Buffalo, NY
Buffalo electrical permit cost
A Buffalo electrical permit is either a flat fee or a price on square footage
and the plans decide which: with no drawings required by the Building Code, a $50 application plus one flat row ($50 for one-family work, $75 for both apartments of a two-family, $50 for a first meter release, $75 for a low-voltage system, $75 for site work); with plans, Schedule A's charges — $50 or $0.0025 × SF × multiplier for plan review, $50 or $0.0275 × SF × multiplier for permit and inspection, each floored at $50, times Schedule B's multiplier for the building's occupancy.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical permit — application fee, $50.00Other fee | $50.00 flat fee | Every permit of this type | — |
| Electrical permit — each electric meter, $25.00Permit fee | $25.00 per meter | plans required is true and meters over 0 | — |
| Electrical permit — area permit & inspection, $50 or $0.0275 × SF × multiplier, whichever is greaterPermit fee | Schedule B — occupancy/use multiplier × 2.75 per sq ft | plans required is true, and where the schedule publishes a rate for Elec occupancy | min $50.00 |
| Electrical permit — commercial solar panel, $3.00 eachPermit fee | $3.00 per electrical panel | plans required is true and commercial solar is true and panels over 0 | — |
| Electrical permit — flat fee, for low voltage applications for all systems installed by in ($75)Permit fee | $75.00 flat fee | not (plans required is true) and low voltage system is true | — |
| Electrical permit — low-voltage terminations, $5.00 eachPermit fee | $5.00 per low-voltage point | not (plans required is true) and low voltage system is true and low voltage points over 0 | — |
| Electrical permit — flat fee, meter releases for residential, commercial or industrial for ($50)Permit fee | $50.00 flat fee | not (plans required is true) and meter release is true | — |
| Electrical permit — flat fee, for any new electrical work at a one-family dwelling or at o ($50)Permit fee | $50.00 flat fee | not (plans required is true) and elec one family is true | — |
| Electrical permit — flat fee, for electrical site work (e.g. lighting & control gates, etc ($75)Permit fee | $75.00 flat fee | not (plans required is true) and elec site work is true | — |
| Electrical permit — flat fee, for any new electrical work at both apartments of a two-fami ($75)Permit fee | $75.00 flat fee | not (plans required is true) and elec two family both is true | — |
| Electrical permit — area plan review, $50 or $0.0025 × SF × multiplier, whichever is greaterPlan review | Schedule B — occupancy/use multiplier × 0.25 per sq ft | plans required is true, and where the schedule publishes a rate for Elec occupancy | min $50.00 |
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 5,000 sq. ft. alteration of an R-2 apartment building with plans required — Schedule A and Schedule B together, no meter or solar rows.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Project area | 5,000 sq ft |
| Elec occupancy | R-2 |
| Plans required | Yes |
Example total
$276.00
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 3Rules considered 11
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Electrical permit — application fee, $50.00Other feeFlat schedule: "APPLICATION FEE of $50 PLUS one of the following." Schedule A: "Application fee $50". The same non-refundable application fee answers both regimes — it is the plus-one of the flat schedule and the first of the area schedule's three charges — so exactly one of it is charged however the job is priced.Show the working
| $50.00 flat fee | $50.00 |
Electrical permit — area permit & inspection, $50 or $0.0275 × SF × multiplier, whichever is greaterPermit feeSchedule A: "PLUS permit & inspection fee $50 or $0.0275 x SF x multiplier (whichever is greater)". The charge for the permit and its inspections as one line, because the schedule prints them as one line: 2.75 cents per square foot times Schedule B's occupancy multiplier, floored at $50.00. 5,000 sq ft of R-2 is 5,000 × 2.75 × 1.28 = $176.00.Show the working
| $0.0352 per sq ft | $176.00 |
Electrical permit — area plan review, $50 or $0.0025 × SF × multiplier, whichever is greaterPlan reviewSchedule A: "PLUS plan review fee $50 or $0.0025 x SF x multiplier (whichever is greater)". The $50 is this rule's floor; the constant is a quarter of a cent per square foot; the multiplier is Schedule B's row for the occupancy named on the application (A and E are 1.5, R-2 is 1.28, R-3 is 0.5, and so on). The schedule calls the whole thing "whichever is greater", which is a floor on a rate rather than a fixed charge: 5,000 sq ft of R-2 computes $16.00 and pays the $50.00 floor; 50,000 sq ft of the same occupancy computes $160.00 and pays that.Show the working
| $0.0032 per sq ft | $50.00 |
| Total | $276.00 |
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.
- Electrical permit — each electric meter, $25.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — commercial solar panel, $3.00 each — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — flat fee, for low voltage applications for all systems installed by in ($75) — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — low-voltage terminations, $5.00 each — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — flat fee, meter releases for residential, commercial or industrial for ($50) — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — flat fee, for any new electrical work at a one-family dwelling or at o ($50) — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — flat fee, for electrical site work (e.g. lighting & control gates, etc ($75) — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — flat fee, for any new electrical work at both apartments of a two-fami ($75) — 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.
Schedule A's three charges, in the order the schedule lists them. Application fee: $50.00, the same $50 the flat schedule charges.
Plan review: $50.00 or $0.0025 × 5,000 × 1.28 — the R-2 multiplier of Schedule B — which computes $16.00, so the "whichever is greater" floor of $50.00 is what is paid.
Permit and inspection: $50.00 or $0.0275 × 5,000 × 1.28, which computes $176.00 and is above the floor, so $176.00 is paid.
Total: $50.00 + $50.00 + $176.00 = $276.00. What moves it: at 20,000 sq. ft. the same occupancy's plan review computes $64.00 and the floor stops binding; in an R-3 building (multiplier 0.5) the permit line computes $68.75 at this area; and an assembly occupancy's 1.5 multiplier lifts both rates by half again. Adding an electric meter is $25.00 each, and a commercial solar installation adds $3.00 per panel on the same two rows.
What is different in Buffalo
The two regimes are mutually exclusive by the schedule's own words: "All Electrical Flat Fee work is only when NO drawings or plans are required by the Building Code of New York State", and "When drawings and or plans are required fees will be derived using the area-calculated fee table, employing the building occupancy/use class multiplier". The application fee is the one charge both share — the flat schedule's "APPLICATION FEE of $50 PLUS one of the following" and Schedule A's first of three charges are the same $50.
In the area regime every charge is a product of two published numbers: the schedule's constant per square foot and Schedule B's multiplier for the occupancy named on the filing. Plan review is a quarter of a cent per square foot times the multiplier, permit and inspection two and three quarter cents times it, each with a $50 floor — "whichever is greater" is a floor on a rate, so a 5,000 sq. ft. R-2 alteration computes $16.00 of plan review and pays $50.00, while its permit and inspection computes $176.00 and pays that. Schedule B's table is stored as the table it is: assembly and educational are 1.5, business, factory and mercantile are 1, high hazard 2.25, R-2 is 1.28, R-3 is 0.5, and so on down the printed rows.
One gap is a fact about the City's document rather than a gap in this model: Schedule B's I-2, I-3 and I-4 rows print no multiplier at all — the I-2 row stops mid-sentence — so an application naming one of those occupancies is priced by no rate here, and the schedule is quoted rather than completed.
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 1 RCNY's counterpart for Buffalo — the flat schedule's application-plus-one, or Schedule A's area charges with Schedule B's multiplier. It excludes:
- The regime the plans did not choose. Flat rows answer only when no drawings or plans are required; the area rows answer only when they are. A job with plans carries no flat row, and a job without them carries no area row — the schedule's own either/or.
- Mixed-use per-use totals. Schedule A's instructions total each use on each floor separately and multiply each by its own Schedule B row, common areas at their floor's principal use. One occupancy and one area are collected here, so a mixed-use building's per-use arithmetic is the applicant's to add.
- The no-fee provisions the schedule refers to. "All other installations which are not subject of no-fee provisions have area-calculated permit fees" — the no-fee provisions themselves are not printed on this schedule, so an installation exempted elsewhere would still be priced here.
- Site work billed beside building work. The schedule adds the two when a job is both: "FOR WORK ON BOTH BUILDINGS & STRUCTURES AND SITES: add the total electric permit cost for Buildings & Structures and the permit cost for the Site Work." Enter the site work as its own flat row when that is what the job is.
- Heating and alarm work under other permits. Fire alarm systems are named in the schedule as an example of work that requires plans; the Department's other trade permits are separate permits, and no heating fee sheet was found on its pages this pass.
What you need before applying
- The plans decide which electrical schedule answersRequired
"All Electrical Flat Fee work is only when NO drawings or plans are required by the Building Code of New York State" — and, in the other regime, "When drawings and or plans are required fees will be derived using the area-calculated fee table, employing the building occupancy/use class multiplier." The flat schedule adds that flat fees "are not applicable for new construction projects or where plans are required by the Building Code of New York State, e.g. Fire Alarm Systems." One fact on this site — whether plans are required — chooses between the two, and they never answer together.
- Each use is totalled by floor and multiplied by its Schedule B rowRequired
Schedule A's own instructions: "Identify each use or occupancy on each floor, story, or mezzanine … calculate each area use in square footage … Total the sum of all similar uses … Apply the Area-Calculated Use Multiplier from Schedule B to each use total," with common areas charged at the principal use of their floor. A mixed-use building therefore computes once per use and adds the results; this site carries a single occupancy and its single area, so a mixed-use project's per-use totals are the applicant's to run — named on the page rather than silently approximated. Schedule B's I-2, I-3 and I-4 rows print no multiplier at all, and no rate is invented for them.
Common questions
How much is an electrical permit in Buffalo?
Two answers, chosen by the plans. Without plans required by the Building Code: a $50 application plus one flat row — $50 for new work at a one-family dwelling or one apartment of a two-family, $75 for both apartments, $50 for a first meter release, $75 per low-voltage system plus $5.00 per termination, or $75 for site work. With plans: the $50 application, then plan review at $50 or $0.0025 × SF × multiplier and permit and inspection at $50 or $0.0275 × SF × multiplier, each floored at $50, with Schedule B's occupancy multiplier.
What is the occupancy multiplier?
Schedule B of the area schedule: one printed row per class/use, applied to the square footage of each use. Assembly and educational are 1.5; business, factory and mercantile are 1; high hazard is 2.25; I-1 is 1.75; R-1 and R-2 are 1.28; R-3 is 0.5; R-4 is 1.34; S-1 and S-2 are 0.7; utility is 0.85. Each area charge is the schedule's own per-square-foot constant times that row.
What if the building's occupancy is I-2, I-3 or I-4?
The schedule prices it by nothing. Schedule B's rows for I-2, I-3 and I-4 print no multiplier — the I-2 row of the City's document stops mid-sentence — so no rate exists for them and none is invented. An application naming one of those occupancies gets the application fee and a schedule that does not say what the rest costs; the Department is the place to ask.
Does the permit include the meters and the panels?
Meters are their own line in the area regime: "PLUS each electric meter to be installed $25", charged per meter. Commercial solar is priced per panel at $3.00 beside the same plan review and permit rows. In the flat regime a first meter release is a $50 flat row instead — the two regimes never answer the same job.
How are low-voltage systems charged?
In the flat regime only: $75 "Per system PLUS $5.00 per termination" for telephone, data cabling, security, CCTV, thermostats, sound systems, intercoms and energy management systems installed by an individual contractor. The $75 is the flat row and the $5.00 is charged per termination; with plans required, low-voltage work falls under the area schedule instead, as the schedule's own note about fire alarm systems shows.
Can a job pay both a flat fee and an area charge?
Not for the same work. The flat schedule applies "only when NO drawings or plans are required", and the area schedule applies "When drawings and or plans are required" — an either/or printed by the schedule itself. What a job can do is combine a building project with site work, which the schedule says to add: the building total plus the site work's flat fee.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Read 2026-09-25. The URL is served as a Word file rather than a PDF — its type was checked with `file` rather than assumed — and was unzipped and read from its document XML; the file's metadata dates it 2017-05-31, and the schedule itself prints no date. Both regimes are transcribed from it: the flat schedule's "APPLICATION FEE of $50 PLUS one of the following" with its five rows and its $5-per-termination low-voltage plus, and Schedule A's three area charges (application $50; plan review $50 or $0.0025 × SF × multiplier; permit and inspection $50 or $0.0275 × SF × multiplier; plus $25 a meter and $3.00 a solar panel) with Schedule B's occupancy multipliers — including its three blank rows, I-2, I-3 and I-4, which print no multiplier and are modelled by no rate.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.