What Happens After You Serve a Florida 558 Notice
Served a Florida 558 notice? Here's what comes next: the builder's inspection, the written response, the five response types and your 45 days to answer.
Updated 7 min readFlorida Statutes, Chapter 558
The short version
- Inspection: the contractor can inspect within 30 days (50 for an association representing more than 20 parcels).
- Their response: due within 45 days (75 for those associations), in one of five forms.
- Your answer: once an offer arrives, you have 45 days to accept or reject it in writing.
- If it stalls: a dispute, no response or an accepted offer that isn't carried out generally lets you proceed without another notice.
On this page
Denise's 558 notice reached her builder by certified mail three weeks ago. This morning the builder's office called: when could their inspector come see the cracked lanai slab and the kitchen window that leaks in every storm?
Does she have to say yes? And what happens once the inspector leaves? Here's what comes next, from the owner's side of the table.
Do I have to let the builder inspect?
Yes, within limits. Whoever you served (we'll call them the contractor) is entitled to a reasonable inspection within 30 days after service. For an association representing more than 20 parcels, it's 50 days (§ 558.004(2)).
From here on, numbers in parentheses are the association figures.
Your part is giving the contractor and its agents reasonable access during normal working hours. Their part is to reasonably coordinate the timing and manner of inspections with you, to keep the number of inspections down.
The statute doesn't define "normal working hours," so offer a few weekday daytime slots, in writing.
Example
How Denise handled the call
Denise emailed back that afternoon with two options: Tuesday or Thursday morning. She asked them to check the slab and the window in one visit, then saved the email thread.
What if they want to cut into a wall?
That's destructive testing. It happens only by mutual agreement, on reasonable terms, and the contractor has to notify you in writing first.
That notice must describe
- The testing, and who will do it
- The estimated damage, and the repairs or restoration afterward
- How long the testing and restoration should take
- The financial responsibility they're offering for repair or restoration costs
Don't like the tester they picked? Object promptly, and they must give you three qualified names to choose from.
The testing happens at a mutually agreeable time. You or your representative can watch, and it can't make the property uninhabitable.
Watch out
Saying no has a cost
If you refuse to agree to and allow reasonable destructive testing, you have no claim for damages that could have been avoided or reduced had the testing been allowed when requested and a feasible fix promptly made. If the terms bother you, negotiate them.
Why is a subcontractor asking to inspect too?
Within 10 (30) days after service, the contractor may forward your notice to other contractors, subcontractors, suppliers or design professionals it reasonably believes are responsible. It has to note which defect it believes each one is responsible for (§ 558.004(3)).
That forwarded copy isn't an admission of any kind. Each person who gets one may also inspect, under the same rules.
Their written responses go to the contractor, not to you, within 15 (30) days after they're served.
When does the contractor have to respond?
Within 45 (75) days after service of your notice. The response goes to whoever signed your notice, unless the notice named someone else (§ 558.004(5)).
Day 0
Your notice is served
Most counts start here. Keep your proof of delivery.
By Day 10 (30)
Copies may go out
The contractor can forward your notice to others it reasonably believes are responsible.
By Day 30 (50)
Inspection window closes
Any inspection by the contractor falls in this window.
By Day 45 (75)
Response due to you
An offer, a dispute or an insurer statement.
45 days after you receive an offer
Your answer is due
It runs from receipt of the offer, not from service.
Day 60 (120)
Earliest filing date, usually
You may file sooner after a dispute, a missed response or an accepted offer that isn't carried out (§ 558.004(1)(c)).
Note
Weekends and holidays
Chapter 558 doesn't say what happens when a deadline lands on a weekend or holiday. For your own deadlines, don't count on an extra day. When in doubt, ask a Florida attorney.
Our guide to the 558 deadlines goes deeper, and the free deadline calculator does the math. If you prepared your notice in NoticeForge, it tracks the response, inspection and earliest-filing dates for you.
What can the contractor's response say?
The statute lists five kinds of response, and each one sends you down a different path.
| Response | What it means | Your options |
|---|---|---|
| Offer to repair | They offer to fix it at no cost to you, with a detailed repair description and a timetable. | Accept or reject in writing within 45 days. If you accept, allow reasonable access. |
| Offer to pay | Money on a payment timetable, without obligating their insurer. | Accept or reject within 45 days. Compare it with real repair estimates first. |
| Repairs plus money | A mix, with a detailed repair description and timetable, without obligating their insurer. | Accept or reject within 45 days. |
| Dispute | They won't fix it or settle. | You may proceed with an action without further notice. |
| Insurer will decide | Their insurer decides any payment within 30 days after being served with your claim. | Accept or reject the insurer's decision. |
What if they say their insurer will decide?
The contractor has to serve its insurer at the same time it tells you about this option.
It can also add a repairs-plus-money offer. The catch: that offer is contingent on you also accepting the insurer's decision about payment.
If the insurer doesn't respond within those 30 days, you're deemed to have met all conditions precedent to filing an action (§ 558.004(5)(e)). In plain terms, conditions precedent are the steps required before you can file.
How do I accept or reject a 558 offer?
In writing, and on time. You have 45 days after receiving a timely offer to serve your written acceptance or rejection on whoever made it (§ 558.004(7)).
Skip that step and sue anyway, and the court must stay (pause) your case on a timely motion until you answer.
"Serve" means certified mail with a USPS record of delivery or attempted delivery to the last known address, hand delivery, or a courier with written proof of delivery (§ 558.002(9)).
Phone calls and email aren't on that list. How to serve a 558 notice walks through each method.
Example
Keith weighs an offer
Keith's builder offered to re-flash two windows and patch the stucco. His own contractor said that scope missed most of the water damage. Thirty days after the offer arrived, Keith rejected it by certified mail and kept the delivery record.
Not sure an offer is fair? That's often when people bring in a lawyer. You and the contractor can also agree in writing to mediation before any lawsuit (§ 558.005(4)).
What happens if I accept a repair offer?
You give them reasonable access during normal working hours to do the work on the offer's timetable (§ 558.004(8)). If they repair or pay as agreed, you're barred from suing over the claim in your notice, or as the accepted offer otherwise provides.
So read the scope and timetable closely before you say yes.
If they don't repair or pay on time and as agreed, you may proceed with an action without further notice. Reasonable delays beyond their control, such as weather, material deliveries, permits or your own actions, don't count against them.
What if they dispute the claim or never respond?
Then you may proceed with an action against them on the claim in your notice, without sending another notice (§ 558.004(6)).
Settled only part of the claim? You can proceed on the unresolved parts without another notice, too.
Can I fix urgent problems in the meantime?
In an emergency, yes. Section 558.004 doesn't stop you from making emergency repairs needed to protect your health, safety and welfare (§ 558.004(9)).
Photograph everything before and after, keep the invoices, and tell the contractor in writing what you did and why.
Can I ask for the builder's documents?
Yes, and they can ask for yours. Serve a written request that cites § 558.004(15) and offers to pay reasonable copying costs. Documents are exchanged within 30 days after the request is served. They include:
- Design plans, specifications and as-built plans
- Photos, videos and expert reports on the noticed defects
- Subcontracts and purchase orders for the work in question
- Maintenance records and other documents on the defect's discovery, cause, extent and resulting damages
Either side can assert a recognized privilege. If the dispute reaches court, a party who didn't hand over requested materials can face sanctions.
What records should I keep?
Keep these in one folder
- Your notice and proof of service
- Inspection requests, your written replies, and notes from each visit
- Any destructive-testing notice and your written answer
- The contractor's response, with the date you received it
- Your acceptance or rejection, plus proof you served it
- Photos and invoices for any emergency repairs
What should I do this week?
- Find your service date and mark day 45 (75) on your calendar.
- Answer inspection requests in writing with a few weekday daytime slots.
- When the response arrives, write down the date and your 45-day answer deadline.
- If the stakes feel high, talk to a Florida attorney before you answer.
The builder's inspector came that Thursday and checked the slab and the window in one visit. Now Denise is watching for day 45, folder in hand.
Common questions
No. An offer, or a failure to make one, isn't an admission of liability and isn't admissible in an action under Chapter 558 (§ 558.004(9)). Treat it as a proposal, not a confession.
A missed response deadline lets you proceed without further notice (§ 558.004(6)). The statute doesn't say how to handle a late offer, so answer it in writing anyway and ask a Florida attorney how it affects your options.
You can amend your notice to add them as they become known (§ 558.004(11)). That matters, because a later lawsuit can go to trial only on defects you noticed and took through the 558 process, plus ones reasonably related to or caused by them.
Yes, for a while. Serving your notice tolls the statute of limitations until the later of 90 or 120 days after service, as applicable, or 30 days after the repair or payment period in an accepted offer ends (§ 558.004(10)). The statute of repose isn't tolled (§ 558.004(1)(d)), so if either deadline is close, talk to a Florida attorney now.