Louisville Metro Construction Review
- Phone
- (502) 574-3321
- Hours
- Customer Service 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday – Friday; Cashier 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Plan Review 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Kentucky
Louisville, KY permit fees and requirements
Louisville Metro prices construction permits through the Office of Construction Review under LMCO Chapter 150.096 promulgated fees
revised February 6, 2024. Building permits for new construction charge by occupancy type per square foot — $0.105 for one- and two-family residential, $0.14–$0.16 for most commercial uses — with no permit below $75.00. Work without a calculable area follows the estimated-cost ladder, $50.00 plus $2.50 per $1,000. Electrical permits run from a flat $200.00 initial one/two-family installation to $0.25 per service ampere (to 600 A) and $0.50 per ampere over, plus $25.00 subpanels and $85.00 temporary poles. Plumbing is the one trade Louisville does not price: Kentucky's Division of Plumbing permits it statewide at $50.00 plus $14.00 per opening (residential) under 815 KAR 20:050, with five inspections included.
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 Louisville permit fee with our Building Permit Fee Calculator.
| Permit | Category | Last reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Louisville Building Permit Cost | structural | 2026-09-26 |
| Louisville Electrical Permit Cost | electrical | 2026-09-26 |
| Louisville Plumbing Permit Cost | plumbing | 2026-09-26 |
Local context
What is specific to Louisville
Construction Review, at 444 S. 5th Street, is Louisville Metro's permit office: it issues construction permits, performs plan review and schedules inspections across all of Jefferson County's merged government. The fee schedule is 'promulgated' — set administratively under LMCO 150.096 rather than re-enacted row by row — and the 2024 revision carries the $75 minimum adopted in 2018. A fast-track elective lets builders pull foundation-only permits ($75 single-family, $125 other uses) before the full plan review finishes. Plan review itself prices at the greater of $30 or one third of the permit fee where an application is reviewed without a permit being issued.
Kentucky is a state-permitting state for plumbing: the Division of Plumbing inside the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction issues plumbing construction permits and inspects the work under the Kentucky State Plumbing Code, so the amounts on the plumbing page here are the state's, not Metro's.
Valuation
How valuation is determined here
New-construction building fees are computed from square footage (every floor, including finished basements, to the outside of exterior walls) at the occupancy's per-square-foot rate. Where square feet cannot be calculated — partial alterations, structures other than buildings — the fee uses the estimated cost of construction instead: $50.00 plus $2.50 per $1,000 or fraction thereof.
Who to contact
The office that issues the permit, with the details we have verified. Confirm current hours before travelling.
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 figures cover Louisville Metro Construction Review permit fees and the state plumbing permit that applies inside Louisville. They exclude:
- Plan review fees where an application is reviewed without a building permit being issued — the greater of $30.00 or one third the normal permit fee.
- Mechanical (HVAC), fire detection and suppression, wrecking, moving, sign and parking-lot permits, each priced on its own section of the promulgated schedule.
- Electrical inspections beyond those included with each permit type ($50.00 each).
- Metro sewer, MSD and water company tap, impact and connection charges.
- Penalty fees for work started without a permit — the same fee plus, for electrical work, a $1,000 minimum penalty.
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.
- OrdinanceStatePrimary source
Kentucky 815 KAR 20:050 — State Plumbing Permit Fees (Division of Plumbing, DHBC)
Kentucky administrative regulation fixing plumbing permit fees statewide: $50 base plus $14 per opening (residential 1-2 family) or $20 per opening (all other buildings), a single water heater replacement at $50 flat, five inspections included and $50 per additional inspection. Last amended by 48 Ky.R. 629, effective 3-1-2022. Regulation text read from the Legislature's page via an Internet Archive snapshot (2024-09-27); cross-checked against dhbc.ky.gov.
- State agencyStatePrimary source
Kentucky DHBC — Division of Plumbing (statewide plumbing permitting)
Confirms the Division of Plumbing issues plumbing construction permits statewide — 'No person, firm or corporation shall construct, install or alter any plumbing without first having procured a plumbing construction permit from the Division of Plumbing' — and summarizes the fee schedule: $50 base, $14 per opening residential, $20 commercial.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Louisville Metro Construction Review — Permit Fees page
Construction Review's Permit Fees page, restating the promulgated rows in prose (per-sq-ft occupancy table, $50 + $2.50 per $1,000 estimated cost, wrecking, signs, parking lots) and linking the promulgated-fees PDF; the department's address (444 S. 5th Street) and phone are verified from the Construction Review contact block.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Promulgated fee schedule under LMCO 150.096: Building & Tent per-square-foot table by KBC occupancy with the $75 permit minimum (item 10), the $50 + $2.50/$1,000 estimated-cost ladder (item 3), plan review at the greater of $30 or one third the permit fee (item 5), foundation-only fees (item 7), and the electrical schedule (items 1-8). Table and prose cross-checked in the layout-mode extraction.