Tampa Bay cities and neighborhoods we serve

City limits or county: who handles permits

Eight of our areas are incorporated cities with a building department of their own: Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City in Hillsborough County, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo and Pinellas Park in Pinellas County, and Lakeland in Polk County. The other fifteen are unincorporated, so the county issues permits there. Hillsborough County covers places such as Brandon, Riverview, Carrollwood and our seven neighborhood pages, and Pasco County covers Wesley Chapel and Odessa.

A Tampa mailing address does not always mean the City of Tampa: Town 'n' Country and Carrollwood both use one and both fall under the county. Along a few edges, such as Lutz, Odessa and the University Area, the street decides which office applies. A full door replacement needs a building permit from the office that covers your street. We only repair existing doors.

Near the water or well inland

Pinellas sits between the Gulf and Tampa Bay, so in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo and Pinellas Park salt air reaches springs, cables and bottom brackets much sooner than it does inland. Bayside streets in Tampa, Town 'n' Country and Gibsonton see the same thing. Rinsing the lower part of the door and asking about rust during a tune-up pays off there; the salt air answer goes into detail.

Brandon, Valrico, Plant City, Wesley Chapel and Lakeland are well away from the coast. There the wear comes from humidity, heat on the opener and summer thunderstorms, whose power surges can knock out a logic board.

Wind zones across the four counties

Florida's building code draws a 140 mph line that marks the wind-borne debris region, the zone where a hurricane is expected to throw debris hard enough to break a door. All of Pinellas County uses 145 mph. In Hillsborough some of our areas sit inside the 140 mph line and some just outside it, while Lakeland, the farthest inland, is below 140 mph.

Those numbers decide what a whole new door must be rated for, which is a permit matter. For a repair, what counts is keeping the door's existing struts and wind bracing in place and tight. The wind rules answer explains how to read the label on your door.

Not sure your street is covered?

The booking card checks your ZIP code as you type it and names the area it belongs to. If your street sits just past the edge of these 23 areas, call (813) 836-7187 before booking and we will tell you plainly whether we can take the job.