A commercial comparable-sales analysis lives or dies by use-code precision. A warehouse and an office building can sit on adjacent lots at identical price-per-square-foot, and the magistrate will throw both comps out if they don't match your subject's DOR use code.
Start with the DOR use code
Florida's Department of Revenue groups commercial parcels into roughly fifteen use codes: 1700 (office), 1100 (department store), 1200 (community shopping centers), 4810 (light industrial / warehouse), 3900 (hotels), and a long tail. The PA's office assigns the code based on the property's primary use on the lien date. Your comp set must match — a 4810 subject can't be compared to a 1700 sale, full stop.
Geographic radius
Default to a one-mile radius for urban submarkets, three miles for suburban, and use county-wide only when the use code is rare enough that closer comps don't exist. The magistrate will ask why you chose your radius — be ready to point at submarket-defining arterial roads, school districts, or zoning overlays.
Time + size + condition adjustments
Time-adjust each sale forward to January 1 of the tax year using a paired-sales index or a county-published trend (the Florida DOR publishes annual sales ratio studies). Size adjustments at ±5–15% per 10% deviation are conventional. Condition adjustments require a documented basis — square footage of renovated space, photo evidence, or a DR-486 attachment describing the difference.
Sales to exclude
Drop intra-LLC transfers, sale-leasebacks where the lease is below market, tax-deed sales, foreclosures (unless the subject is itself distressed), and any sale flagged with a DOR sales disqualification code. The county's SDF field is your guide; explain each exclusion in writing if it isn't obvious.
Weighting the indicated value
Weighted average is conventional — assign weights proportional to comp quality, where tighter use-code match, smaller distance, and newer date increase weight. Your DR-486 Schedule A should show the weighted indicated value and the math that produced it.