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Program 03
Ground-Up Construction in West Palm Beach
Ground up construction loans for West Palm Beach developers.
Built for spec home builders and developers. We fund the land and the vertical build up to 70% LTV and 85% of cost, with draws that keep pace with the job. Palm Beach County sits outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone that governs the two counties to the south. Business-purpose only, and every structure is set in underwriting.
70%
max LTV
85%
of cost
Most states
funding
$5M
max loan
Typical figures, subject to underwriting and market conditions. Not a commitment to lend.
How it works
We finance both the land and the vertical construction, with a draw schedule built around your timeline. Experienced builders can access higher leverage on cost.
Who it's for
Spec home builders
Developers and operators
Lot purchase or teardown
Build-to-rent strategies
Typical terms
Loan amountUp to $5M
LeverageUp to 70% LTV / 85% LTC
Term12 to 24 months
DrawsPer build schedule
RateFrom 10.00%*
UseSpec or build-to-rent
*Typical terms, subject to underwriting and market conditions.
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Local FAQ
Ground-Up Construction in West Palm Beach, answered.
What are impact fees on a new single-family build in Palm Beach County?
Effective January 1, 2026, a single-family house of 2,000 to 3,599 net square feet carries $15,917.22 in impact fees in unincorporated Palm Beach County, or $14,687.66 inside the City of West Palm Beach. The county schedule itemizes it: schools $7,905.90, roads $5,597.40, parks $1,225.26, fire rescue $393.30, public buildings $317.30, libraries $295.45, and law enforcement patrol $182.61. The city figure drops the county's library and public-safety line items (the city covers those itself) and prices parks lower, at $867.06. School fees alone are roughly half the total in either case. Confirm the current schedule with the county Planning, Zoning and Building department before you finalize a construction budget, since these fees moved on January 1, 2026 and can move again.
Sources: pbcgov.org
Does Palm Beach County fall under Florida's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone rules?
No. The High-Velocity Hurricane Zone under the Florida Building Code covers only Miami-Dade and Broward counties, not Palm Beach. That means your build follows the general Florida Building Code wind provisions rather than the HVHZ product-approval and impact-protection regime, which requires a different, higher-cost set of window, door, roof and shutter products in the two counties to the south. We don't have a dollar figure for how much that saves on a Palm Beach build, so budget your envelope package against the general code and confirm specifics with your architect or the local building department.
How long does permit review take for a new build in Palm Beach County or the City of West Palm Beach?
Florida sets a statutory floor, not a courtesy target: 30 business days for a single-family permit under 7,500 sq ft, and 60 business days for a larger single-family project, multifamily up to 50 units, or commercial under 25,000 sq ft. The local government must give written notice of anything missing within 5 business days, and the permit fee drops 10% per business day of delay past the deadline. That's the statewide clock under Florida Statutes section 553.792. We don't have observed, jurisdiction-specific review times for Palm Beach County or the City of West Palm Beach beyond that statutory backstop, so budget to the statute and confirm the working timeline with the local building department before you set a draw schedule.
Sources: flsenate.gov
Why does Palm Beach County's condo safety law matter for a builder or investor here, not just a condo owner?
Buildings three habitable stories or taller carry a milestone inspection at 30 years (or 25, at local option) and a structural integrity reserve study every 10 years, and associations can no longer vote to underfund reserves on those items. Where an association can't fund repairs from operations, the statute now names special assessment, line of credit, or loan as the routes, and all three land on the unit owner's carry. The practical result: a building behind on its milestone inspection or reserve funding is commonly non-warrantable for agency financing, which is exactly the gap a portfolio loan or DSCR product fills for a ground-up or gut-rehab project that ends up competing with that older stock. Confirm any specific building's inspection and reserve status before you underwrite around it; we don't have per-building data to cite.
Sources: flsenate.gov
How much does insurance carry cost on a finished build in Palm Beach County?
Palm Beach County has the highest average homeowners insurance premium of any mainland Florida county: $6,323 a year including wind, as of March 31, 2026, ahead of both Miami-Dade ($5,975) and Broward ($6,136). Against Orange County's $3,610 average, that's about $2,713 a year of extra carry on an otherwise similar house. If your build-to-rent exit runs through a DSCR rental loan, underwrite that premium into the operating expenses before you set the rent target, not after. Rates are trending down statewide, but the level here is the highest on the mainland.
Sources: floir.gov
Does a build near Lake Okeechobee, in the Glades communities, carry extra flood risk to plan for?
Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay sit against the Herbert Hoover Dike, the 143-mile earthen structure that rings Lake Okeechobee, and the federal government completed a major rehabilitation of that dike in the early 2020s. That's the relevant federal context for building or holding property in the western county, but we don't have a specific insurance rating or flood-zone consequence tied to the dike work to cite, so confirm flood-zone status and any flood insurance requirement for the specific parcel before you fund the lot.
Sources: saj.usace.army.mil
How much of a West Palm Beach build do I have to fund myself?
Roughly 15% of total cost, and the land basis usually decides whether you hit that or the LTV cap first. We lend up to 85% of cost and up to 70% LTV, whichever binds. On a $1,000,000 total project cost that is up to $850,000 from us and $150,000 from you (1,000,000 x 85% = 850,000), with draws released against the build schedule. Put the impact fee line in the cost stack before you run that math, since a 2,000 to 3,599 square-foot house carries $15,917.22 in unincorporated Palm Beach County and $14,687.66 inside the City of West Palm Beach. Subject to underwriting.
Sources: pbcgov.org
Can a builder without a long track record get a ground up construction loan in West Palm Beach?
Experience shows up in leverage, not in a yes or no. Experienced builders can access higher leverage inside the same program, up to 70% LTV and 85% of cost; a lighter resume generally means we sit lower in the stack and you bring more cash. This is an asset-based loan, so there is no minimum credit score, we run credit but it carries far less weight than at a bank, and weaker credit is normally offset with lower leverage rather than a decline. Bring a real budget and a builder who has worked in Palm Beach County permitting before. Subject to underwriting.
How large a West Palm Beach construction project will you fund, and over what term?
Up to $5,000,000, on a term of 12 to 24 months. That covers a single spec house through a small build-to-rent run in Palm Beach County. Size the term honestly against the local clock: Florida's statutory permit review floor is 30 business days for a single-family permit under 7,500 square feet and 60 business days for larger residential, and that is a backstop rather than a working timeline, so a 12-month term on a build that has not been permitted yet is tight. Draws run per the build schedule for spec or build-to-rent alike. Subject to underwriting.
Sources: flsenate.gov
More Ground-Up Construction questions, answered on the program page
Resources
Guides for Ground-Up Construction
Fix and Flip · 6 min read
Fix and Flip Loan Requirements: What You Need to Get Funded
Read the guide Fix and Flip · 5 min read
What Is ARV (After-Repair Value) and How Do You Calculate It?
Read the guide Construction · 5 min read
How Ground-Up Construction Loans Work
Read the guide Getting Funded · 4 min read
LTV vs LTC: What's the Difference?
Read the guide More in West Palm Beach
Other programs in West Palm Beach
Fix and FlipUp to 90% / 100% rehabRental / DSCR30-yr fixed, DSCR from 0.75CRE BridgeUp to $10M, 24-36 moTransactional FundingSame-day double-close capitalBank Statement / No-DocNo tax returns requiredConventional InvestmentNon-owner-occupied investmentPortfolio LoansMultiple properties, one loanCRE PermanentLong-term agency & permSBA Financing7(a) & 504 placement
About the local figures on this page
Local rules move. Every tax rate, fee, ordinance and market figure here comes from a primary source and carries the date we read it, and we correct them as the rules change. Where a number is mid-change or we could not verify it, we say so rather than guess. Before you commit a budget, confirm anything that drives it with the city or county, and talk to your attorney or CPA on questions of law or tax.
Published by USA Mortgage Funding, LLC, NMLS #152588. Researched from primary sources by our team, drafted with AI assistance, and every figure checked against its source before publishing. Where an answer rests on a public record, that record is linked under it. Figures read on 2026-08-13.
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