Chicago, IL
Chicago plumbing permit cost
A Chicago plumbing permit is priced from the stand-alone fees of Table 14A-12-1204.2
and almost every row is charged per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space rather than per fixture. Installing a private swimming pool or hot tub is $400.00, with the electrical work as a separate permit. Repairing or replacing a hot water heater or plumbing fixtures without altering plumbing in walls is $75.00 per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space; the same basis applies to replacing plumbing piping and to replacing a riser within an existing chase at $150.00 each; a hot water heater serving more than one dwelling unit or tenant space is $150.00 each; and a plumbing maintenance permit is $75.00 per building per thirty days. Like the electrical permits, these are filed through the Department's Express Permit Program.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repair or in-kind replacement of a hot water heater or plumbing fixturesPermit fee | $75.00 per dwelling unit | plumbing scope is water heater or fixtures and Dwelling units is provided | — |
| Hot water heater serving more than one dwelling unit or tenant spacePermit fee | $150.00 flat fee | plumbing scope is water heater multi | — |
| Plumbing maintenance permit, per building, per 30 daysPermit fee | $75.00 flat fee | plumbing scope is maintenance | — |
| Repair or in-kind replacement of plumbing pipingPermit fee | $150.00 per dwelling unit | plumbing scope is piping and Dwelling units is provided | — |
| Install private swimming pool or hot tubPermit fee | $400.00 flat fee | pool install is true | — |
| Repair or in-kind replacement of a plumbing riser within an existing chasePermit fee | $150.00 per dwelling unit | plumbing scope is riser and Dwelling units is provided | — |
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
Replacing hot water heaters in six dwelling units of a building, with a private hot tub installed on the same permit — two listed scopes on one plumbing application.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Dwelling units | 6 |
| Pool install | Yes |
| Plumbing scope | water_heater_or_fixtures |
Example total
$850.00
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 2Rules considered 6
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Repair or in-kind replacement of a hot water heater or plumbing fixturesPermit feeTable 14A-12-1204.2: "Repair or in-kind replacement of a hot water heater or plumbing fixtures" — $75.00 per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space. The count is the basis: a job touching six dwelling units is six times the rate, and a job touching one is the rate once.Show the working
| $75.00 per dwelling unit | $450.00 |
Install private swimming pool or hot tubPermit feeTable 14A-12-1204.2: "Install private swimming pool or hot tub (electrical work as a separate permit)" — $400.00. The schedule says in the row itself that the electrical work is a separate permit, so the electrical page prices it separately.Show the working
| $400.00 flat fee | $400.00 |
| Total | $850.00 |
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.
- Hot water heater serving more than one dwelling unit or tenant space — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Plumbing maintenance permit, per building, per 30 days — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Repair or in-kind replacement of plumbing piping — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Repair or in-kind replacement of a plumbing riser within an existing chase — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Assumptions
- Calculated from 2 fee rules in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
The heater-or-fixtures row is $75.00 per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space, and the work reaches six dwelling units: $450.00. The pool-or-hot-tub row is a flat $400.00, and the schedule says in the row itself that the electrical work is a separate permit. Both are stand-alone fees under §14A-4-412.1, so a permit covering both scopes pays both — $850.00 in total, with the electrical permit for the hot tub priced separately.
Three variations show the basis. The same six-unit job replacing piping rather than heaters is on the $150.00 row and is $900.00, and replacing a riser reaches the same $150.00 per unit. A single dwelling unit replacing its water heater is $75.00. A hot water heater serving more than one dwelling unit or tenant space is priced $150.00 each rather than per unit served, which is the one row in this group that does not multiply by the unit count.
A caution belongs with the number. The schedule charges by the unit the work reaches, so the count to enter is the number of dwelling units, toilet rooms or tenant spaces affected — not the number of fixtures removed or installed, and not the building's total unit count where only some are touched.
What is different in Chicago
The count that matters on this schedule is how many units the work reaches, not how many fixtures it touches. Replacing a water heater in six dwelling units is six times $75.00 — $450.00 — where a fixture-priced city would count one heater or one fixture. Two rows at $150.00 use the same basis and the same wording, so a project replacing piping across six units is $900.00 rather than six fixture charges. The rows are stand-alone fees under §14A-4-412.1, which means a permit covering more than one listed scope pays each applicable fee — a water-heater replacement and a pool installation on one application are $450.00 plus $400.00, not the larger of the two.
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 plumbing stand-alone fees of Table 14A-12-1204.2 that can be computed from a count the applicant gives. It excludes:
- Fixture-by-fixture pricing, which this schedule does not use for these scopes: the amounts are per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space, and the page charges them that way.
- The other trades' rows of the same table — the $175.00 minor repairs row, the roof rows at $175.00 and $450.00, fire escapes at $150.00 to $900.00, porch, deck and balcony rows at $75.00 to $300.00 per structure, and the $250.00 annual construction trailer permit — which belong to those permits rather than to plumbing.
- The electrical work of a pool or hot tub installation, which the pool row itself says is a separate permit, and which the electrical page prices.
- The deposit and process fees of Table 14A-12-1204.1 — the $600 permit fee deposit credited against the fee, the $25.00 review fee, the $30.00 debt check and the 25% extension charge — which are process steps rather than fees for the work.
- Re-inspection and enforcement charges (§14A-5-503), including the trip charge for water or sewer work that needs more than the usual number of inspector visits.
- Water and sewer connection and meter charges, which are the utility's fees rather than the Department's, and any zoning or fire review fees.
What you need before applying
- The plumbing rows are priced per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant spaceRequired
Table 14A-12-1204.2 prices plumbing barely by fixture at all: replacing a hot water heater or fixtures without altering plumbing in walls is $75.00 per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space, and repairing piping or a riser is $150.00 on the same basis. Only installing a private swimming pool or hot tub is a plain $400.00, and a heater serving more than one unit is $150.00 each. The count that matters is the number of units the work reaches, which is why the calculator asks for it.
Common questions
How much is a Chicago plumbing permit to replace a water heater?
$75.00 per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space when the heater is replaced in kind without altering plumbing in walls — six units are $450.00. A heater serving more than one dwelling unit or tenant space is priced differently: $150.00 each. That is the schedule's distinction, and it is why the calculator asks how many units the work reaches.
Chicago Construction Codes, Table 14A-12-1204.2
Is a plumbing permit priced per fixture in Chicago?
For these scopes, no. The rows are priced per dwelling unit, toilet room or tenant space: $75.00 to replace a hot water heater or fixtures, $150.00 to replace piping or a riser within an existing chase. Only installing a private swimming pool or hot tub is a plain $400.00 flat, and a heater serving more than one unit is $150.00 each.
Chicago Construction Codes, Table 14A-12-1204.2
How much is a permit to install a swimming pool or hot tub?
$400.00 for the private pool or hot tub, and the schedule's own row adds that the electrical work is a separate permit — priced from the electrical table, not included in the $400.00. If the same application covers another listed plumbing scope, §14A-4-412.1 charges that scope's fee as well.
Chicago Construction Codes, Table 14A-12-1204.2
Do plumbing stand-alone fees add to the building permit fee?
They are separate permits with separate fees. §14A-4-412.1 sends a permit covering only listed scopes to the table's stand-alone fee, and the building permit is calculated separately under §14A-4-412.2. The table's footnote c marks the rows that are charged in addition to a fee calculated under the building formula.
Chicago Construction Codes §14A-4-412.1
How much is a monthly plumbing maintenance permit?
$75.00 per building per thirty days, filed as a monthly permit through the Express Permit Program. It is a recurring permit for maintenance work rather than a one-off fee for a project, so it is charged for each building it covers and each thirty-day period.
Express Permit Program and Table 14A-12-1204.2
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Municipal codeCityPrimary source
Read 2026-09-25, sha256 beginning `2512a02138641748`. Carries §14A-4-412 in full — the formula `CF × RF × A`, the stand-alone-fee route of §14A-4-412.1, the process fees of Table 14A-12-1204.1 and the stand-alone fees of Table 14A-12-1204.2 — plus footnote d taking demolition out of the formula. The stand-alone table lives in the code rather than in the annual PDFs, so this document plus the 2026 ordinance is the current version of the trade fees; Table 14A-12-1204.2 gets its first automatic CPI adjustment on 2027-01-01 under the §14A-12-1204.2.1 the ordinance inserts.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.