Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis building permit cost
A Minneapolis building permit is priced by the formula the schedule itself prints:
Building Permit Fee + Plan Review Fee (65% × the permit fee) + MN State Surcharge (Value of Work × 0.0005) = Total Permit Fee. The permit fee is a nine-band ladder of "first $X plus $Y each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof" — $36.70 at the bottom, $84.20 minimum — and the fraction phrase buys a whole step, which the schedule's own anchor at $2,001 proves.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building permit — $36.70 on work up to $500 (minimum fee applies)Permit fee | $36.70 flat fee | Project valuation up to $500 | min $84.20 |
| Building permit — $501 to $2,000: $36.70 plus $4.50 each additional $100 and fraction thereofPermit fee | $36.70 + $45.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $500, or fraction thereof | Project valuation over $500 and up to $2,000 | — |
| Building permit — $2,001 to $25,000: $104.20 plus $20.60 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereofPermit fee | $104.20 + $20.60 per $1,000 of project valuation above $2,000, or fraction thereof | Project valuation over $2,000 and up to $25,000 | — |
| Building permit — $25,001 to $50,000: $578.00 plus $14.90 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereofPermit fee | $578.00 + $14.90 per $1,000 of project valuation above $25,000, or fraction thereof | Project valuation over $25,000 and up to $50,000 | — |
| Building permit — $50,001 to $100,000: $950.50 plus $10.60 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereofPermit fee | $950.50 + $10.60 per $1,000 of project valuation above $50,000, or fraction thereof | Project valuation over $50,000 and up to $100,000 | — |
| Building permit — $100,001 to $500,000: $1,480.50 plus $8.40 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereofPermit fee | $1,480.50 + $8.40 per $1,000 of project valuation above $100,000, or fraction thereof | Project valuation over $100,000 and up to $500,000 | — |
| Building permit — $500,001 to $1,000,000: $4,840.50 plus $6.90 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereofPermit fee | $4,840.50 + $6.90 per $1,000 of project valuation above $500,000, or fraction thereof | Project valuation over $500,000 and up to $1,000,000 | — |
| Building permit — $1,000,001 and up: $8,290.50 plus $5.60 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereofPermit fee | $8,290.50 + $5.60 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000,000, or fraction thereof | Project valuation over $1,000,000 | — |
| Plan review — 65% of the building permit feePlan review | 65% of calculated permit fee | Every permit of this type | — |
| Minnesota state surcharge — Value of Work × 0.0005State surcharge | 0.05% of project valuation | Every permit of this type | — |
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 $150,000 addition — new construction valued inside band 5 of the ladder, the ordinary mid-size residential job.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Project valuation | $150,000 |
Example total
$3,210.83
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 10
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Building permit — $100,001 to $500,000: $1,480.50 plus $8.40 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereofPermit feeThe schedule's "$100,001.00-$500,000.00 $1,480.50 - first $100,000 plus $8.40 each add'l $1000 and fraction thereof including $500,000".Show the working
| $1,480.50 + $8.40 per $1,000 of project valuation above $100,000, or fraction thereof, in $1,000 steps | $1,900.50 |
Plan review — 65% of the building permit feePlan reviewThe schedule's own formula, in its first row: "Building Permit Fee + Plan Review Fee (65% x building permit fee) + MN State Surcharge (Value of Work x 0.0005) = Total Permit Fee". The plan review is 65% of whatever the ladder computed — the same sheet defines the relationship, so no separate plan-review table exists. Declared as a plan-review component reading `permit_fee`, the engine's base subtotal, so the 65% is of the permit fee alone and not of the surcharge.Show the working
| 65% of calculated permit fee | $1,235.33 |
Minnesota state surcharge — Value of Work × 0.0005State surchargeThe schedule's formula term: "MN State Surcharge (Value of Work x 0.0005)". Five cents for each $1,000 of the work's value — a factor of 0.0005, stated on the sheet and charged on the work rather than on the fee. The plumbing sheet's own surcharge is different — $1.00 per application — and is charged there as its schedule states it.Show the working
| 0.05% of project valuation | $75.00 |
| Total | $3,210.83 |
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.
- Building permit — $36.70 on work up to $500 (minimum fee applies) — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Building permit — $501 to $2,000: $36.70 plus $4.50 each additional $100 and fraction thereof — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Building permit — $2,001 to $25,000: $104.20 plus $20.60 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Building permit — $25,001 to $50,000: $578.00 plus $14.90 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Building permit — $50,001 to $100,000: $950.50 plus $10.60 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Building permit — $500,001 to $1,000,000: $4,840.50 plus $6.90 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Building permit — $1,000,001 and up: $8,290.50 plus $5.60 each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof — 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 ladder term, band 5: $950.50 for the first $50,000 plus $10.60 for each $1,000 of the $100,000 above it — one hundred steps, $1,060.00 — so the permit fee is $2,010.50.
The formula's other terms: plan review at 65% of the permit fee is $1,306.83, and the state surcharge at 0.0005 of $150,000 is $75.00. The total permit fee is $3,392.33 — the sheet's three components, each on its own basis.
At the seam below, $50,001 of value would buy one $10.60 step over the $950.50 base — $961.10 — because "and fraction thereof" rounds the single dollar up to a whole step. And at $500 exactly the minimum governs: $84.20 of permit fee, before the formula adds its other two terms.
What is different in Minneapolis
The ladder is marginal: each band's base is the schedule's own printed number and the rate inside it steps per $1,000 (band 2, alone, steps per $100 at $4.50). $25,000 of work sits in band 3: $104.20 plus 23 × $20.60 — $578.20 computed, $578.00 printed at the seam, and the schedule's printed figure wins. $100,000 of work: $950.50. $500,000: $4,840.50 plus $8.40 steps in band 6.
The formula's other two terms read different bases. The plan review is 65% of the permit fee — of the ladder's output, not of the job — so $578.00 of permit fee carries $375.70 of plan review. The state surcharge is 0.0005 of the work: five cents per $1,000, $12.50 on $25,000. One scales with the fee, the other with the job, which is why the sheet prints all three as one formula.
The minimum is $84.20 of permit fee "does not include State Surcharge" — the sheet's own parenthesis — so a job valued at $500 pays the $84.20 floor plus 65% ($54.73) plus the surcharge. And the two-cent seam is worth naming: the printed bases are the schedule's numbers, not arithmetic a calculator derives, and where the two disagree by pennies the schedule wins.
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 the building-permit term of the schedule's formula — the ladder and the $84.20 minimum. It excludes:
- The detached-garage schedule — "See Minneapolis detached garage fee schedule", a separate instrument the sheet names.
- The plan review and the surcharge as separate instruments — they are terms of the same formula here, charged beside the ladder exactly as the sheet's first row prints them.
- The code's valuation rules as a calculation — what counts toward construction value is fixed by 1300.0160 Subp 3, bulletin 058 and §91.220, quoted on the page; the calculator reads the value the code defines, it does not derive it.
- Technology fees — none exist on the sheet, and the state surcharge is the only levy above the City's own.
- Parkland dedication, signs, code compliance and refunds — separate City fee pages in the same fee index.
What you need before applying
- Construction value is determined by code language, not by the applicant's say-soRequired
The schedule's footnote: "Construction Value to be included in determining building permit valuation in accordance with building code language (1300.0160 Subp 3), bulletin 058 and Minneapolis Code of Ordinances (Title 5, Ch. 91, Article II, Section 91.220)". The valuation the ladder reads is the code's construction value — what must be included is fixed by ordinance and a state bulletin, which is what the whole fee ultimately scales from.
- Fees move only by City Council directiveRequired
Both fee pages state it: "Fees are updated upon City Council directive (or action)." The schedules carry no date of their own; the pages stamp February 27, 2026 as their last update. A fee on this site is therefore dated to that stamp, and a reader checking a later date should confirm the Council has not acted since.
Common questions
How much is a building permit in Minneapolis?
The schedule prints the formula: Building Permit Fee + Plan Review Fee (65% × the permit fee) + MN State Surcharge (Value of Work × 0.0005). The permit fee is a nine-band ladder — $36.70 at $500 and below ($84.20 minimum), stepping per $1,000 and fraction thereof to $5.60 a step above $1,000,000. A $150,000 job is $2,010.50 of permit fee.
Does Minneapolis round the valuation up to the next $1,000?
Inside each band, yes — every band after the first reads 'plus $Y each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof', and the schedule's own anchor proves the reading: $2,001 of value is $104.20, the printed base plus one whole $20.60 step for the single dollar. The fraction buys the whole step.
How is the plan review fee calculated?
Exactly as the formula says: 65% of the building permit fee. There is no separate plan-review table — the relationship is the schedule's first row. The 65% scales with the fee, not with the job, which is why the formula's third term reads a different base.
What is the Minnesota state surcharge?
On the building sheet, 'Value of Work x 0.0005' — five cents for each $1,000 of the work's value, so $12.50 on a $25,000 job. The plumbing sheet's surcharge is different, a flat $1.00 per application, and each sheet is charged as it states. It is the only levy above the City's own; there is no technology fee.
Why does the calculator use $578.00 at $25,000 when the bands compute $578.20?
Because the printed base is the schedule's own number: each band's base is what the sheet prints at that band's start, and at the $25,000 seam the sheet prints $578.00 where the previous band's arithmetic lands at $578.20 — a two-cent rounding the schedule itself contains. The printed figure wins; the calculator does not smooth a seam the document holds.
Is the minimum fee different for residential and commercial?
No — the schedule's own row is 'Minimum Fee - Residential or Commercial $84.20', one floor for both, with the parenthetical '(does not include State Surcharge)'. The formula's plan review and surcharge add on top. The plumbing sheet's minimum is the one that includes its surcharge, and the two sheets say so in their own parentheses.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Minneapolis Building Permit Fee Schedule (published Smartsheet)
Read 2026-09-25 as static HTML from the City's own "View full screen" link on the Building permit fees page — the sheet renders server-side, so every cell is readable without a browser. The first row is the formula the whole schedule implements: "Building Permit Fee + Plan Review Fee (65% x building permit fee) + MN State Surcharge (Value of Work x 0.0005) = Total Permit Fee". Nine value bands follow, each "first $X plus $Y each additional $1,000 and fraction thereof" (band 2 in $100 steps), with the $84.20 minimum marked "(does not include State Surcharge)" and a footnote citing 1300.0160 Subp 3, bulletin 058 and §91.220. Also on the sheet: "Detached garages — See Minneapolis detached garage fee schedule".
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Permit fee pages — building and plumbing (the pages that embed the schedules)
Read 2026-09-25. Both pages stamp "Last updated on February 27, 2026" — the date carried as the schedules' effectiveFrom, because the sheets say "Fees are updated upon City Council directive (or action)" and print no date of their own. Both carry the Development Review contact block (612-673-3000, Public Service Building, 505 Fourth Ave. S., Room 220; Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday 9 a.m.-4 p.m.) and embed the schedules with a "View full screen" link.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.