or the Broward County central examining board, and section 9-5 accepts permit applications only from those qualified persons or firms. Permit fees are set by resolution of the city commission under section 9-21, and the fee includes the inspection of the finished work. Section 9-6.1 dates to Ord. No. 2010-13, adopted October 20, 2010.