From the seawall to the summer kitchen.

In Harbor Beach the backyard is the front door. Boats come and go from private dockage with a straight run to the Port Everglades inlet and no fixed bridges in the way, and the terrace between the house and the seawall is where the neighborhood actually lives. That is why outdoor living projects here are ambitious: a covered loggia and summer kitchen behind a house on Isla Bahia, a pool deck and fire terrace on Mercedes Drive, dock-side lighting and shore power at the same time the pavers go down.

Exterior work at the water pulls in more than one agency. The City of Fort Lauderdale permits structures, gas, water and electrical through Building Services, and its Unified Land Development Regulations govern docks, davits and mooring structures, including how far a vessel may extend past your side setback lines projected into the waterway. Docks and seawalls also need licensing from Broward County's Environmental Permitting Division, and Fort Lauderdale's seawall rules set a minimum top elevation for new and replacement walls, which is worth knowing before you build a terrace on top of an old one. Remove a protected tree and that is a separate city permit.

Salt air is an honest editor. It removes whatever was specified for a photograph instead of a coastline, usually within two seasons. So we spend the specification where it survives: marine-grade stainless and coated hardware, dense stone sealed correctly, cabinetry actually rated for weather, engineered footings under every shade structure, and drainage that sends water away from the slab. Seawall and dock work goes to marine specialists we coordinate rather than pretend to be. Sites stay quiet inside the hours the city allows and tidy every evening. Fixed scope, daily supervision, Lic. CGC1539072.