Dock Builders in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea sits on a long, narrow barrier island, and the dock builders who work here spend their time on the Intracoastal side, where homes back onto the waterway and its side canals. The town connects to the mainland by a single drawbridge at Commercial Boulevard. In 2001 it annexed the Intracoastal Beach Area, which brought the Bel Air neighborhood and Terra Mar Island inside town limits, and those streets include Intracoastal and canal frontage.

Why so many owners here want a lift

Boats kept behind a house on the Intracoastal sit in salt water day and night and take every passing wake. A boat lift solves both problems. With the hull raised, growth stays off the bottom, the running gear stays out of the water, and the boat is not banging against pilings when traffic picks up on a weekend.

Choosing a lift starts with the boat's real weight: hull, engines, full fuel, water and gear. We add a margin above that number, then check whether the lift will mount to pilings, to the seawall, or on its own set of piles. On short Terra Mar and Bel Air lots, the layout also has to respect the neighbor's side of the water.

Lift types we install

• Four-post and elevator lifts for larger center consoles and cruisers
• Cradle lifts on new pilings where the existing dock cannot carry the load
• Personal watercraft lifts and floating platforms for jet skis and small tenders

Each one needs reliable power at the dock, a switch location you can reach safely and a plan for storms. Before a hurricane, most owners raise the boat high, strap it down or move it, depending on the lift and the forecast.

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Speed zones past your dock

Under Florida's manatee rule for Broward County, the Intracoastal from the Palm Beach line to the Miami-Dade line has a 25 mph cap, with slow speed inside 50 feet of shore all year. That slow buffer helps reduce wake damage along residential frontage, but boats farther out still push water into the canals, which is another reason lifts pay off here.

Seawalls in a tidal town

Wikipedia lists the town's elevation at about seven feet, and Broward County's tidal flood barrier standard requires new or substantially repaired seawalls to reach five feet NAVD88, with owners responsible for keeping walls in good repair. When a lift is added to an older wall, we check the cap and panels for cracks and confirm the wall can take the added load before anything is mounted to it.

Living with the reef

The town is known for a coral reef roughly 100 yards offshore near Anglin's Pier. That reef is on the ocean side, not the canals, but it is a reminder that marine permitting in this area pays close attention to habitat. In-water work on the Intracoastal can involve county, state and federal reviews, and we explain which apply to your lot.