Planning and Community Development — Building Regulations Division
- Phone
- (603) 624-6475
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM
New Hampshire
Manchester, NH permit fees and requirements
Manchester prices most permits as a percentage of the certified estimated cost of the work:
.006 for a new one- or two-family dwelling, .010 for every other new building, addition, alteration or repair, .015 for commercial electrical and for plumbing that is not a new house, and .01 for residential electrical modifications. Low-voltage wiring, demolition and residential new construction are priced by the item instead. Every permit carries a $25.00 non-refundable application fee and a $30.00 minimum, which together are the $55.00 the City's own forms print.
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 Manchester permit fee with our Building Permit Fee Calculator.
| Permit | Category | Last reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Manchester building permit cost | structural | 2026-09-25 |
| Manchester electrical permit cost | electrical | 2026-09-25 |
| Manchester plumbing permit cost | plumbing | 2026-09-25 |
Local context
What is specific to Manchester
Three things about Manchester are worth reading before any number here.
The first is that the fees are in the Building Code itself. There is no separate fee schedule document to hunt for: Sec. 151.10.4 of the Building Code of the City of Manchester says that "fees for any and all permits issued under the Building Code are defined in the Fee Table inserted as an amendment to the International Building Code at Section 109.8", and Section 109.8 is a ten-page schedule covering building, demolition, signs, storage tanks, heating, gas piping, electrical wiring, plumbing and elevators. Since 2021 Manchester enforces the State Building Code adopted under RSA 155-A with local amendments, and the fee table is one of those amendments.
The second is the minimum, and the way it composes. The schedule says there "shall be a $25.00 non-refundable application fee for all permits" and "a minimum permit fee of $30.00 for all permits requiring inspections", and the City's Electrical and Plumbing applications print the arithmetic as one line: \"$30 MINIMUM FEE + $25 APPLICATION FEE: $55.00\". The two add rather than net, which matters for a small job and is why the calculator here treats the application fee as a charge on top of the permit fee rather than part of it. It also means a $400 job and a $2,000 job can cost the same $55.00.
The third is that the trades are not symmetric, and the pages here do not pretend they are. New residential electrical work is priced by the dwelling unit — $100.00 for the first, $75.00 for each additional — while new residential plumbing is a different flat pair, $150.00 and $100.00. Alterations run the other way: residential electrical work is .01 of cost, plumbing is .015 of cost, and commercial electrical work is .015. The one shape all three share is the application fee, the $30.00 minimum, and a re-inspection fee of at least $30.00 when an inspector has to come back.
Valuation
How valuation is determined here
Manchester prices from the estimated cost of the work, which Sec. 109.3(A) defines as "the estimated cost as certified by the owner or by the authorized representative of the owner, and as approved by the building official". Sec. 109.3(B) says that cost applies to the gross square footage of the building and "shall include all permanent structural, electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems, interior and exterior finish, site work, overhead and profit" — so it is a project cost, not a construction contract price. If the building official thinks the figure is low, the same section lets them use "a Type of Construction Method based on aggregate floor area or any other reasonable method based on industry standards".
This site never substitutes a square-foot rate for a valuation, and Manchester does not publish one. Plan review is the exception in form rather than in kind: it is charged at $0.02 per square foot of building area rather than per dollar of cost, and it is a separate fee that is not counted toward the $30.00 minimum.
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 are Manchester's building, electrical and plumbing permit fees as published in the City's Building Code, with the application fee and the minimum that attach to every permit. They are not a total project cost, and they exclude:
- Heating, ventilation and gas piping permits, which Sec. 109.8 item 8 prices row by row — $40.00 for a residential system serving one dwelling unit, $50.00 for two, $75.00 for three to six, $125.00 for seven to twelve and $15.00 for each unit over twelve, $75.00 for a commercial installation up to 100,000 BTU plus $0.20 per additional 1,000 BTU, $30.00 for a burner replacement alone, $15.00 for other minor heating alterations, $20.00 for the first fifty lineal feet of gas piping plus $0.05 per foot after that, $4.00 per outlet, and $15.00 for ventilation ductwork up to 400 CFM plus $10.00 per additional 400 CFM. This site's third Manchester page is plumbing, not mechanical, so these are documented rather than modelled.
- Storage tanks ($15.00 to $150.00 by gallonage), signs ($50.00 up to 50 square feet plus $1.50 per square foot over, $35.00 for a temporary sign), foundation permits issued in advance ($75.00 for a one- or two-family dwelling, $300.00 for anything else), yard sale permits ($5.00) and bazaars ($10.00).
- The elevator, escalator, dumbwaiter, conveyor and amusement-device table in item 12, which runs from $20.00 for an amusement device to $150.00 for an initial compliance inspection on a device the State does not permit.
- The 100% surcharge for work started without a permit, the $300.00 appeal fee, and the $35.00 the City keeps when an unstarted permit is returned for cancellation.
- The deferral for affordable housing in Sec. 109.9, under which building permit fees, including subtrade permits, may be deferred to project completion.
- Plan review at $0.02 per square foot is shown on the building page but not folded into the electrical or plumbing pages, because each was measured on its own application.
- Anything charged by another authority. Manchester is a city inside Hillsborough County, and the State of New Hampshire licenses the trades, charges its own fees, and runs the building permit programme for projects it covers rather than the City.
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.
- Official documentCityPrimary source
Application for Electrical Permit, City of Manchester (form effective 09/02/14)
Read 2026-09-25 as a PDF. Its arithmetic column reproduces Sec. 109.8 item 11 line for line and prints the minimum as "$30 MINIMUM FEE + $25 APPLICATION FEE: $55.00" — the sentence this site's model reproduces exactly.
- Official documentCityPrimary source
Application for Heating Permit, City of Manchester (form effective 09/02/14)
Read 2026-09-25 as a PDF and again through its text coordinates, because its two-column table renders with the rate column shifted by one row. Its heating, gas piping, ductwork and storage-tank rows agree item for item with Sec. 109.8 item 8, which is what settled the pairing: the form's own order gives $75.00 for a commercial installation up to 100,000 BTU and $30.00 for a burner replacement alone, both of which the code prints. Heating is transcribed and not attached to a page, because Manchester's third page is plumbing.
- Official documentCityPrimary source
Application for Plumbing Permit, City of Manchester (form effective 09/02/14)
Read 2026-09-25 as a PDF. Prints "ESTIMATED COST OF JOB $____ X .015" above its itemised plumbing list, which is Sec. 109.8 item 9(B); the itemised column itself carries no rates, and the current code does not publish one either.
- Municipal codeCityPrimary source
Read 2026-09-25 as a PDF. Adopted July 6, 2021, and the operative ordinance: Sec. 151.10.4 states that "fees for any and all permits issued under the Building Code are defined in the Fee Table inserted as an amendment to the International Building Code at Section 109.8". Carries the building, plan-review, demolition, sign, storage-tank, heating, gas-piping, electrical and plumbing rows, the $25.00 application fee, the $30.00 minimum permit fee, the re-inspection minimum and the refund rule.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Building Fees — City of Manchester
Read 2026-09-25. Restates the building rows — ".006" for a new one- or two-family dwelling, ".01" for all other new construction, additions, alterations, renovations and repairs — and adds the plan review rate of ".02 per square foot ... for all multi-family and commercial building permit applications". Corroborates the Building Code rather than replacing it.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Permit Applications — City of Manchester
Read 2026-09-25. The trade applications and the licensing requirement behind them: "all multi-family dwellings, non owner-occupied single family dwellings and commercial projects require a licensed NH Master electrician", and a licensed New Hampshire plumber for plumbing. States that trade applications "must be printed, signed and submitted to the Planning and Community Development Department by mail along with the appropriate fees".