Dock Builders in Sarasota, FL

As dock builders in Sarasota, Florida, we plan every job around the water in front of your house. Sarasota Bay is a lagoon sheltered by Longboat Key, Lido Key, Siesta Key and Casey Key, and the city limits take in Lido Key, St. Armands Key, Bird Key and the north end of Siesta Key. About 9.4 of the city's 24.1 square miles are water. A dock builder working here deals with canals behind seawalls, open bay frontage, bayous, and the Intracoastal Waterway channel, and each of those asks for a slightly different dock.

A small tide changes the design

NOAA's Sarasota tide station puts the mean range of tide at 1.25 feet, and the spread from mean higher high water to mean lower low water at 1.95 feet. That is a gentle tide compared with much of the East Coast, and it shapes the dock in practical ways:

• Depth at low water rules the layout. A boat that floats at noon can rest on the bottom at a winter low. We measure depth where the boat will sit, not just at the seawall.
• Fixed docks work well. With little rise and fall, a fixed deck on pilings stays at a comfortable step-down height most of the year.
• Lifts do the heavy work. Keeping the hull out of warm salt water limits growth and corrosion, which is why so many Sarasota docks carry a lift.

Permits come first

Every dock in the water involves more than one office. The City of Sarasota's dock checklist asks for the contractor's application, five copies of the site plan and construction drawings, and, for a new or expanded dock, an FDEP letter of exemption or permit. A new dock or extension in the open waters of Sarasota Bay also needs a signed and sealed bathymetric survey with the dock drawn over it, and the City may ask for a riparian rights survey. The same checklist caps decking at 5.0 feet above mean high water and railings at 42 inches. Unincorporated Sarasota County, Venice, Longboat Key and the towns in Manatee and Charlotte counties each have their own building departments, so we confirm the rules for your address before drawing anything.

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What the state allows

Florida law exempts one private dock of 1,000 square feet or less of over-water area from an environmental permit, or 500 square feet in Outstanding Florida Waters, as long as it meets the other conditions. FDEP counts roofs, boat canopies and elevated platforms in that area. In seagrass areas covered by FDEP's aquatic preserve criteria, the design rules call for the walkway to sit 5 feet above mean high water, boards no wider than 8 inches with at least half an inch between them, and at least a foot of clearance between the boat and the grass at low water. Repairing or replacing an existing dock in the same spot, no larger than before, has its own exemption. Self-certification online is not available in aquatic preserves such as Lemon Bay.

Storms and salt

Hurricane Milton made landfall at Siesta Key on the night of October 9, 2024, as a Category 3 storm. The National Hurricane Center's report estimates 4 to 6 feet of inundation from Longboat Key to Venice, and a sensor at the Venice Fishing Pier recorded 6.74 feet above mean higher high water. Two weeks earlier, Hurricane Helene pushed a storm tide of 6.68 feet above mean higher high water at Longboat Key. Water at that height lifts deck boards, floats loose lifts and scours the soil behind seawalls. We build with through-bolted connections, stainless or hot-dip galvanized hardware and lifts mounted to carry their rated load, and we look for hidden storm damage on every repair visit.

Services at a glance

• New Dock Construction: fixed piling docks, walkways, terminal platforms, covered slips and fishing piers
• Boat Lifts: elevator, four-post and personal watercraft lifts, new or replacing worn units
• Seawall Repair: cap repair, cracked panels, soil loss and tiebacks, or a new wall when repair is not enough
• Dock Repair: boards, framing, hardware, ladders and storm damage
• Piling Replacement: rotted, borer-damaged or leaning pilings swapped out under an existing dock
• Floating Docks: kayak and paddleboard launches and small-boat platforms that ride with the water

How pricing works

Each quote lists pilings, framing, decking, hardware, lift, electrical, removal and permit work separately. Every service page shows published national ranges from cost guides such as HomeGuide and HomeAdvisor so you have a starting figure. The written estimate is your price, and any change found once work starts is priced and approved before it is done.

Call (941) 213-5801 or request a free estimate online.

In Sarasota we work from the bayfront neighborhoods and Hudson and Whitaker bayous out to the canals of Bird Key, Lido Key and St. Armands, and south along Roberts Bay and Little Sarasota Bay. Siesta Key has the Grand Canal system and open bay frontage, while Longboat Key straddles the Sarasota and Manatee county line, so the permitting office depends on the address. To the south we serve Osprey, Nokomis, Venice and Englewood, where Lemon Bay is a state aquatic preserve with tighter dock design rules. North in Manatee County we build in Bradenton and on Anna Maria Island, and to the southeast we take on canal-front work in Punta Gorda in Charlotte County. Each city or county has its own building department, manatee speed zones and water depths, and the town pages explain what changes from place to place.