Florida
Orange County, FL permit fees and requirements
Orange County charges a building permit on total valuation
in marginal bands that break at $2,000,000 — $26.00 to the first $1,000, then $3.00 per additional $1,000 for a one and two family dwelling, $4.00 for commercial new construction, $5.00 for everything else, and $1.00 above two million. Its trade permits are priced by what was installed: an electrical permit by the amperage of the service, a plumbing permit at $75.00 plus $6.00 a fixture or $38.00 for a stand-alone job, a gas permit on valuation. Every one of them carries a 2.5% state surcharge with a $4.00 floor, and every one of them is charged on its own permit fee rather than on the bill.
Permit costs we have worked out
Each page shows the fee components, the formula the jurisdiction uses, and a worked example you can follow by hand.
Estimate your potential Orange County permit fee with our Building Permit Fee Calculator.
| Permit | Category | Last reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Orange County building permit cost | structural | 2026-09-24 |
| Orange County electrical permit cost | electrical | 2026-09-24 |
| Orange County plumbing permit cost | plumbing | 2026-09-24 |
Local context
What is specific to Orange County
This is the jurisdiction that answers the question a fee schedule usually raises and leaves open: where does the valuation come from? Above its building tables the directory prints, in its own words, that "the following minimum schedule of valuations shall be applied to the structure(s) for which a permit is filed. However, should the contract valuation be greater it shall be used", followed by a full ICC occupancy-by-construction-type table of average cost per square foot. A 2,500 square foot house is therefore 2,500 times 97 — VB, the ordinary wood-frame type — which is $242,500, which is band one of the residential table, which is $752.00.
The second local fact is who is charging. The County's Division of Building Safety prices the permit and the inspection; the Zoning Division prints the residential plans review the site charges in the same total; Fire Rescue, Environmental Protection, Utilities and Planning each publish their own schedules in the same document, which is why the division's own FAQ declines to quote a total. Its estimate is honest in the way that matters: it says the number can only be finished once the plan review is.
Valuation
How valuation is determined here
The greater of the County's published average cost per square foot, by occupancy class and construction type, and the contract valuation. Three notes decide the figure: "Unfinished basements (all use groups) = $15.00 per sq.ft.", "For shell only buildings deduct 20%", and "Private Detached Garages use 'Utility, miscellaneous'".
Who to contact
The office that issues the permit, with the details we have verified. Confirm current hours before travelling.
Zoning Division
- Phone
- 407-836-3111
Planning, Environmental and Development Services
- Phone
- 407-836-5600
What these fees do not include
The list is not a disclaimer: on a new house the fees left out can outweigh the permit fee several times over. Every entry here is stated on the permit page as well.
Not included in our estimates
These pages price the permit fee rows, the plans review row that applies to the project, and the 2.5% state surcharge. They exclude:
- Other divisions' fees on the same project: Fire Rescue's plans review and inspection fees, the Planning, Environmental and Development and Zoning review fees that accompany a commercial site plan, Lot Grading and Development Engineering charges, and every impact fee, which the directory publishes in its own schedules and which are the reason the County declines to quote a total.
- The Plan Submittal Fee and its re-submittal table: a non-refundable per-project fee of $32.00 below $10,000 of valuation, $54.00 to $25,000, $106.00 to $50,000, $212.00 to $100,000, $424.00 to $500,000, $637.00 to $1,000,000, $849.00 above, plus $22.00 per additional $100,000 over $2,000,000 — and "N/C" for a one and two family dwelling. It is conditional on all building permits being issued at once, which is a workflow rather than a property of the project, so it is stated here rather than charged.
- The private provider reduction under F.S. 553.791: 55% of the total permit fee if a private provider does either the plan review or the inspections, 10% if it does both, and never below the minimum fee.
- The mechanical schedule: air conditioning at $75.00 to three tons and $12.00 a ton to ten, then marginal rates to fifty tons and $5.00 a ton above; refrigeration, ductwork, hoods and boilers priced on valuation at two rates across a $25,000 break.
- The sign schedule: $38.00 to 25 square feet rising to $69.00 to 300 square feet, then $11.00 per additional 100 square feet.
- Demolition: priced per 25,000 cubic feet with a $25.00 minimum and a $400.00 maximum, which needs a volume this site does not collect.
- Everything priced by the hour or by the sheet: after-hours inspections at a four-hour $212.00 minimum and $51.00 an hour after, additional plan review at actual labour rates, contractor list processing at $43.00 an hour, plan reproduction at $4.00 a sheet and stamping at $3.00 a page.
- The refund and penalty tables: a refund of a permit fee costs "a minimum of $31.00 or 1/3 of the permit fee, whichever is greater", and work begun without a permit is penalised at double the permit fee or $103.00, whichever is greater, on top of the fee.
- Any permit on land in a city. Orlando, Winter Park, Apopka, Ocoee, Maitland, Edgewood, Belle Isle, Windermere, Oakland and Winter Garden each issue their own permits and set their own fees, and a City of Orlando address is not covered by any figure on this page.
Official sources for this jurisdiction
The documents these figures are transcribed from. Where a source contradicts itself we keep both readings and say so on the permit page.
- County websiteCounty
Division of Building Safety — permits, fees and frequently asked questions
Read 2026-09-24. Not a fee schedule, and load-bearing anyway, because it is where the County states what its own fee directory does and does not cover. It answers "How much does a permit cost?" by pointing at the directory and then warning that "it's not possible to provide the total cost of a permit before it's ready to issue"; it says "Permits for mechanical, electrical, plumbing or gas work are usually based on the estimated cost of scope of work to be completed", which is a rule the electrical and plumbing schedules do not actually follow — they price a service by amperage and a fixture by count; and it answers the expiry question with a number: "A permit expires 180 days after the date it was issued or 180 days from the last passed inspection", plus "A one-time 90-day permit extension can be granted on active permits for a fee", which the directory prices at $32.00.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CountyPrimary source
Orange County Fee Directory, Fiscal Year 2025-2026
The whole directory, 1,157,045 bytes, sha256 beginning 8eb4eaaec6770373, read in three pdftotext modes and compared. It is the document the Division of Building Safety's own FAQ points to: "Please see Orange County's Fee Directory, Building Safety fees are in Section 3." Two details about its own dating are worth recording. Every content page in the Building Safety section is footed "Effective July 2025", while the table-of-contents pages still carry a stale footer reading "Effective 10/1/13" — the effective date on these pages is taken from the content pages, and the stale one is left in the document rather than tidied. And the document is dated by fiscal year, not by date: "Fee Directory Fiscal Year 2025-2026, Prepared by: Office of Management and Budget". The rows this site models are the Building Safety section's building, electrical, plumbing and gas schedules (pages 26-45), its shared Inspection Fees section (page 40), the commercial architectural review (page 44), and the residential plans review printed in the Zoning Division section (page 57).