Fence or deck costs in Miami

Dig a post hole in much of Miami and you may hit rock, not sand. Florida's Division of Historical Resources says the Miami Oolite, a limestone made of tiny egg-shaped grains, sits at or near the surface in many parts of Miami and coastal Miami-Dade. On those lots, setting a fence post or a deck footing can mean cutting into stone instead of digging.

Inside the City of Miami, a fence needs a permit, on a home or a business. Your plans list the height, the material, the type of fence and where it sits on the lot. Go over six feet and the plans head to structural review, which is slower than using one of the standard fence details the city's Building Department hands out. Got a driveway? The fence has to respect the visibility triangle defined in Miami 21.

Miami-Dade County's own fence rules say a fence can't top six feet in most cases. Most chain link in residential areas has to stay behind the front building line, and hedges can grow to seven feet.

The slow threat is underground. University of Florida researchers point to a projection, still on track, that about half of all structures in urban South Florida could be at risk from invasive subterranean termites by around 2040.