Manatee County energy calcs & Manual J.
Lakewood Ranch reviews it; Bradenton and Palmetto run their own counters.
Manatee County's one- and two-family checklist lists an energy calculations form alongside the survey, soil report and sealed plans, all submitted electronically. The Digital Plan Room accepts the Energy Conservation Form without a digital signature, unlike plans and calculations. Manatee is climate zone 2A; the Sarasota/Bradenton airport sets 91°F cooling and 44°F heating.
- Department
- Manatee County Development Servicesunincorporated · Online Services + Digital Plan Room1
- Code edition
- FBC Energy Conservation, 8th Ed. (2023)9th Ed. (2026) scheduled for Dec 31, 2026 · what changes2
- Climate zone
- Zone 2A1% cooling 91°F · 99% heating 44°F3
- Price
- $195 · $445 · $595Energy calc from · full package · sealed. Same in all 67 counties · price list
- Ready by
- 2–3 business daysExpedited: within 24 business hours, +$150. Clock starts when complete plans pass intake (3:00 PM ET cutoff) · how it works
- Evidence
- 12 primary sourcesEvery number on this page links to its source · references
What Manatee reviewers ask for
The county's checklist is short and literal: a signed and sealed survey, an energy calculations form, a geotechnical report for new homes and additions, product approval numbers with expiration dates, and plans as legible, scaled PDFs sealed by a Florida design professional.4 It closes by citing FBC Building 8th Edition section 107.3.5, and it warns that it may not list every requirement.4
The rest of the Manatee submittal notes2 more paragraphs
Signatures are where Manatee differs. Its Digital Plan Room rejects plans, building plans and calculations that lack a valid digital signature, yet the Energy Conservation Form and the Envelope Leakage Test Report sit on the list of document types exempt from that check.1 We still sign the R405 cover; a missing signature on a separate Manual J upload is the kind of thing that stalls a file there.
Test reports arrive later. Development Services wants deferred documents, including duct leakage and envelope leakage test reports and the insulation certificate, uploaded to the record through Online Services rather than emailed.5 Spray foam carries its own rule: an alteration permit before any foam goes in, with three sets of the manufacturer's specifications.6
Building departments
3 departments · addresses, phones, portals
Bradenton keeps its own Building Division on 12th Street West and moved plan review into Accela's ePlan Room; plan questions go to plansreview@bradentonfl.gov.710 Palmetto runs a separate Building Department with permits and inspections through AccessMyGov.8 For the island towns (Anna Maria, Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach) and Longboat Key's Manatee side, check with each town's office.
| Department | Address | Phone | Portal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manatee County Development Services (unincorporated) | 9000 Town Center Parkway, Lakewood Ranch, FL 34202 | (941) 748-4501 | Online Services + Digital Plan Room1 |
| City of Bradenton, Building and Permitting Division | 101 12th Street West, Bradenton, FL 34205 | (941) 932-9414 | Accela Citizen Access + ePlan Room7 |
| City of Palmetto, Building Department | 601 17th Street W, Palmetto, FL 34221 | 941-721-2166 | AccessMyGov8 |
Design conditions
91°F cooling · 44°F heating · zone 2A · weather stations
Cooling station: Sarasota/Bradenton airport (ASHRAE). Heating station: Sarasota/Bradenton airport (ASHRAE).3
Manatee borrows its limits from the Sarasota/Bradenton airport: 91°F for cooling and 44°F for heating.3 Zone 2A, warm-humid.2 A 44°F heating design is mild enough that a heat pump's capacity at 47°F covers most houses here, in our experience; cooling and dehumidification decide the equipment.
Worked example
2,600 sq ft house → 29,140 Btu/h, 2.43 tons · illustrative
Illustrative · not a Manual J
A four-bedroom, two-storey 2,600 sq ft plan of the sort built east of I-75, block below and frame above; the R-13 wall is the frame storey, a simplification we state rather than hide. We set 4.0 ACH50 for new construction; an older Bradenton ranch would leak far more, and its load would rise with it.
| House | new two-storey frame-over-block home, Parrish |
|---|---|
| Conditioned area | 2,600 sq ft, 2 storeys, 9 ft ceilings |
| Bedrooms / occupants | 4 / 5 |
| Glazing | 15% of floor area (390 sq ft), U 0.3, SHGC 0.25 |
| Walls / ceiling | R-13 walls, R-38 ceiling under a vented attic |
| Air leakage | 4 ACH50 |
| Ducts | in the attic, 6% gain allowance |
| Ventilation | mechanical, per FBC formula |
| Outdoor design | 91°F cooling / 44°F heating (sourced above) |
| Indoor design | 75°F cooling / 70°F heating |
| Design grains difference | 48 gr/lb (assumption) |
Illustrative only. A simplified block-load estimate with the inputs shown, not an ACCA Manual J, and not for permitting. A real calc goes room by room with your plans, orientation and equipment data. Code ceiling for single-stage cooling at 1.15× total load: 33,520 Btu/h.11
Local housing
Median year built 1994 · 52.6% single-family detached · Census ACS
Almost a third of Manatee's housing (31.8%) predates 1980, against 43.3% built since 2000.12 On the ground, in our observation, that means 1970s Bradenton ranches on one permit and Lakewood Ranch tract homes on the next. Mobile homes are 13.1% of units and single-family detached homes 52.6%.12 Electric heat covers 87.0% of occupied homes, a few points below Lee and Charlotte.12
Utility rebates
FPL
- FPL. For FPL customers, the instant invoice credit is $200 on a whole-system central A/C or heat pump replacement at 15.2 SEER2 or better, installed by a participating contractor; mini-splits are excluded.9
Utility programs change often; check the program page before you count on a rebate.
Manatee County questions
3 answers · Does Manatee County need a digital signature on the energy form?
Does Manatee County need a digital signature on the energy form?
Not for the Energy Conservation Form itself. The Digital Plan Room lists it, with the envelope leakage test report, among document types exempt from the digital-signature check, while plans and calculations need a valid signature. Sign your Manual J upload anyway; it may be filed as calculations.
How do I send a blower-door or duct test report to Manatee County?
Upload it to the permit record through Online Services. Development Services stopped taking emailed deferred documents; duct leakage and envelope leakage test reports, insulation certificates and spray foam certificates now go in as uploads, and the right reviewer is notified once each lands in its document type.
Is my Bradenton address permitted by Manatee County?
Not if it's inside city limits. The City of Bradenton runs its own Building and Permitting Division at 101 12th Street West, reachable at 941-932-9414, with permits and electronic plan review in Accela. Palmetto is separate again. Unincorporated Bradenton-mailing addresses still go to the county.
Price
One statewide price in all 67 counties. Building departments decide what they accept; we don’t guarantee approval. Revisions for plan-review comments on the same design are free.
Nearby and related
Sources
12 primary references · numbered to match the citations
- 01Manatee County, Digital Plan Room Help Centermymanatee.org
- 022023 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation (8th Ed.), Table R301.1, climate zones by countyup.codes
- 03RESNET / ENERGY STAR, Appendix A: HVAC Design Temperature Limits by State and County (v4, 2019). 1% cooling and 99% heating values drawn from the ASHRAE 2013 Handbook of Fundamentals and ACCA Manual J 8th Ed.resnet.us
- 04Manatee County, One & Two Family Submittal Checklist, FBC 8th Ed. (PDF)mymanatee.org
- 05Manatee County, Development Services Instructions, Fees, and Formsmymanatee.org
- 06Manatee County, Apply, Search and Manage Building Permitsmymanatee.org
- 07City of Bradenton, Building and Permitting Divisioncityofbradenton.com
- 08City of Palmetto, Building Departmentpalmettofl.org
- 09FPL, Ways to Save: A/C Rebatefpl.com
- 10City of Bradenton, Online Permitting Servicescityofbradenton.com
- 11Florida Building Commission, R405-2026 documentation checklist example (quotes R403.7.1.1 cooling equipment sizing limits)floridabuilding.org
- 12U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates (B25018, B25024, B25034, B25035, B25003, B25040), via Census Reportercensusreporter.org