Buildsmart Pro · MattBeth Growth Circle

The Duplex Field Toolkit

🎓 Plan School downloads

📄 Plan Reading Cheat Sheet (PDF) — the symbols, schedules and callouts on one page. Print it, truck it.

🧠 Pre-Construction Plan Review Template (PDF) — the checklist to run on ANY plan set before you bid or break ground.

Built from a real 6,400 SF South Florida duplex — its actual approved plans and real inspection record. Print it, keep it in the truck, walk every phase with it.
For licensed Pro members only — please don't redistribute.

How to use this

One page per phase: the inspections you'll call, what to verify before you call them, and the red flags that fail jobs. The rule that pays for this document: nothing gets covered before it gets inspected.

Permits, NOC & Erosion Control

Record the NOC, pay permit fees, set silt fence, temp construction fence and the temporary power pole. The jobsite comes alive.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Survey, Soil Treatment & BFE

Boundary/topo survey stakes the duplex exactly on the lot; termite pre-treatment and the flood-zone elevation paperwork start here.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Footings, Stem Wall & Grounding

Excavate, form and steel the footings, set the Ufer ground, then bring the stem wall up out of the flood plain — the duplex starts above BFE.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Under-Slab Rough (Plumbing / Water / Electric)

Fill is compacted inside the stem walls; DWV for BOTH units, water services and under-slab conduit go in the open trenches — inspected before anything is buried.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Ground Floor Slab

6-mil vapor barrier, welded wire mesh on chairs, then the 6" ground-floor slab pours inside the stem walls — first of THREE structural decks.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

1st-Story CMU Walls

Block goes vertical: both units' first-story walls with ladder wire every other course, verticals stacking off the footing dowels — party wall included.

Red flags:

1st-Story Columns, Cells & Tie Beam

Verticals grouted in the cells, lintels set, and the first tie beam poured with doubled ties at every corner. The special inspector signs the structure.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

2nd-Floor Structural Slab

Shoring forest goes up, the B-100 beams and deck reinforcing are placed, every riser gets its sleeve — then the 6" second-floor slab pours over your head.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

2nd-Story CMU Walls

Round two, one story up: second-story block rises off the new deck, verticals stacking directly over the cells below. Scaffold, wind and logistics.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

2nd-Story Cells & Tie Beam

Second-story verticals grouted, the top tie beam poured with its corner ties, parapet dowels and every embed the roof deck will need.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Roof Deck & Terrace — choose membrane

The lid: B-200 roof beams, 8" structural deck sloped 1/4" per foot to the drains, parapet walls, railing and ladder embeds. Pick your membrane system while it cures.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Flat Roof Dry-In (Membrane)

Primer and base sheet tin-tagged, then your membrane goes down over the deck and up the parapets. The duplex is weather-tight.

Red flags:

Impact Windows, Doors & Garage Doors

Bucks anchored, then the impact windows, sliders, entry doors and the two white-with-glass garage doors — every unit installed per its NOA.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Rough-In: Plumbing ×2 Units

Two full plumbing systems rise through two stories — supplies, DWV through the roof, and the top-out test holding water when the inspector walks in.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Rough-In: Electrical & Services ×2

Two panels, two services, branch wiring through two stories — all bonded back to the Ufer you buried in phase 3.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Rough-In: Mechanical ×2 Systems

Two AC systems: air handlers, condensers on pads, ductwork with linear diffusers, dryer and bath exhausts — sealed tight for the blower door later.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Interior Framing, Furring & Ceilings

Partitions frame out both units on both floors, furring goes on the block, ceiling grids reconcile with the ductwork overhead. Blocking now, not later.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Insulation ×2 Units

Walls then ceilings, inspected at their own last-visible moments, with the certificate filed for closeout.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Drywall & Exterior Lath

Hang and screw two units of drywall — the screw pattern is inspected BEFORE mud — while lath wraps the outside for stucco.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Meters, Power Release & Backflow

Utility sets TWO electric meters and the water meters; backflow preventers go in with their certified test tags.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Interior Finishes — the REAL selections

The owner's actual picks go in: Napoli Sand 24x48 downstairs, Champagne Silk 24x48 upstairs, Caledonia Gold master baths, 60" vanities, the works — for BOTH units.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Stucco, Paint & Balcony Rails

Three-coat stucco over two stories of lath, exterior paint, the glass balcony rails and the terrace railing — the duplex gets its face.

Red flags:

Driveways & Site Drainage

Two driveways under the engineering paving permit — forms and steel inspected, then the pours, aprons and drains.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Landscape, Irrigation & Swale

The real plan: sod, street trees in the ROW swale, shrubs, and a Rain Bird system that must pass its wet test — the six-step landscape run.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

Finals, Blower Door & CO ×2 Units

Blower doors on both units, termite letter, final survey and floodplain, every trade final, zoning final — then the Certificate of Occupancy.

Inspections to call:Red flags:

💵 Draw / Payment Approval Checklist

If any box is empty: request backup. Never release money to keep the peace.

📝 Change Order Rules

🗓 Long-Lead Log (start at permit)

❓ Questions to Ask Your GC — Every Single Week

🏁 Closeout / C.O. Package

© MattBeth Growth Circle · buildsmart.mattbeth.com · This is field training material, not legal or engineering advice — your local code and inspector always win.