Cedar Rapids, IA
Cedar Rapids electrical permit cost
A Cedar Rapids electrical permit has two sections.
Section A is a flat price list: $75.00 for residential service installs (new, repair or replacement), residential photovoltaic systems, detached garages and temporary power poles. Section B is a valuation ladder for everything else, reading the trade's total contract price or estimated final invoice: $25.00 flat to $1,000, then 1% of the amount over $1,000, easing through 0.9%, 0.8%, 0.7%, 0.6%, 0.5%, 0.4%, 0.3% and 0.2% marginal bands. New one/two-family and townhouse structures of four units or less carry their electrical fee inside the building permit.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached garage or temporary power pole electrical permit — $75.00Permit fee | $75.00 flat fee | scope is one of detached garage, temporary power pole and res new bundled is not provided | — |
| Residential photovoltaic solar system — $75.00Permit fee | $75.00 flat fee | Occupancy is residential and photovoltaic system is true and res new bundled is not provided | — |
| Residential new, repair or replacement service install — $75.00Permit fee | $75.00 flat fee | Occupancy is residential and service install is true and res new bundled is not provided | — |
| All other work — $25.00 flat to $1,000, then marginal percentage bands of the amount overPermit fee | $25.00 + no charge on the first $1,000, plus 1% above $1,000, plus 0.9% above $100,000, plus 0.8% above $200,000, plus 0.7% above $300,000, plus 0.6% above $400,000, plus 0.5% above $500,000, plus 0.4% above $600,000, plus 0.3% above $700,000, plus 0.2% above $800,000, plus 0.2% above $900,000 | res new bundled is not provided and trade bundled is not 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
A commercial electrical fit-out with a trade contract price of $40,000 — not part of a bundled new-dwelling project.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Project valuation | $40,000 |
| Occupancy class | Commercial |
Example total
$415.00
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 1Rules considered 4
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
All other work — $25.00 flat to $1,000, then marginal percentage bands of the amount overPermit feeSection B: "$1.00 to $1,000.00 — $25.00; $1,001.00 to $100,000.00 — $25.00 plus 1% of the amount over $1,000.00; $100,001.00 to $200,000.00 — $1,015.00 plus 0.9% of the amount over $100,000.00; ... $900,001.00 and up — $4,715.00 plus 0.2% of the amount over $800,000.00." The bands chain exactly ($25 + 1% of $99,000 = $1,015.00), so the ladder is modelled as marginal percentage tiers over a $25.00 base. The final band's own text repeats the $800,000 threshold and 0.2% rate of the band below — charged as printed, which is a marginal continuation.Show the working
| $25.00 + no charge on the first $1,000, plus 1% above $1,000, plus 0.9% above $100,000, plus 0.8% above $200,000, plus 0.7% above $300,000, plus 0.6% above $400,000, plus 0.5% above $500,000, plus 0.4% above $600,000, plus 0.3% above $700,000, plus 0.2% above $800,000, plus 0.2% above $900,000 | $415.00 |
| Total | $415.00 |
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.
- Detached garage or temporary power pole electrical permit — $75.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Residential photovoltaic solar system — $75.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Residential new, repair or replacement service install — $75.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Assumptions
- Calculated from 1 fee rule in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
One line — $415.00.
Section B: the $40,000 contract price sits in the '1% of the amount over $1,000' band. $25.00 base plus 1% of $39,000 = $25.00 + $390.00 = $415.00.
The marginal reading matters: the 1% applies only to the portion above $1,000, not to the whole contract price — at $100,001 the fee is $1,015.00 (the printed base of the next band) plus 0.9% of the excess, not 1% of everything.
What moves it: the same job inside a bundled new dwelling pays nothing here — the building permit's flat amount carries it; a residential service install on an existing home is a flat $75.00 under Section A; and the administration fee does not appear because it is a building-permit line, not a trade one.
What is different in Cedar Rapids
The two sections split on the schedule's own words: Section A's rows are named scopes, Section B is 'ALL OTHER PERMITS FOR ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL, AND PLUMBING' — with the ladder reading 'the total contract price or estimated final invoice for that trade', not the whole project's value, and 'each permit is for individual structures'.
The ladder's bands chain exactly — $25.00 plus 1% of $99,000 is $1,015.00, the printed base of the next band; $1,015 plus 0.9% of $100,000 is $1,915.00 — so the ladder is one marginal rate table over a $25.00 base, and the arithmetic closes at every seam. The final band prints '0.2% of the amount over $800,000' for the $900,001+ bracket, continuing the band below's rate — charged as printed.
The bundled-dwelling rule runs both ways: a new dwelling pays no separate electrical permit and no administration fee, because the building permit's flat amount already carries the trade.
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 is Exhibit A's electrical permit fee. It excludes:
- The building permit and its plan check — on the building page.
- Stand-alone commercial trade plan checking ($200, if required) — a general fee recorded in the research file.
- Re-inspection ($100), after-hours inspections ($150/hr), special inspection (minimum $25) and investigation ($100/hr) — event fees.
- Work-before-permit doubling ($250 min, $1,000 max) — a penalty regime, not a fee schedule row.
What you need before applying
- Each trade permit is for individual structuresRequired
Section B's own words: 'Each permit is for individual structures' — a trade permit prices one structure's contract price, not a whole project's.
Common questions
How much is an electrical permit in Cedar Rapids?
Named scopes are $75.00 flat (Section A): residential service installs — new, repair or replacement — residential photovoltaic systems, detached garages and temporary power poles. Everything else prices on the Section B ladder: $25.00 flat to $1,000 of trade contract price, then 1% of the amount over $1,000, easing to 0.2% in the highest bands.
Do I need a separate electrical permit for a new house?
No. 'New one/two-family and townhouse structures not greater than 4 units shall be included in the building permit fee' — the electrical, mechanical, plumbing and erosion-control fees are inside the building permit's flat amount.
What contract price does the trade ladder read?
The trade's own: 'based on the total contract price or estimated final invoice for that trade' — not the whole project's valuation. Each permit is also 'for individual structures', so a two-building job prices two permits.
How is a $50,000 electrical contract priced?
$25.00 plus 1% of $49,000 = $515.00. The 1% band runs to $100,000 of contract price; above it the marginal rate steps down — 0.9% to $200,000, 0.8% to $300,000, and so on to 0.2% above $800,000.
Does the $20 administration fee apply to electrical permits?
The Exhibit's administration fee is stated 'in addition to the permit fee, except where noted', and its noted exceptions are the residential new-construction table and the ADA-ramp row — building-permit lines. This site charges it on the building page only.
Who can pull an electrical permit in Cedar Rapids?
Electrical permits are issued to licensed, insured contractors; homeowners of their single-family residence may pull permits for work they perform themselves. The City licenses electrical, heating, air-conditioning and plumbing contractors through Building Services.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- OrdinanceCityPrimary source
Read 2026-09-26. The PDF (9 pp., HTTP 200 application/pdf from the City's CMS host; the City's HTML pages 403 scripted requests) embeds its text in a Type 3 font with no usable ToUnicode map — pdftotext and PyMuPDF return glyph codes — so the pages were rendered to PNG at 150 dpi and OCR-read (RapidOCR). Carries: the $20 administration fee with its stated exceptions; the residential new-construction flat area table ($1,000/$1,400/$2,400, trades bundled, no admin fee); Table A valuation bands above $100,000 (residential $671.48 + $3.68, $2,141.48 + $3.15, $3,716.48 + $2.10; commercial $987.00 + $5.36, $3,147.90 + $4.62, $5,507.25 + $3.05 — every band 'or fraction thereof'); the 40% plan check for non-R-3 buildings over $1,000 of valuation; trade Section A flats at $75; and the shared Section B trade ladder ($25 flat to $1,000, then 1%/0.9%/0.8%/0.7%/0.6%/0.5%/0.4%/0.3%/0.2%/0.2% marginal bands whose bases chain exactly). Table B (valuations $1–$100,000, 100 rows) is recorded in the research file and not modelled — OCR interleaves its two fee columns.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.