Florida Certified General Contractor CGC1513865
FDEP Stormwater and Erosion Inspector on the team

Florida Certified General Contractor · License CGC1513865
FDEP Stormwater and Erosion Inspector on the team

(954) 284-0812
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Lake bank repair for HOA boards and lake communities

“The bank is collapsing.” If that sentence is on your agenda, this page is for the board: the cause, what the lake’s permit expects, the methods, the price range, and what we put in writing.

Get my free online estimate or call (954) 284-0812

1The problem

“The bank is collapsing.”

Or: someone could fall in. The lake looks bad. It floods when it rains.

A collapsing bank is a symptom. The cause comes first: water running onto the bank from downspouts and drain pipes, or water that is deep at the edge, with no shelf: no flat ledge under the water.

A board needs two things before it votes: the options side by side, and the reason for the one that is recommended. The options are on this page. The reason comes from your own bank: the method is settled on the site visit, and a written proposal with a price range follows within 2 days of the visit.

More on a collapsing bank 

The edge of a lawn at a lake, undercut so that bare roots hang over wet sand and shallow water.
The edge of a lawn at a lake: undercut turf and bare roots over sand.

2For the vote

What the board has to defend

Why repair the bank, and why this way. Below is what public authorities say, each one named. Those are their statements, not our promises. Our own part is the last line.

  • The permit stays with whoever operates the lake. A community’s stormwater lake is a permitted structure. Florida’s rule says the entity that operates and maintains it “shall remain liable for compliance with the terms of the permit in perpetuity”, unless the permit is transferred or modified under the rules (Rule 62-330.310(6), Florida Administrative Code). If your association is the operating entity named in the lake’s permit, that sentence applies to it.
  • The slope is a design criterion. Stormwater lakes in the South Florida Water Management District are designed with side slopes no steeper than 4:1, from the top of the bank to at least two feet below the control elevation, the lake’s permitted normal water level (SFWMD Applicant’s Handbook Vol. II, section 5.3.2(e)). A bank that has eroded steeper than that is no longer the profile the district designs to, and restoring it is maintenance of a permitted structure. Other water management districts in South and Central Florida have their own criteria.
  • A drainage district names the method. The South Broward Drainage District lists geotubes (sand-filled geotextile tubes) among the methods used successfully in the district. Inside its boundaries it requires a district permit for any erosion restoration work.
  • A city says how long it expects a geotube to last. The City of Miramar installs geotubes on residential lake banks through its own program. It states that they “normally last upwards of twenty (20) years if properly maintained”, and it requires residents to keep the tube covered with grass. That is the city’s expectation, with its condition. What we put in writing is a five-year workmanship warranty.

Our part. We prepare and file the paperwork, and the proposal says which permit your lake needs and how long it should take.

3Estimate

Get your free online estimate

Takes about 20 seconds. Your price range arrives by email within 24 hours.

Rather talk? Call (954) 284-0812.

About how long is the damaged section?

Please enter the 5-digit ZIP code.

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What happens after you write

  1. We call back

    Within 2 hours on business days (usually sooner).

  2. Free site visit

    For one lake, within 7 days (usually sooner). The method is settled on site.

  3. Written proposal

    With a price range, within 2 days of the site visit.

If you ask for an online estimate instead, you get a price range within 24 hours. It is a range, not a quote, and it never names a method.

The whole process, step by step 

4Answers

Questions boards ask

Why not just seed it, or hydroseed?

We have done both. On a 4:1 bank the first rain carries seed into the lake, with or without a blanket, so we do not recommend it. Sod holds from the first day.

What grass do you use?

St. Augustine ‘Floratam’ for most communities; 419 or Celebration Bermuda on golf courses. Soil-based sod roots better than sand-based.

What about our landscapers?

Mowing on top is fine. Edging at the waterline is the one thing to stop. We give your crew a one-page guide and walk the bank with them at handover.

What if the water level drops in the dry season?

It will. Florida lakes drop every dry season, and a submerged tube can show for a while. That cannot be fully prevented. Where we expect the level to fall, we cover the submerged tube with a protective fabric, and the care guide tells your crew what to look for at the waterline.

Does the repair need a permit?

A community’s stormwater lake is a permitted structure, and we are restoring it, not building a new one. What that takes depends on three things we check on the free site visit: which district your lake sits in, whether the design changes, and whether an engineer’s seal is required. We tell you before you sign, not after.

We prepare and file the paperwork and put the timeline in the proposal.

What is free, and what is paid?

The site visit for one lake is free, and we come within 7 days (usually sooner). The drone and sonar shoreline survey is a paid service, sold on its own.

Several lakes, or a whole community? Then we quote the paid survey instead of the free visit.

Call (954) 284-0812Free estimate