Portland, OR
Portland plumbing permit cost
A Portland plumbing permit for a new one- or two-family dwelling is priced by how many baths it has:
$792.00 for one bath, $1,187.00 for two, $1,388.00 for three and $334.00 for each additional bath or kitchen, with 100 feet included for each utility connection. Everything else — an alteration, an addition, a replaced water heater — is $63.00 per fixture or item across more than thirty named rows. Plan review is 25% of the permit fee and the state adds 12%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New one- or two-family dwelling, 1 bathPermit fee | $792.00 flat fee | dwelling scope is new 1 2 family and bathrooms is 1 | — |
| New one- or two-family dwelling, 2 bathPermit fee | $1,187.00 flat fee | dwelling scope is new 1 2 family and bathrooms is 2 | — |
| New one- or two-family dwelling, 3 bathPermit fee | $1,388.00 flat fee | dwelling scope is new 1 2 family and bathrooms is 3 | — |
| New dwelling, each additional bath or kitchen, $334.00Permit fee | $1,388.00 for the first 3 bathrooms or kitchens, plus $334.00 for each additional bathroom or kitchen | dwelling scope is new 1 2 family and bathrooms over 3 | — |
| Each fixture or item, $63.00Permit fee | $63.00 per fixture | dwelling scope is not provided | — |
| Replacing in-building water supply lines, residential, $128.00 first floor and $52.00 each afterPermit fee | $128.00 for the first story, plus $52.00 for each additional story | plumbing item is water lines residential and stories over 0 | — |
| Plumbing plan review fee, 25% of the permit feePlan review | 25% of calculated permit fee | Every permit of this type | — |
| State of Oregon surcharge, 12% of the permit feeState surcharge | 12% of calculated permit fee | 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 new two-bath single family house in Portland, filed as one plumbing permit before construction.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of bathrooms or kitchens | 2 |
| Dwelling scope | new_1_2_family |
Example total
$1,626.19
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 8
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
New one- or two-family dwelling, 2 bathPermit fee"New 1 & 2 Family Dwellings Only - Includes 100 feet for each utility connection — Single Family Residence (2) bath — $1,187.00". The row is the whole plumbing permit for that dwelling, which is why the per-fixture rules are excluded when it applies.Show the working
| $1,187.00 flat fee | $1,187.00 |
Plumbing plan review fee, 25% of the permit feePlan reviewThe schedule's plan review row prints "25% of total mechanical permit fee - Maximum number of allowable checksheets: 2" — the word "mechanical" is a slip in the City's own document, since the heading above it is "Plan Review Fee" and the paragraph above that scopes the fee to plumbing and medical gas systems under OAR 918-780-0040. Read as 25% of the plumbing permit fee, on the `permit_fee` basis, and recorded as a reading.Show the working
| 25% of calculated permit fee | $296.75 |
State of Oregon surcharge, 12% of the permit feeState surchargeThe Building Codes Division's own backgrounder: "A state surcharge fee of 12% is applied to all building permit types issued in the State of Oregon" and "Surcharge fees are calculated by using the total permit fee: Total permit fee × 0.12 (12%)", for building, mechanical, plumbing (including fixtures), electrical (including services) and structural permits. It implements ORS 455.210(4), which imposes four surcharges on "the total permit fees": 4% for state administrative costs, 2% for state inspection costs, up to 1% for administering and enforcing the state building code, and 4% for the electronic building codes information system. Read on `permit_fee` — the figure the permit fee table produces — and not on plan review, which is itself a percentage of that figure; the alternative reading is stated on the pages with its size.Show the working
| 12% of calculated permit fee | $142.44 |
| Total | $1,626.19 |
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.
- New one- or two-family dwelling, 1 bath — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- New one- or two-family dwelling, 3 bath — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- New dwelling, each additional bath or kitchen, $334.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Each fixture or item, $63.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Replacing in-building water supply lines, residential, $128.00 first floor and $52.00 each after — 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 dwelling row applies, so the permit fee is the published $1,187.00 for a two-bath single family residence and nothing is added per fixture — the row itself includes 100 feet for each utility connection. Plan review is 25% of the permit fee, $296.75, and the state surcharge is 12% of the same $1,187.00, $142.44. Total: $1,626.19.
A one-bath house on the same schedule is $792.00 before review and surcharge, a three-bath house $1,388.00, and a four-bath house $1,388.00 plus one $334.00 additional bath — and it is worth seeing how far those rows are from the per-fixture rate. The same four-bath house charged at $63.00 a fixture, with four water closets, four basins, a tub, a shower, a kitchen sink, a dishwasher and a water heater in it, would be a third of that. The two rates answer different questions, which is why the page asks which one applies rather than assuming the larger.
If the same work were an alteration to an existing house rather than a new dwelling, the dwelling row would not be available at all: it says "New 1 & 2 Family Dwellings Only", and the permit would be $63.00 per fixture or item, so four fixtures would be $252.00 with $63.00 of plan review and $30.24 of surcharge — $345.24 in all.
What is different in Portland
There are two prices for plumbing work in Portland and they are not a scale of each other. A new house is priced by how many baths it has: "New 1 & 2 Family Dwellings Only — Single Family Residence (1) bath — $792.00; (2) bath — $1,187.00; (3) bath — $1,388.00; Each additional bath/kitchen — $334.00", and the row "includes 100 feet for each utility connection". Everything else is $63.00 per fixture or item, from a water heater to a water closet to a hose bibb, a dishwasher, a garbage disposal, a backflow preventer and an ice maker, across more than thirty named rows on the schedule.
Which of the two applies is the question the page asks first, because a house priced by its baths and then charged again for its fixtures would be billed twice for one permit. The rule that prices the dwelling's baths therefore excludes the $63.00 rows entirely, and the $63.00 rows apply only where the dwelling row does not.
The bath-based method is not the City's invention and neither is the 100 feet. OAR 918-050-0100 requires it: a residential plumbing permit fee "includes one kitchen and is based on the number of bathrooms, from one to three, on a graduated scale", with "an additional set fee" for each additional bath or kitchen, and "no additional fee shall be charged for the first 100 feet of water and sewer lines, hose bibbs, icemakers, underfloor low-point drains, and rain drain packages". The rule also lists what the plumbing permit does not include — storm water retention or detention facilities, irrigation and fire suppression systems, and any water, sewer or storm piping past the first 100 feet — which is why the schedule prices exterior lines separately at $180.00 for the first 100 feet and $137.00 for each additional 100.
Two smaller rows are worth knowing. Replacing in-building water supply lines in a residence is $128.00 for the first floor and $52.00 for each additional floor; the commercial route beside it is priced per branch rather than per floor, $128.00 for the first five branches and $31.00 for each fixture branch over five. And the fixture list has a second, more expensive sewer cap row at $159.00, separate from the $63.00 "Fixture/Sewer cap" two pages earlier.
Plan review is 25% of the plumbing permit fee, on the same row as the electrical schedule's, and the schedule's own text there is a mistake worth naming: it reads "25% of total mechanical permit fee". The heading above it says "Plan Review Fee", the paragraph above that scopes the charge to plumbing and medical gas systems under OAR 918-780-0040, and the only reading that makes it a plumbing fee is 25% of the plumbing permit fee, which is how it is modelled here and recorded in the research file. Then the 12% state surcharge, which applies to plumbing permits "including fixtures".
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 estimate is the plumbing schedule's dwelling or fixture fee, plan review at 25% of that fee and the 12% state surcharge. It excludes:
- Exterior and site line work: rain drain, sanitary sewer, storm sewer and water service rows at $180.00 for the first 100 feet plus $137.00 per additional 100 feet, interior mainline water and drainage piping on the same terms, site utility catch basins and area drains at $63.00, manufactured home utilities at $144.00, and the standalone storm water retention or detention facility row at $162.00.
- The commercial route for replacing in-building water supply lines, which is priced per branch rather than per floor: $128.00 for the first five branches and $31.00 for each fixture branch over five.
- The rows of the fixture list not modelled: solar potable water units at $139.00, the $159.00 sewer cap row, commercial roof drains at $63.00, and the irrigation and fire suppression systems the state's rule excludes from the plumbing permit altogether.
- Every hourly charge: additional plan review, and the inspection and plan review hourly rates the schedule's miscellaneous pages carry.
- Anything else on the same project: the building permit with its Development Services Fee, its 65% plan review and 12% surcharge; the electrical permit; the mechanical permit; and the separate sewer, stormwater and water charges billed by the Bureau of Environmental Services and the Portland Water Bureau, which are utility accounts rather than permit fees.
- The $63.00 per-fixture rate applied to a new house. If the dwelling row applies, the fixtures are already inside it — 100 feet per utility connection included — and the two are never added together on this site.
- The cost of the fixtures and their installation, which is the work rather than the permit.
What you need before applying
- A new house is priced by the number of baths, not by the number of fixturesRequired
The plumbing schedule's first table is "New 1 & 2 Family Dwellings Only": $792.00 for a one-bath single family residence, $1,187.00 for two, $1,388.00 for three and $334.00 for each additional bath or kitchen. OAR 918-050-0100 is where that method comes from: a residential plumbing permit fee "includes one kitchen and is based on the number of bathrooms, from one to three, on a graduated scale", with "an additional set fee... for each additional bath or kitchen". The same rule is why the row says "Includes 100 feet for each utility connection" — no additional fee is charged "for the first 100 feet of water and sewer lines, hose bibbs, icemakers, underfloor low-point drains, and rain drain packages". Every other plumbing permit, including an addition or an alteration to a house, is $63.00 per fixture or item.
Common questions
How much is a plumbing permit in Portland?
For a new one- or two-family dwelling it is priced by the number of baths: $792.00 for one, $1,187.00 for two, $1,388.00 for three and $334.00 for each additional bath or kitchen, with 100 feet included for each utility connection. For anything else it is $63.00 per fixture or item, from a water heater to a hose bibb. Plan review is 25% of the permit fee and the state surcharge is 12%.
How much is a water heater permit?
A replaced water heater is one fixture on the $63.00 row, so if it is the only item on the permit the plumbing fee is $63.00, with $15.75 of plan review and $7.56 of surcharge — $86.31 in all. It is not covered by the dwelling row, which is only for a new one- or two-family dwelling.
Why is a plumbing permit priced by baths instead of fixtures?
Because the state's rule says so. OAR 918-050-0100 requires a residential plumbing permit fee to "include one kitchen" and be "based on the number of bathrooms, from one to three, on a graduated scale", with an additional set fee for each additional bath or kitchen — and that no additional fee be charged for the first 100 feet of water and sewer lines, hose bibbs, icemakers, underfloor low-point drains and rain drain packages. The City's schedule is the graduated scale, $792.00 to $1,388.00 plus $334.00 a bath thereafter.
Does the plumbing permit include the sewer line to the street?
The first 100 feet are included through the dwelling row's "Includes 100 feet for each utility connection", and the state's rule is what requires that. Beyond it the schedule prices exterior lines separately: rain drain, sanitary sewer, storm sewer and water service are each $180.00 for the first 100 feet and $137.00 for each additional 100 feet, and those rows are "in addition to the unit fixture fees".
What is the plan review percentage for plumbing?
25% of the plumbing permit fee, capped at two allowable checksheets. The row in the City's own schedule prints "25% of total mechanical permit fee", which is a copy-and-paste slip: the heading above it is "Plan Review Fee" and the paragraph above that scopes the charge to plumbing and medical gas systems under OAR 918-780-0040. Read as 25% of the plumbing permit fee — and note that a building plan review in the same jurisdiction is 65%.
Are fixtures charged on top of a new house's plumbing fee?
No. The dwelling rows are the whole plumbing permit for a new one- or two-family dwelling — they are headed "New 1 & 2 Family Dwellings Only" and include 100 feet for each utility connection. The $63.00 per-fixture rate applies to work that is not a new dwelling: an alteration, an addition, a replacement, or any plumbing in a commercial or multi-family building. Adding the two together would bill one permit twice.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Plumbing Permit Fee Schedule, City of Portland, effective July 10, 2026
Four pages, sha256 beginning 7388a9804250, read in three modes, and again identical in every amount to the county's plumbing schedule. It prices a new one- or two-family dwelling by how many baths it has — $792.00, $1,187.00, $1,388.00 and $334.00 for each one after that — and prices everything else at $63.00 per fixture or item across more than thirty named rows. Its plan review row prints "25% of total mechanical permit fee", a copy-and-paste slip in the City's own document; the row is read as 25% of the plumbing permit fee and the slip is recorded in `research/oregon/portland.md` and on the page.
- State agencyStatePrimary source
State of Oregon Permit Surcharge Fee — BCD backgrounder
The same 12% the city's pages carry, because it is the state's and not either jurisdiction's: "A state surcharge fee of 12% is applied to all building permit types issued in the State of Oregon", applied as "Total permit fee × 0.12", and it implements the four surcharges of ORS 455.210(4) — 4% for state administrative costs, 2% for state inspection costs, up to 1% for administering the state building code and 4% for the electronic building codes information system. It covers building, mechanical, plumbing including fixtures, electrical including services and structural permits, so it is on all three permits this page prices.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.