Milestone inspection
A professional structural assessment under Florida’s statutory inspection program. Its findings identify structural concerns, recommended repairs, and further investigation.
Building Inspections →What is the difference?
Structural Integrity Reserve Study
Often called SIRS, this study evaluates specified components and recommends a reserve funding schedule. It helps translate future maintenance and replacement needs into financial planning.
Association Reserves →One does not automatically replace the other.
Coordinate the scopes, reports, and deadlines with qualified professionals. Ask explicitly which legal requirements each deliverable satisfies.
Milestone inspection requirements
Under §553.899, covered condominium and cooperative buildings with three or more habitable stories generally require inspection at age 30 and every ten years thereafter. Local circumstances can require age 25. Exceptions, earlier deadlines, and extensions must be checked.
A Florida-licensed architect or engineer performs the assessment. Phase one is visual; identified substantial structural deterioration requires phase two. This is not a general code-compliance inspection.
After receiving local notice, notify owners within 14 days; phase one generally must be completed within 180 days. Within 45 days of receiving a report, distribute and post the inspector’s summary and publish the full report and summary on a required association website. Confirm repair deadlines with the local authority.
Read §553.899 →SIRS requirements
Section 718.112 generally requires SIRS at least every ten years for covered residential condominium buildings of three or more habitable stories. Qualified engineers, architects, or specified certified reserve professionals must perform or verify it.
Components include roof, structure, fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing/painting, windows/exterior doors, and qualifying additional items. The additional-item threshold is the greater of $25,000 or the division’s inflation-adjusted amount.
The study identifies remaining useful life, estimated costs, and a funding schedule. Updates are required before adopting a budget whose funding does not align with the latest study.
Within 45 days of receipt, provide owners the study or availability notice and report completion to DBPR. An officer or director must acknowledge receipt by affidavit.
Initial deadlines and limited timing exceptions require review. December 31, 2026 is not a blanket extension for every association.
SIRS reserve funding and use are restricted. Limited statutory financing and repair-related relief provisions have conditions; a board cannot simply waive required funding.
Read §718.112(2)(f)–(h) →What about one- and two-story buildings?
Confirm the legally determined habitable-story count and applicability for each building. A building outside these specific programs still needs maintenance, condition review, appropriate reserves, and any other applicable inspections.
For Century Village associations, verify the actual property and documents rather than assuming that every building has the same obligations.
A practical board action plan
1. Confirm applicability
Document story count, building age, jurisdiction, prior reports, notices, and deadlines. Ask counsel or the local authority to resolve uncertainty.
2. Define the scope
Confirm qualifications, deliverables, exclusions, access, pricing, and any relationships with repair bidders. Identify who handles filings and owner communication.
3. Gather records
Provide plans, maintenance history, prior inspections, reserve balances, project costs, and information about recurring problems.
4. Review findings
Ask the professional to explain urgency, limitations, further testing, recommended work, and the assumptions behind costs and useful lives.
5. Plan funding
Evaluate assessments, cash flow, financing, and statutory approvals with the appropriate advisers. Explain proposed costs and options to owners.
6. Track completion
Assign tasks, monitor deadlines, verify repairs, preserve reports, and update financial planning when assumptions or funding methods change.
Questions to ask before accepting the report
- Does the scope cover the applicable statutory requirements?
- What was inaccessible or excluded?
- Which findings require immediate action or further investigation?
- What assumptions support useful lives and cost estimates?
- How does the funding schedule account for our existing balances and planned financing?
- Which changes would require an updated study?
- What distribution, reporting, and follow-up remain?
Turn reports into action
Create a tracking list with each finding, responsible person, deadline, approval, funding source, and completion evidence. Review progress regularly. Keep professional recommendations, owner communications, contracts, permits, and repair records together for the next board.
Keep owners informed.
Explain the findings in plain language without minimizing risks or promising costs that have not been established. Separate confirmed facts from estimates and unresolved questions.
Related resources
Educational overview reviewed October 17, 2026. Current statutes, local requirements, governing documents, and professional findings control. Confirm property-specific applicability, deadlines, funding options, and exceptions with qualified advisers. Checklist items are practical recommendations.
Track two reports and their separate follow-up duties
Maintain a building-specific compliance file identifying applicability, the basis for that determination, notices received, signed engagements, report versions, owner communications, DBPR submissions where applicable, approvals, repairs, and funding changes.
- For the milestone inspection, track submission to the local enforcement agency, report receipt, summary distribution, posting, and repair follow-up.
- For SIRS, track receipt acknowledgment, owner distribution or availability notice, DBPR reporting, and budget alignment.
- Keep proof of delivery and submission rather than relying on a calendar checkmark.
- Ask the professionals how repair findings and completed work affect useful lives, estimates, and the funding plan.
Use the dedicated SIRS guide and DBPR account and information guide. Do not infer that posting one report satisfies every notice, filing, or repair obligation.
Florida law: Under §553.899(6), completion of phase one means the professional has submitted the report to the local enforcement agency. Booking the visit or receiving a draft is not the same milestone. Confirm case-specific deadlines and any extension with the authority.
Connected inspection and community resources
- Building inspections →
- Fire inspections →
- Lifts and elevators →
- Maintenance and work-order tracking →
- The dedicated SIRS guide →
- Verify contractor licensing and insurance →
- Contract bidding and oversight →
- Records maintenance →
- Decision and action worksheet →
- Understanding UCO and separate community responsibilities →
Authority matters: Florida law establishes statutory duties; governing documents define association authority subject to law; contractual duties come from applicable agreements. UCO procedures address separate UCO functions. The added registers and workflows are Board Synergy recommended practices, not prescribed statutory forms. Historical articles provide background rather than current legal instructions.