The site picks the structure.
A pole tent, a frame tent and a clearspan structure are the same family — fabric over an engineered frame — but they hold their weight down differently, and that decides what kind of surface and what kind of event each one can stand on.
Pole tent
A center pole and perimeter stakes hold the fabric up, with guy lines running out past the roofline to the stakes. That means the footprint on the ground is bigger than the covered area, and the ground itself has to take a stake — turf or soil, not a parking lot or a deck. It is the structure for a lawn or a field with clear space around it.
- AnchoringCenter pole + staked perimeter
- NeedsStakeable ground, and clearance beyond the roofline for the guy lines
Frame tent
An aluminum frame carries the load with no center pole, so the interior is open and the footprint stops at the roofline — no guy lines reaching out past the fabric. Where stakes are not an option, the frame can be held down with ballast instead, which is what puts a frame tent on asphalt, a paver plaza or a deck that a stake cannot go into.
- AnchoringStaked, or ballasted where it cannot be
- NeedsA footprint at the roofline — nothing extra for guy lines
Clearspan structure
The same freestanding principle as a frame tent, built to a heavier engineering spec: taller perimeter legs, a fully open interior, and a rating for standing longer and carrying more on a hard walking surface — a rooftop, a waterfront deck, a closed street. It is the structure a multi-day build reaches for once the site or the schedule rules the other two out.
- AnchoringBallasted, on virtually any surface
- Reaches for itMulti-day standing, a hard surface, no ground to stake
Ballast or stakes — the site decides
The one question that sorts all three: can the ground take a stake? A lawn or a field usually can. A parking lot, a plaza, a pool deck, a seawall or a rooftop terrace cannot, and that alone rules out a pole tent and points at a ballasted frame or clearspan structure instead — which is most of the outdoor South Florida sites this comes up on: waterfront properties, downtown plazas and parking structures among them.
Sized to the space, not guessed at.
Air conditioning under a tent is sized off square footage first, the way the published trade rule of thumb below works it — then adjusted for sidewall height, sun load and the day’s heat. In South Florida that adjustment usually moves the number up, not down. No dollar figure attaches to any of this: it is a load calculation, and it lands on the same power plan as everything else on the site.
| Tent size | Square footage | Air conditioning |
|---|---|---|
| 15 × 30 ft | 450 sq ft | 2–3 tons |
| 20 × 40 ft | 800 sq ft | 4–5 tons |
| 30 × 60 ft | 1,800 sq ft | 8–10 tons |
| 40 × 100 ft | 4,000 sq ft | 18–20 tons |
The published rule of thumb behind this table is 1 ton (12,000 BTU) of air conditioning for every 150 to 200 square feet of tent space, adding roughly 10 percent to the load for each foot of sidewall over 8 feet. Every ton on this table is a real electrical load — audio, video, lighting, tent HVAC and catering all land on the same show-power calculation on a tented site, the way /how-we-scope already says, so the air conditioning is specified and wired alongside the rest of it rather than as a separate line nobody planned power for.
Source — the sizing rule and the worked examples, published by the manufacturer named
One county puts the threshold in writing. The other does not.
Both counties require a permit for a tent or membrane structure over a certain size, and neither disputes that rule. The real difference is whether you can read the threshold yourself or have to call and ask.
Miami-Dade
Miami-Dade’s own permitting page states it plainly: a building permit is required for a temporary tent or membrane structure larger than 10 by 12 ft. Above that size, the package has to comply with the Florida Building Code and NFPA 102, and carries structural calculations, product-approved drawings, a Class A flame-spread certification and — where it applies — a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, signed and sealed by a Florida-licensed architect or engineer. A structure is treated as “temporary” for 45 to 180 days; past that it is not a permit question anymore.
- ThresholdLarger than 10 by 12 ft
- CodeFlorida Building Code + NFPA 102
- Counted as temporary45 to 180 days
Broward
Broward County’s own Building Code Division page carries no tent-specific threshold at all — no square footage, no exemption, nothing to read and check against before a call is made. What it publishes is the general process: submittals go through ePermits OneStop, and a specific project gets answered by the division directly. It is the same category of requirement as Miami-Dade’s, just with no published number — so a footprint gets confirmed by phone rather than read off a page.
- Threshold publishedNot on the county’s own site
- ProcessePermits OneStop application
- To confirm a footprintCall the Building Code Division
Sources — each county’s own permitting page, read 21 September 2026
Six things, and the structure and the permit both follow.
The same six questions decide the structure, the HVAC load and whether a permit package is even a question.
- The surface
Turf, soil, asphalt, pavers, a deck or a rooftop. This alone decides staked against ballasted, and it is the first thing that rules a pole tent in or out.
- The footprint, guy lines included
A pole tent needs clear ground past its own roofline for the guy lines; a frame or clearspan structure does not. Sending the covered area alone is not the same as sending what the site actually has to clear.
- How long it stands
A single event day and a structure left up for several days are different engineering questions, and past 45 days the county stops treating it as a temporary structure at all.
- The date
Tent HVAC is sized against the day’s own heat and sun load, not a generic figure — South Florida’s own weather is part of the calculation, not an adjustment made later.
- The county
Miami-Dade or Broward changes whether the permit threshold is something we read off the county’s own page or something we confirm with them directly before the package is drawn.
- What else is on the same power
Tent HVAC shares a service with the audio, video, lighting and catering already on site, so it gets calculated once, against the total, rather than added on afterward.
Where structure, power and scope come together.
A tented site is rarely tenting on its own — it is a structure, a power plan and a wall or a stage inside it, scoped as one build.
Send the site and the dates. We will tell you what it needs.
Call and you will get someone who can tell you on the phone whether your surface takes a stake. Or email the site, the footprint and the dates, and we will come back with the structure, the HVAC load and whether a permit package is a formality or a phone call away — no price guessed at before the site is scoped. Quotes within 24 hours.
- Phone
- (561) 750-4070
- [email protected]
- Shop
- 500 NE 28th Ct, Pompano Beach, FL 33064
- Service area
- South Florida · statewide in Florida