Ground-Up Construction
New construction from foundation to final finish — single-family, multi-family, and small commercial, built to current code and HVHZ standards.
From raw lot to ribbon-cutting.
Ground-up construction is where preconstruction discipline pays off most. We manage feasibility, civil and structural coordination, permitting, and the full vertical build — delivering a finished, inspected, occupancy-ready building.
We build to current Florida Building Code and Miami-Dade High-Velocity Hurricane Zone standards, coordinating the sealed engineering and carrying documented NOA-approved assemblies through to final inspection.
Scope of Work
- Site work & foundations
- Structural & framing
- Single-family & multi-family
- Small commercial shells
- MEP rough-in & finish
- HVHZ-rated envelope & roofing
- Civil & utility coordination
- Final inspections & CO
Key Takeaways
- 01
You spend most of a ground-up project’s risk before anyone breaks ground. A utility connection nobody confirmed, or a zoning limit found after design, costs more than anything that goes wrong during the vertical build.
- 02
An NOA approves an assembly, not a product. Swapping a window or a roof system late means a different approval and sometimes different framing behind it. Price that before you accept the substitution.
- 03
Bring a contractor in while the drawings can still change. Once a set is permitted, a detail that cost nothing to redraw becomes a revision.
What Miami Owners Ask About Ground-Up Construction
Direct answers to the questions we field most often on ground-up construction work in Miami-Dade and Broward.
What is HVHZ and does it apply to new construction in Miami?
HVHZ is the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, a stricter section of the Florida Building Code that applies throughout Miami-Dade and Broward County. Unique Construction builds all new construction to HVHZ requirements using NOA-approved assemblies documented for inspection.
In practice HVHZ governs the parts of a building that face the storm: roofing, windows and doors, attachments, and the connections that tie the structure together. Each of those products carries a Notice of Acceptance, and the approved assembly has to be installed exactly as it was tested.
This is also why product substitutions late in a build are not a simple swap — a different product means a different NOA and, sometimes, different framing behind it.
Do I need an architect and engineer before hiring a general contractor?
For ground-up construction in Miami-Dade you will need sealed drawings from design professionals, but you do not have to complete them before engaging a general contractor. Unique Construction is frequently brought in during design to review constructability and cost while the drawings are still changeable.
Bringing a contractor in early is where money is actually saved. A detail that is trivial to redraw at design stage can be expensive to build and worse to change once it is permitted.
We coordinate with your architect and structural engineer, or introduce design professionals we work with regularly if you are starting from a lot and an idea.
What happens between buying a lot and starting construction?
Before vertical construction begins, a Miami-Dade project moves through feasibility and survey, design and engineering, civil and utility coordination, and building department permitting. Unique Construction manages that sequence so the schedule you are quoted starts from a permitted, buildable set.
Most ground-up schedule surprises are really preconstruction surprises — a utility connection nobody confirmed, a zoning limit discovered after design, a survey that changes the buildable footprint. Those are cheap to find early and expensive to find late.
- Feasibility, survey and zoning verification
- Architectural and structural design
- Civil, drainage and utility coordination
- Building department permitting and plan review
- Buyout and long-lead procurement
Have a Ground-Up Construction project?
Tell us the scope. We’ll come back with a real plan and a real number.