Building

Office Hours of Operation:
Monday through Friday:
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Second and Fourth Tuesdays:
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Northeast Government Center
200 Government Center Blvd.
Lake Alfred, FL 33850

Office Hours of Operation:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday:
Applications with Plans – 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Mobile Home Applications – 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Applications without Plans – 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

At the Polk County Building Division’s offices in the County Administration Building you will find:

Additional Online and Remote Services:

Same Day Residential Walk-Through Permitting

The Polk County Building Division is experiencing high permitting volume. We are limiting the number of owner/builder applicants seen by permitting and plans examiner staff to eight owner/builder permits per day.

We recommend that you are at the Building Division to sign in before 8:00 a.m. The sign in list will be available in the main lobby of the County Administration Building, 330 W. Church St., Bartow. Support staff is available to answer general questions and to assist you with applying online for permits using our lobby kiosks.

Walk-Through Residential Permitting Business Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Permit applications must be complete prior to entering the permit lobby queue by 12 p.m.

Cut-off times may be adjusted as needed, depending on volume and staffing levels.

Customers are allowed to:

We will make every effort to issue walk-through permits by the close of business; however, customers arriving close to the cut-off time when the lobby is full, or with multiple permit applications, may be asked to return the next business day to finish the permitting process.

Anyone seeking to walk-through a permit will not be allowed to drop it off and return later in the day.

Applicants needing help navigating Accela’s registration, or any other assistance, should call (863) 534-6080.

Affordable Housing Expedited Permitting Process

Pursuant to Section 420.9076, Florida Statutes, Polk County offers an expedited permitting process for qualified affordable housing projects. This expedited permitting process moves these projects ahead in the permitting queue to fast track the process. Please click on the link below to access the application and review the process. Once a building permit has been submitted for the qualified project, please submitted the expedited process request by email to buildingdivision@polk-county.net.

Permitting Tools

Develop Polk – Permitting and Land Analysis Tool

Develop Polk will help guide residents embarking on simple or complex projects, such as building or renovating a home and evaluating property for feasibility of residential or nonresidential development. This tool will assist customers in navigating through the county’s building and land development regulations while estimating permitting and project fees.

VuSpex – Virtual Inspections Tool

Polk County has partnered with VuSpex to provide our customers with the ability to conduct building inspections virtually. For details visit our VuSpex information page.

Using the Accela Portal

Accela is the primary online access point for many of the customer service functions for Polk County’s Building, Code Enforcement and Land Development divisions. Customers can apply for building permits, submit for development review applications or submit code enforcement cases. Also through the portal, you can monitor the status of your applications, complaints or pay application fees.

To apply for project permits, or to file a code enforcement complaint, register or login to the Accela Citizen Access Portal.

Things You Can Do in the Accela Citizen Access Portal

Building

Land Development

Code Enforcement