Do You Need a Permit to Wire Your Detached Garage in Florida?

Key Takeaways • Almost any wiring project in a detached garage, workshop, or shed in Central Florida needs its own electrical permit, even when the structure itself is small enough to skip a separate building permit. • Whether you need a simple feeder circuit or a full subpanel depends on how much power the outbuilding will use, and whether your main panel actually has spare capacity to support it. • Outbuildings have their own code requirements, including GFCI protection, minimum burial depth for underground wiring, and a disconnecting means at the structure, that a licensed electrician needs to plan for correctly.

Outbuilding Type	Typical Electrical Needs	Permit Typically Required
Storage shed with a single outlet or light	One basic branch circuit, one GFCI protected outlet	Usually yes, an electrical permit is typically required even for a single new circuit.
Workshop with power tools	Multiple 120 volt circuits, sometimes a 240 volt circuit for larger equipment	Yes
Detached garage, general use	Lighting, several outlets, possibly a mini fridge or garage door opener	Yes
Detached garage with an EV charger	Dedicated 240 volt circuit, often a subpanel	Yes, and the EV circuit is typically reviewed separately
She shed, studio, or heated and cooled outbuilding	Full subpanel with several circuits, plus an HVAC circuit	Yes

Do You Need a Detached Garage Wiring Permit in Florida?

Short answer: almost always, yes. If you are adding or upgrading wiring in a detached garage, workshop, or shed anywhere in Orlando or Central Florida, the electrical work itself typically needs its own permit, separate from any permit for the structure.

Florida follows the Florida Building Code, which currently adopts the 2023 NEC with state amendments. That code applies to outbuildings just as it applies to the main house.

Here is where people get confused. Many Central Florida counties and cities exempt very small sheds from needing a full building permit for the structure itself, based on square footage. That exemption is about the shed, not the wiring inside it.

A new circuit, a new outlet, or a new subpanel almost always needs a dedicated electrical permit pulled by a licensed electrician, regardless of whether the structure itself qualified for a building permit exemption.

If you are not sure whether your project needs a permit at all, our guide Do You Need an Electrical Permit in Florida? What Every Homeowner Should Know breaks down when permits apply and why skipping one can cause real problems later, including trouble with insurance claims or a home sale.

Pulling the permit also means an inspector checks the work before your walls or siding go back up, which is exactly when problems are cheapest and easiest to fix.

Subpanel or Feeder: How Your Detached Garage or Shed Gets Its Power

Once the permit question is settled, the next decision is how power actually gets to the outbuilding. There are two basic approaches.

A single feeder or branch circuit

This is one circuit run from your main panel out to the shed or garage, sized for one or two loads that you already know you want. Think basic lighting plus a single outlet in a small storage shed.

A subpanel installation

A subpanel installation puts a small secondary panel inside the outbuilding, fed by a larger feeder from the house. From that subpanel, your electrician can run several individual circuits, lighting, multiple outlets, a dedicated tool circuit, without trenching a new line back to the main house every time you want to add something.

A subpanel generally makes more sense for a workshop with several power tools, a detached garage you plan to use heavily, or any outbuilding where you expect to add circuits over time. A single feeder or branch circuit is usually enough for a shed with modest, fixed needs.

This decision also connects to your existing electrical panel, since panel capacity, breaker space, and service size all factor into any project that adds new circuits, along with detached structure wiring code requirements for grounding and bonding at the outbuilding.

Feature	Subpanel in the Outbuilding	Single Feeder or Branch Circuit
What it supports	Multiple circuits, expandable over time	One or two loads, decided in advance
Best fit for	Workshops, detached garages with tools, EV chargers, or future plans	A shed with basic lighting and one outlet
Main panel capacity needed	More spare capacity required	Less spare capacity required
Flexibility for future additions	Easier to add circuits later without new trenching	Usually means a new run if you add more load later
Typical cost	Higher upfront cost	Lower upfront cost

How to Check If Your Main Panel Has Spare Capacity

Before you decide between a feeder and a subpanel, someone has to answer a more basic question: does your main panel actually have room to add this load in the first place?

A few signs your panel might already be maxed out for panel capacity for outbuilding projects:

• No open breaker slots left in the panel, or only tandem or split slots remaining.
• Breakers that trip more often than they used to, especially when several appliances run at once.
• A panel rated at 100 amps that already carries a central air conditioner, an electric water heater, and other large loads.
• Double tapped breakers or a panel that already looks crowded when you open the cover.

None of those signs are a firm answer on their own. The only reliable way to know for certain is a load calculation performed by a licensed electrician, who checks your panel’s rated capacity against everything it already serves plus the new outbuilding load.

If that calculation shows your panel is already close to its limit, a panel upgrade may need to happen before, or alongside, your detached garage wiring project. Our article What Affects the Cost of an Electrical Panel Upgrade? walks through what drives that cost if it turns out you need one.

What Homeowners Actually Power in a Detached Garage or Workshop

Knowing what you actually plan to power in the outbuilding is what turns a vague wiring request into a real electrical plan. In Orlando and across Central Florida, the most common uses we see include:

• Power tools, including 240 volt circuits for table saws, welders, or larger workshop electrical circuits.
• General lighting and a handful of standard outlets for everyday use.
• A mini fridge or freezer, common in detached garages used for overflow storage.
• An EV charger, especially in older neighborhoods around College Park and Winter Park where the garage sits detached from the house.
• Heating and air conditioning, for a she shed, studio, or workshop used year round.

If an EV charger is part of the plan, that load deserves its own conversation before you buy anything. Our article EV Charger Installation in Orlando: What Your Panel Needs Before You Buy the Charger covers what a detached garage EV setup needs from your panel, and it applies just as directly to a garage across the yard as it does to an attached one.

Deciding on the full list of uses before wiring begins matters because retrofitting a subpanel or adding capacity later almost always costs more than planning for it up front.

Code Basics: GFCI Protection, Burial Depth, and Disconnect Requirements

Outbuildings are not wired the same casual way a lot of people assume. There are specific code requirements that apply once power leaves the main house, and getting them right is a safety issue, not just a paperwork one.

GFCI protection in detached garages, workshops, and sheds

Receptacles in garages, whether attached or detached, and in unfinished accessory buildings such as workshops and sheds, generally need GFCI protection under the National Electrical Code.

This matters because outbuildings are exactly the kind of damp, tool heavy, concrete floor environment where a ground fault is more likely, and GFCI protection is what shuts the circuit down before that turns into a shock.

Underground wiring requirements and burial depth

If the feeder or branch circuit to your detached garage or shed runs underground, and most do, minimum burial depth depends on the wiring method used and whether the circuit has GFCI protection. Direct burial cable, rigid metal conduit, and PVC conduit each have different minimum cover requirements under the National Electrical Code.

This is one detail that is genuinely hard to fix after the fact. Once a trench is filled and landscaping goes back over it, getting the depth wrong means digging it all up again.

Disconnecting means at the detached structure

A disconnect is generally required at or near the point where the feeder enters the detached structure, so power to that building can be shut off without walking back to the main panel in the house.

Grounding and bonding at the outbuilding also follows its own set of rules, separate from how the main house panel is grounded. This is exactly the kind of detached structure wiring code detail that is easy to get wrong without electrical training, and expensive to correct once concrete or siding closes it in.

Requirement	What It Covers	General Rule of Thumb
GFCI protection	Receptacles in the detached garage, workshop, or shed	125 volt through 250 volt receptacles in garages and unfinished accessory buildings generally need GFCI protection under the National Electrical Code.
Burial depth, GFCI protected circuit	Underground feeder or branch circuit conductors	Often around 12 inches when the entire circuit is GFCI protected, depending on wiring method.
Burial depth, standard direct burial cable	Underground feeder or branch circuit conductors without GFCI protection on the full circuit	Often around 24 inches.
Burial depth, rigid metal conduit	Underground conduit runs	Often around 6 inches.
Disconnecting means	A way to shut off power at the detached structure	A disconnect is generally required at or near where the feeder enters the detached structure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a permit just to run a single outlet to my shed?

In most Central Florida jurisdictions, yes. Any new electrical circuit or outlet typically needs its own electrical permit, even if the shed itself is small enough to skip a separate building permit for the structure.

Can I just run an extension cord to my detached garage instead of proper wiring?

No. Extension cords are not built for permanent, fixed use and are not rated to be run underground or through walls, which makes them a common cause of overheating. A properly permitted feeder or subpanel is the only code compliant way to power a detached structure.

How do I know if I need a subpanel instead of just a single circuit?

If you plan to power more than one or two things, such as lighting plus outlets plus a dedicated tool circuit or an EV charger, a subpanel usually makes more sense than running several individual circuits from the house one at a time. Your electrician can confirm this after checking your main panel’s spare capacity and your outbuilding’s planned electrical load.

Getting Your Detached Garage, Workshop, or Shed Wired the Right Way

Wiring a detached garage, workshop, or shed in Central Florida involves more moving parts than most homeowners expect: a permit, a decision between a feeder and a subpanel, a hard look at your main panel’s spare capacity, and code requirements built specifically for outbuildings.

None of that is a reason to avoid the project. It is a reason to plan it properly from the start, so the power in your outbuilding is safe, code compliant, and sized for how you actually intend to use the space, this year and down the road.

InPhaze Electric is veteran owned and has spent more than 30 years doing electrical work across Orlando and Central Florida. We give homeowners straightforward, no nonsense advice on what a detached garage, workshop, or shed wiring project actually needs, before any wire gets pulled.

Ready to wire your detached garage, workshop, or shed the right way? InPhaze Electric helps homeowners across Orlando and Central Florida with permit ready subpanel installation, feeder wiring, and panel capacity checks for detached garages, workshops, and sheds. Contact us today to schedule a load capacity check, and get a clear, no nonsense plan for your outbuilding wiring project.