Building Permit Cost, Plan Review Fees, Adders, Review Time, and Where the Fees Come Down

What a permit costs on your project valuation with the plan review fee, the trade permits, the school and fire adders, the expedited review multiplier, the review calendar, and the four legal ways to bring the number down.

Total project cost, labor and materials ($)

Project type

Who is pulling the permits

Area under the permit (sq ft)

Jurisdiction type

Expedited review

Permit fees are a valuation fee plus a plan review fee plus a list of adders, and the valuation number is the one that moves the total most. Most fee schedules publish a rate per 1,000 dollars of valuation by scope, plus a plan review fee that steps with valuation, plus a base minimum per permit. The valuation you declare is the contract value including labor and materials, and a valuation declared low to save a fee is the number the assessor uses against you later, which is why the fair-valuation line is the one to use.

—Total permit budget for the project

—Building, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical fees

—Plan review fee, the tiers, and the re-review

—School, fire, stormwater, erosion, and bond adders

—Review days, inspection cycle, and expediting

—Four legal ways to bring the fee down

How the math works

Valuation fee: rate per 1,000 dollars of declared valuation, times the valuation in thousands, times the jurisdiction multiplier, with a published minimum per permit. Typical residential rates are 5.50 to 8.50 per 1,000 on the building permit, 1.60 electrical, 2.40 plumbing, 2.10 mechanical, and 9 to 11.50 on a new home.
Plan review: a fee that steps with valuation, published by discipline count and by valuation tier, at about 0.20 to 1.50 per 1,000 dollars, with a re-review charge at about 45 percent of the review fee per resubmittal.
Adders: school district fee at 0.75 to 1.90 per sq ft of new area, fire district 95 to 140 base with a per-sq-ft charge, stormwater and erosion on disturbed area, energy code compliance, water and sewer connection, and a performance bond at 0.5 percent of valuation on a contractor-pulled permit.
Expedited review: a 50 to 100 percent multiplier on the permit and plan review fee, charged where the queue is longer than the schedule, with the queue cut by about 60 percent on a metro calendar.
Fee share: a residential fee line at 1.5 to 4 percent of project value is normal, 8 to 12 percent on a new home with impact fees and a utility connection, and 3 to 6 percent of value on a commercial shell with a fire marshal and a geotechnical review.

Permit fee planning tool built on published municipal and county fee schedules with typical per-1,000 valuation rates, plan review tiers, and common adders. Every fee schedule is a local ordinance with its own rates, minimums, tiers, multipliers, impact fees, school district construction fees, fire district fees, stormwater utility fees, erosion and sediment control fees, energy code compliance fees, water and sewer connection and capacity charges, power and transformer charges, right-of-way and pavement deposits, tree mitigation deposits, parkland and open-space fees, records fees, re-inspection fees, plan re-review charges, expedited review multipliers, bond and insurance requirements, contractor registration fees, licence fees, and a permit expiry and reinstatement rule, and the published schedule from your building department is the only controlling document. Permit-exempt scope lists, an owner-builder exemption, a combined permit covering multiple trades, a home-based business rule, an accessory structure size line, an owner-occupied exemption, a historic district review, a design review, a variance, a rezoning, and a conditional use permit are all local-code questions with a written answer from the building official, and a written exemption from the building official is the document that makes a permit-exempt scope exempt. A commercial project, a multifamily project, a project with a fire protection system, a project with a geotechnical report, a project with a structural peer review, a project in a flood hazard area, a project in a wind and snow region, a project with a health department septic permit, a project with a state DOT driveway permit, a project with an Army Corps and a wetland permit, and a project with a federal historic review are all multi-agency fee lines. A pre-application meeting with the plans in hand is the cheapest hour on the project, and this calculator is a budgeting tool with typical figures, not a fee quote, not a permit, and not a substitute for the fee calculation the building department does at the counter.

How much does a building permit cost?

On a typical residential schedule, 5.50 to 8.50 dollars per 1,000 dollars of project valuation on the building permit with a published minimum of 175 to 385 dollars, plus a plan review fee at 0.20 to 1.50 per 1,000, plus the trade permits and the adders. A 40,000 dollar remodel lands at 900 to 2,200 dollars all-in in a county schedule and 1,400 to 3,400 dollars in a metro city.

What is the plan review fee and why is it charged twice?

The plan review fee pays for the reviewer hours on your drawings, and a resubmittal after a correction sheet is charged again at about 45 percent of the review fee. A three-round plan check costs more in review fees than the permit itself, which is why a plan that arrives complete with a structural sheet, an energy sheet, a site plan, and a detail sheet is the cheapest plan on the desk.

Are electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permits charged separately?

Yes in most jurisdictions: about 1.60 per 1,000 dollars on electrical, 2.40 on plumbing, and 2.10 on mechanical, each with a base fee, and the trade has to be licensed and registered. A remodel with a panel upgrade, a water heater, and a furnace swap is four permits on the same valuation, which is the fee line most remodel bids miss.

How long does a permit take to get approved?

A counter permit with no plans is same-day to 3 business days, a residential remodel 1 to 3 weeks, an addition with structural 3 to 6 weeks, a new home 6 to 12 weeks, a commercial shell 3 to 9 months, and an entitlement with a hearing 4 to 9 months. Expedited review cuts the queue by about 60 percent at a 50 to 100 percent fee multiplier.

How can I legally lower the permit fee?

Use the owner-builder exemption on your own home where the jurisdiction allows it, aggregate the trades onto one permit where allowed, file the permit before a price escalation with a documented fair valuation, and check the permit-exempt scope list for a like-for-like water heater, furnace, panel, roof, siding, window, fence, and shed, with a written exemption from the building official.