Boca Raton guides
Written by people who live here, dated so you know how current they are, and revisited when things change.
Photograph: Boca Raton Old City Hall by Spudgun67, CC0 public domain dedication
Boca Raton · Pearl City houseReplacing a roof in Boca Raton: the permit, the 25% rule and the insurance paperwork
A Boca Raton re-roof is a permitted job with hurricane upgrades built in, and the paperwork you keep afterwards is worth money at every insurance renewal. What the city asks for, the state rule that decides how much of an old roof has to be redone, and the form your insurer has to honour.
Boca Raton · Pearl City streetYard rules in Boca Raton: watering days, trees, fertilizer and the swale
Boca Raton sets its own watering days, has no summer fertilizer ban but stops it before every storm, and lets most homeowners take down a tree in their own yard without a permit. The swale out front is another matter. What applies, and where the city writes it down.
Boca Raton · Mizner Park palmsHiring a landscaper in Boca Raton: the certificates, the contract and the storm-season plan
Mowing needs no licence in Florida, but fertilising, spraying and irrigation work each do, and they are different ones. What to check, what a written program should cover — and Palm Beach County Landscaping, a request service run by the company that publishes this site.
Boca Raton · Houses and palmsHiring a roofer in Boca Raton: the licence, the contract and the insurance-claim rules
Florida rewrote the rules for roofers and insurance claims, and most homeowners have not caught up. How to check a roofer, what a Florida roofing contract has to contain, what a roofer may no longer offer you — and South Florida Roofing, a request service run by the company that publishes this site.
Boca Raton · Houses and palmsProperty taxes and the homestead exemption in Boca Raton
Three offices share the job and most confusion comes from asking the wrong one. Who values your home, who sends the bill, the March 1 homestead deadline — and Amendment 3, on the November 2026 ballot.
Boca Raton · Post officeBoca Raton ZIP codes: which ones are in the city
Nine ZIP codes carry a Boca Raton address and most of them cross the city line. Which are wholly inside, which are wholly outside, which are split — and why the ZIP will never settle it for you.
Boca Raton · Sugar Sand Park playgroundFree things to do in Boca Raton
A nature center with no admission charge, a free science museum for children, a monthly free day at the history museum, and the one cost almost nobody plans for: parking at the beach.
Supplied · PangeaUp logoGetting a Boca Raton business found on Google: the profile, the website, the paperwork
For a local business the Google Business Profile wins more calls than the website does. How to set one up the way Google’s rules require, what the website still has to do, the city paperwork underneath both — and PangeaUp, the agency that built this site.
Supplied · Guru Maids logoHiring a house cleaner in Boca Raton: standard, deep or move-out — and what to ask
Most disappointments with a cleaning service come from booking one kind of clean and expecting another. What each one covers, the questions to ask before anyone has your key — and Guru Maids, a small Palm Beach County team.
Boca Raton · Museum of ArtThings to do in Boca Raton with kids
Sea turtles, a free science museum, picture books on a trail, a carousel and a skate park — sorted by the ages each place names itself, with who runs it and what you need to bring.
Supplied · Tiki Coffee & DessertsTiki Coffee & Desserts: knafa and coffee until midnight
A dessert café a minute off Glades Road that stays open until midnight every night — what knafa is, what people order, and what "halal sourced" does and does not mean.
Near Boca Raton · Evacuation route signHurricane season in Boca Raton: your zone, your alerts, your debris
The county decides who evacuates and the city collects the debris afterwards. What to look up before a storm is named, which alerts to sign up for, and the rules that catch people out — including that the city does not hand out sandbags.
Boca Raton · The old library buildingGetting a library card in Boca Raton: the city’s or the county’s?
Boca Raton runs its own library, separate from Palm Beach County’s. Which free card you can get depends on where you live — and some West Boca households may qualify for both.
Boca Raton · Downtown streetTrash and recycling pickup in Boca Raton
Who collects your bins depends on whether you live inside the city limits. Your pickup days, the two-bin recycling rule, bulk items and where hazardous waste goes — and what changed for unincorporated areas on October 1.
Boca Raton · Tri-Rail stationGetting around Boca Raton without a car
Two railways with separate stations, seven Palm Tran routes, a free downtown on-demand shuttle and more than eighty miles of bike routes. What each one is for, and where the gaps are.
Supplied · New Shower Doors UnlimitedShower doors in Boca Raton: frameless, framed or sliding — and when to repair instead
The three kinds of glass enclosure, what the glass thickness actually changes, which faults are a repair and which are a replacement — with New Shower Doors Unlimited, a family-run installer that works in Boca.
Boca Raton · The beachBoca Raton beaches: parking, permits and which one to pick
Three beach parks, one dog beach, and a parking permit that does not work at a parking meter. Which beach is which, and what the gatehouse will actually ask you for.
Boca Raton · ShopfrontsBoca Raton farmers markets: which one you mean
There are two, both on a Sunday morning, both nine until one, at addresses four miles apart. One runs all year and one does not. Here is how to tell them apart.
Boca Raton · Mizner ParkParking in Boca Raton
Where it is free, where it is not, why a beach permit is useless at a meter, and how to tell a real parking ticket from the fake ones being mailed out.
Boca Raton · From the airMoving to Boca Raton
The first question is not the removal van. It is whether the address you are moving to is in the City of Boca Raton at all, because that decides your water bill, your bin day and your beach permit.
Boca Raton · Gumbo Limbo boardwalkThings to do in Boca Raton
What is actually on, where it actually is, and the one thing that decides half of it: the town is two towns, and they are twenty minutes apart.
Boca Raton · Old Town HallPulling a building permit in Boca Raton
The city runs two separate systems and most first-time applicants only find the second one after their application stalls. What each is for, and the order to use them in.
Boca Raton · ShopfrontsYour Boca Raton business tax receipt expires 30 September
Every city business tax receipt runs out at the end of September. What it is, how renewal works, and the second receipt most people forget.
Boca Raton · Sanborn SquarePaying your Boca Raton water bill
The city runs its own utility billing on its own portal. Where to pay, what it takes, and how to be certain you are on the real site.
Boca Raton · City signWhich Boca Raton are you in?
Forty-three percent of the businesses with a Boca Raton address are not in the City of Boca Raton. Here is how to tell, and why it decides who you call.
Photographs: Pearl City Boca Raton June 2010 House 2 by Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY 3.0; Pearl City Boca Raton June 2010 House 3 by Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY 3.0; Mizner Park Boca June 2010 Palms by Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY 3.0; Boca Home by pasa47, CC BY 2.0; Boca Raton Post Office by pasa47, CC BY 2.0; Sugar Sand Park playground (2008) by FunctioningMemberOfSociety, CC BY 4.0; Logo supplied by PangeaUp, used with permission; Logo supplied by Guru Maids, used with permission; The Boca Raton Museum of Art by Emilyenjoysbooks, CC BY 4.0; Photograph supplied by Tiki Coffee & Desserts, used with permission; Hurricane Evacuation Route by Juliancolton, public domain; Old Boca Raton Public Library by Cpusf, CC0 public domain dedication; Boca Raton by pasa47, CC BY 2.0; Tri-Rail Station, Boca Raton by Sharon Hahn Darlin, CC BY 2.0; Photograph supplied by New Shower Doors Unlimited, used with permission; Boca Raton beach by Juliancolton, public domain; Mizner Park by Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY 3.0; Royal Palm by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY 4.0; Gumbo Limbo by Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY 3.0; Boca Raton Old City Hall by Spudgun67, CC0; Sanborn Square by Spudgun67, CC0; City of Boca Raton sign by normanack, CC BY 2.0. Each names what it shows; none depicts the procedure a guide describes.