Orange County, FL
Orange County building permit cost
An Orange County building permit is charged on total valuation
and the County publishes the table it uses to derive one: a one and two family dwelling is $26.00 up to the first $1,000 of valuation, then $3.00 per additional $1,000 to $2,000,000 and $1.00 above it; commercial new construction is the same shape at $4.00, and everything else at $5.00. A 2,500 square foot house of ordinary construction is valued at the County's own 97 a square foot, which is $242,500, which makes the permit fee $752.00, the residential plans review $34.00 and the 2.5% state surcharge $18.80 — $804.80.
How this fee is calculated
These are the components the schedule defines for this permit, as they applied on 2026-09-28. A component only applies to your project if its conditions match — read that column before assuming a figure. Want a figure for your own project? Estimate this fee with the permit fee calculator.
| Component | Formula | Applies when | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| One and two family dwelling, by total valuationPermit fee | $26.00 + $3.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is not provided and Occupancy is residential and Project valuation up to $2,000,000 | — |
| One and two family dwelling, by total valuation, above $2,000,000Permit fee | $6,023.00 + $1.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $2,000,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is not provided and Occupancy is residential and Project valuation over $2,000,000 | — |
| Accessory structure or use to a one and two family dwellingPermit fee | $26.00 + $4.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is accessory structure | — |
| Commercial re-roofPermit fee | $26.00 + $5.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is re roof and Occupancy is one of commercial, industrial, mixed, other and Work type is one of replacement, repair | — |
| Roof permit, commercial or multifamilyPermit fee | $54.00 + $5.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is re roof and Occupancy is one of commercial, industrial, mixed, other | — |
| Commercial or multifamily, new constructionPermit fee | $26.00 + $4.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is not provided and Occupancy is one of commercial, industrial, mixed, other and Work type is one of new construction, addition and Project valuation up to $2,000,000 | — |
| Commercial or multifamily, new construction, above $2,000,000Permit fee | $8,022.00 + $1.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $2,000,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is not provided and Occupancy is one of commercial, industrial, mixed, other and Work type is one of new construction, addition and Project valuation over $2,000,000 | — |
| Commercial or multifamily, other than new constructionPermit fee | $26.00 + $5.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is not provided and Occupancy is one of commercial, industrial, mixed, other and Work type is one of alteration, repair, remodel, replacement | — |
| Re-roof, one and two family dwellingPermit fee | $26.00 + $5.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | schedule item is re roof and Occupancy is residential | — |
| Roof permit on a new dwellingPermit fee | $38.00 flat fee | schedule item is roof new dwelling | — |
| Permit for site work onlyPermit fee | $27.00 flat fee | schedule item is site work only | — |
| Commercial plans review, architectural standards and guidelinesPlan review | $27.00 + $3.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof | Occupancy is one of commercial, industrial, mixed, other and zoning class is one of C-1, C-2, C-3, PO | max $10,000.00 |
| Residential plans review, accessory structurePlan review | $12.00 flat fee | schedule item is accessory structure | — |
| Residential plans review, new constructionPlan review | $34.00 flat fee | Occupancy is residential and Work type is one of new construction, addition | — |
| Residential plans review, other than new constructionPlan review | $32.00 flat fee | Occupancy is residential and Work type is one of alteration, repair, remodel, replacement | — |
| Florida Building Code surcharge, 2.5% with a $4.00 minimumState surcharge | 2.5% of calculated permit fee | Every permit of this type | min $4.00 |
A real permit fee is these components added together. The department’s final calculation is the one that applies — this is the schedule it will be based on.
A worked example
Follow the arithmetic by hand. Every line is produced by the engine from the rules above, so the total cannot drift away from the schedule behind it.
Worked example
A new one and two family dwelling in unincorporated Orange County: 2,500 square feet, construction type VB, no contract valuation stated, permitted as a building permit.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Project valuation | $242,500 |
| Occupancy class | Residential |
| Type of work | New construction |
Example total
$804.80
An estimate, not an official fee. It is calculated from the published fee schedule as it applied on 2026-09-28. The permit office’s own calculation is the one that applies, and your project may fall under rules this schedule does not describe.
Fee schedule as of 2026-09-28Rules applied 3Rules considered 16
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
One and two family dwelling, by total valuationPermit fee"One and Two Family Dwelling Fees — Residential: up to and including $1,000 $26.00; for each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof, to $2,000,000 $3.00; for each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof, above $2,000,000 $1.00". Charged on the total valuation, which the County derives from the average cost per square foot table below the bands when the applicant does not state one.Show the working
| $26.00 + $3.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000, or fraction thereof, in $1,000 steps | $752.00 |
Residential plans review, new constructionPlan review"Residential Plans Review - One and Two Family Dwelling — New Construction 34.00". The row is printed in the **Zoning Division** section of the same Fee Directory, page 57, not in the Building Safety section: the County splits one house's review across divisions, and this is the row it publishes for a one and two family dwelling.Show the working
| $34.00 flat fee | $34.00 |
Florida Building Code surcharge, 2.5% with a $4.00 minimumState surcharge"NOTE: A surcharge will be assessed at the rate of 2.5% of each permit (building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roof, and gas) fee associated with the enforcement of the Florida Building Code as per Florida Statutes section 468.631 and 553.721. The minimum amount collected in accordance with the Florida Statutes mentioned above on any permit issued shall be $4.00." The two statutes are the same 1% and 1.5% Miami-Dade quotes separately; this is the County that adds them up first.Show the working
| 2.5% of calculated permit fee | $18.80 |
| Total | $804.80 |
Fees that do not apply here
Listed so you can see what was considered and left out, rather than wondering whether something is missing. A rule can also be left out because it is not published for this permit at all, and that is stated where it matters.
- One and two family dwelling, by total valuation, above $2,000,000 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Accessory structure or use to a one and two family dwelling — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Commercial re-roof — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Roof permit, commercial or multifamily — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Commercial or multifamily, new construction — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Commercial or multifamily, new construction, above $2,000,000 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Commercial or multifamily, other than new construction — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Re-roof, one and two family dwelling — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Roof permit on a new dwelling — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Permit for site work only — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Commercial plans review, architectural standards and guidelines — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Residential plans review, accessory structure — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Residential plans review, other than new construction — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Assumptions
- Calculated from 3 fee rules in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
The valuation is the County's own: 2,500 square feet at the 97 a square foot its table gives an R-3 dwelling of construction type VB, so $242,500. That is band one of the residential table — $26.00 for the first $1,000 plus 242 further thousands at $3.00, since the 242nd thousand is a fraction and the schedule charges "each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof" — so the permit fee is $752.00. The Zoning Division's residential plans review for new construction is a flat $34.00. The state surcharge is 2.5% of the permit fee, $18.80. Total: $804.80.
Two variations worth the arithmetic. Change the occupancy to commercial new construction and keep everything else: $26.00 plus 242 thousands at $4.00 is $994.00, and with a C-2 zoning classification the commercial architectural review adds $27.00 plus 242 thousands at $3.00, $753.00, and the surcharge is $24.85 — $1,771.85. Raise the valuation to $2,000,000 exactly and band one produces $6,023.00 for the house, which is exactly what band two opens with, so the break at two million does not step. At $2,000,001 the thousand above the break is a fraction thereof and band two charges $6,024.00.
The estimate is deliberately not the cost of the permit. If the same house is re-roofed, the roof is priced separately at $26.00 plus $5.00 per additional $1,000; if the work starts before the permit, the penalty is double the fee; and the development review, fire and utility charges that other divisions assess are not included at all.
What is different in Orange County
Two bands, three rates and one break at $2,000,000 is the whole of the building table. What makes this jurisdiction worth reading is the arithmetic behind the number it is charged on. Above the bands the directory prints an ICC table of average cost per square foot by occupancy and construction type and says the fee is charged on whichever is greater, that figure or the contract valuation. A 2,500 square foot one and two family dwelling at VB is 2,500 x 97 = $242,500 and pays $752.00; the same 2,500 square feet as an IA business at 158 is $395,000 and pays $1,592.00. Neither number is guesswork, and the second one is why a permit estimate that only asks for square footage is not an estimate.
Four things decide which row applies. Occupancy: a one and two family dwelling is a row of its own, and accessory structures to one — a utility building, a pool, a pool screen enclosure, a boat dock, a slab poured after the original construction, an air conditioner, a generator — are a second row at $26.00 plus $4.00 per additional $1,000, which is a higher rate than the house they stand beside. The kind of work: commercial new construction is $4.00 and commercial work that is not new construction is $5.00, and the same split exists for roofs, where a residential re-roof is $5.00 per $1,000 against the house's $3.00. A roof on a new dwelling is a flat $38.00, and a roof on new construction under an active general contractor permit needs a permit but no fee. Site work only is a flat $27.00.
The review rows come from two different divisions. For a one and two family dwelling the County publishes three flat figures in the Zoning Division section of the directory — $34.00 for new construction, $32.00 for anything else, $12.00 for an accessory structure, with the note listing what an accessory structure covers. For a commercial project the review is in the Building Safety section itself: "Architectural Standards and Guidelines for Commercial Buildings and Projects", $27.00 up to the first $1,000 of value and $3.00 per additional $1,000, capped at $10,000 — the only ceiling on this page, and one that stops the review rising at about $3.3 million of valuation. It applies to C-1, C-2, C-3 and Professional Office buildings and the commercial components of Planned Developments, which is why this site asks for the zoning classification: a commercial project that has not named one is left out of the total rather than charged a fee that may not apply to it.
Then the 2.5% surcharge, stated in the Building Safety section as one row with a $4.00 floor and citing the same two Florida Statutes Miami-Dade cites as two rows. It is charged on each permit's fee, so a $75.00 plumbing permit pays $4.00 rather than $1.88, and a $752.00 building permit pays $18.80. On the whole bill instead of on the permit fee the same house would pay $20.12, and the page would rather say so than choose quietly.
And a warning the County gives about its own total: "Permits for new construction can involve review and/or inspection fees by 10 or more different divisions... Consequently, it's not possible to provide the total cost of a permit before it's ready to issue." What is calculated here is the Building Safety rows, the review row that applies, and the surcharge. Fire Rescue, Planning, Environmental Protection, Utilities and Engineering each publish their own schedules in the same document, and none of them is on this page.
What this figure does not include
Impact fees, utility connections and other departments’ permits are the usual omissions, and in some jurisdictions they are larger than the permit fee itself.
Not included in these figures
This estimate is the building permit table, the plans review row for the project, and the 2.5% state surcharge. It excludes:
- Every other division's charge: Fire Rescue plans review and inspection, Zoning review of a commercial site plan, Lot Grading and Development Engineering, concurrency and impact fees, and the Utilities connection charges.
- The Plan Submittal Fee and its re-submittal table, which are conditional on all permits being issued simultaneously, and the $27.00 permit amendment fee, the $106.00 early start permit and the $173.00 temporary certificate of occupancy.
- The private provider reduction under F.S. 553.791, which takes the permit fee to 55% or 10% of the total but never below the minimum.
- The mechanical and sign schedules, and demolition, which is priced per 25,000 cubic feet.
- The penalty for starting work without a permit, which is double the permit fee or $103.00, whichever is greater, in addition to the fee itself.
- Anything the mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits on the same project cost, which this site prices on their own pages.
- Sites inside a city. The ten municipalities in the county issue their own permits and set their own fees.
What you need before applying
- The County publishes the valuation the fee is charged onRequired
The County publishes the average cost per square foot it uses to derive a valuation, by occupancy and construction type, and three notes that 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'". The higher of that figure and the contract valuation is the one the fee is charged on.
Two details of the table are worth knowing before using it. The figures are the directory's own minimums, and the fee is charged on whichever is greater: "should the contract valuation be greater it shall be used for determining the fee". And the table is not a single number per occupancy: each occupancy has nine construction types, and the spread between them is large — an IA business is 158 a square foot and the same business in VB is 106, while a storage building runs from 71 down to 43. The directory states, at the end of the Building Safety section: "Fees will be adjusted for private providers according to Florida Statue 553.791. All fees may be adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price index or 3%, whichever is less." The rows here are the ones printed, effective July 2025.
- A 2.5% state surcharge with a $4.00 floor, on every permitRequired
The Building Safety section states one surcharge for all of its permits: "A surcharge will be assessed at the rate of 2.5% of each permit (building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roof, and gas) fee associated with the enforcement of the Florida Building Code as per Florida Statutes section 468.631 and 553.721. The minimum amount collected in accordance with the Florida Statutes mentioned above on any permit issued shall be $4.00." The two statutes are the 1% and the 1.5% Miami-Dade states as two separate rows with two separate $2.00 floors; at a $147.00 permit fee the two counties therefore collect $4.00 and $4.21 respectively, and the difference is visible in both jurisdictions' tests on this site. The $4.00 floor is what most trade permits actually pay, because 2.5% of a $75.00 plumbing permit is $1.88.
- Ten or more divisions can charge for one new buildingMay be required
The Division of Building Safety states plainly that the permit fee is not the cost of the permit: "Permits for new construction can involve review and/or inspection fees by 10 or more different divisions... Consequently, it's not possible to provide the total cost of a permit before it's ready to issue." Fire Rescue publishes its own plans review and inspection fees on its own pages of the same directory, the Zoning Division publishes the residential plans review this site charges, and Planning, Environmental and Development Services publishes concurrency, development application and impact fee schedules.
The same section reduces the fee in one case and can raise every fee in another. Under Florida Statute 553.791, "applicable Permit fee(s) shall be reduced to 55% of the total permit fee if private provider is selected to perform either plan review or inspections or to 10% of the total permit fee if private provider is selected to perform both the plan review and inspections. However, in no event shall permit fees be reduced below the stated minimum." And the annual adjustment the directory reserves: "Fees will be adjusted for private providers according to Florida Statue 553.791. All fees may be adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price index or 3%, whichever is less."
- Starting work without a permit doubles the feeRequired
"If any work is commenced without a permit, the penalty will be double the permit fee or $103.00, whichever is greater, and this penalty will be in addition to the permit fee which will be assessed." Both halves are unusual: the penalty is measured off the fee it is in addition to, and it has a floor of its own, so the cheapest possible violation costs $103.00 on top of the permit.
Common questions
How does Orange County decide what my project is worth?
It publishes the table it uses. Above the building fee bands the directory prints an ICC occupancy-by-construction-type schedule of average cost per square foot and says "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 for determining the fee". Three notes amend it: unfinished basements are $15.00 a square foot in every use group, shell-only buildings deduct 20%, and private detached garages are valued as "Utility, miscellaneous". The example on this page is a 2,500 square foot VB dwelling at the 97 a square foot the table gives it.
Orange County Fee Directory, FY 2025-2026, Building Safety section
Why is a commercial permit charged more than a house on the same valuation?
Because the County prints three different rates for the same measurement. A one and two family dwelling pays $26.00 plus $3.00 per additional $1,000; commercial and multifamily new construction pays $26.00 plus $4.00; and commercial work that is not new construction pays $26.00 plus $5.00 — as does a re-roof, residential or commercial, and an accessory structure to a dwelling. Above $2,000,000 every one of them drops to $1.00 per additional $1,000, so a large enough project ends up paying the same marginal rate whichever row it started in.
Orange County Fee Directory, FY 2025-2026, page 27
Is the plans review included?
The one the County publishes for your kind of project is, and it comes from two different divisions. A one and two family dwelling is reviewed in the Zoning Division's section at a flat $34.00 for new construction or $32.00 for anything else, and an accessory structure at $12.00. A commercial project is reviewed under the Building Safety section's Architectural Standards and Guidelines at $27.00 plus $3.00 per additional $1,000 of value, capped at $10,000, and scoped to C-1, C-2, C-3 and Professional Office buildings and the commercial components of Planned Developments — so name the zoning classification, or the review is left out of the total rather than guessed at.
Orange County Fee Directory, FY 2025-2026, pages 44 and 57
What is the $4.00 item on my trade permit?
The state surcharge's floor. The County states it as one row: "A surcharge will be assessed at the rate of 2.5% of each permit (building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roof, and gas) fee associated with the enforcement of the Florida Building Code as per Florida Statutes section 468.631 and 553.721. The minimum amount collected... on any permit issued shall be $4.00." Most trade permits pay exactly the minimum, because 2.5% of a $75.00 plumbing permit is $1.88 and 2.5% of a $59.00 pool wiring permit is $1.48.
Orange County Fee Directory, FY 2025-2026, page 44
Can the fee be lower if I hire my own inspector or plan reviewer?
Yes, by a lot, and it is in the same section: "In accordance with Florida Statute 553.791 applicable Permit fee(s) shall be reduced to 55% of the total permit fee if private provider is selected to perform either plan review or inspections or to 10% of the total permit fee if private provider is selected to perform both the plan review and inspections. However, in no event shall permit fees be reduced below the stated minimum." At 10% of the $752.00 permit fee in the example on this page, the fee would be $75.20, and the site does not compute the reduction because the workflow it depends on is not an attribute of the project.
Orange County Fee Directory, FY 2025-2026, page 40
What happens if I start the work without a permit?
"If any work is commenced without a permit, the penalty will be double the permit fee or $103.00, whichever is greater, and this penalty will be in addition to the permit fee which will be assessed." A plan review, a fire review and a re-inspection may follow, and the County's Building Safety page adds that a permit expires 180 days after issue or 180 days from the last passed inspection, with one 90-day extension available for $32.00.
Orange County Fee Directory, FY 2025-2026, page 42
How is a renovation priced, and a re-roof?
Residential work that is not new construction is priced on the same valuation bands as a house — $26.00 plus $3.00 per additional $1,000 — and the zoning review is the $32.00 row. Commercial work that is not new construction steps up to $5.00 per additional $1,000, and a re-roof is charged on the value of the roofing work alone at $26.00 plus $5.00 per additional $1,000 for a house and $26.00 plus $5.00 for a commercial building, with the commercial roof permit itself printed as a flat $54.00 for the first $1,000 of valuation of a new roof. A roof on a new dwelling is a flat $38.00.
Orange County Fee Directory, FY 2025-2026, page 27
Does this cover a project inside Orlando, or inside any city?
No. Orange County issues permits in unincorporated Orange County. Orlando, Winter Park, Apopka, Ocoee, Maitland, Edgewood, Belle Isle, Windermere, Oakland and Winter Garden are each their own permitting authority with their own fee schedule, and an address inside one of them is not priced by any figure here.
Orange County Division of Building Safety
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- 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).
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.