Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I)
- Phone
- 215-686-8686
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., by appointment. Offices close at noon on the last Wednesday of each month.
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA permit fees and requirements
Philadelphia stacks four things on every L&I permit.
First a filing fee, paid when you apply — $25 for a one-or-two-family dwelling, $100 for any other occupancy, $100 flat for electrical and plumbing — which is nonrefundable but credited toward the permit fee, so it acts as a floor on that fee rather than a fifth charge. Second the permit fee itself, priced three different ways by trade: building from square-footage bands with a flat residential column, electrical from $25 for each $1,000 or fraction of estimated cost between a published $63 minimum and a published $18,975 maximum, plumbing from blocks of fixtures. Third a City surcharge of $3.00 and a State surcharge of $4.50 on every permit. Fourth a record retention fee of $4 per plan, which this site names but does not price. There is no separate plan review line anywhere: plan review is inside the permit fee, and the only line that prices it is the optional Accelerated Plan Review, which L&I says will not be credited.
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 Philadelphia permit fee with our Building Permit Fee Calculator.
| Permit | Category | Last reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia building permit cost | structural | 2026-09-25 |
| Philadelphia electrical permit cost | electrical | 2026-09-25 |
| Philadelphia plumbing permit cost | plumbing | 2026-09-25 |
Local context
What is specific to Philadelphia
One department, one portal, one set of fees. The Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) issues building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, fire-suppression and zoning permits through eCLIPSE, and Philadelphia being a consolidated city–county, the City is also Philadelphia County (state FIPS 42, county FIPS 42101) — there is no second authority whose charges would sit beside these. Applications and payment run through eCLIPSE; the Permit and License Center in the Municipal Services Building at 1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd. takes appointment-only visits, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, closing at noon on the last Wednesday of the month; questions go to 311 or (215) 686-8686.
How the schedule is made. The amounts are not set row by row by City Council. L&I promulgates them under Philadelphia Code §§6-301, 9-102 and 4-A-901.15 as "the fee as it existed on July 1, 2017, multiplied by the CPI Multiplier". A multiplier of 16.1% produced the schedule effective January 1, 2023; 26.5% produced the one in force, effective January 1, 2025, which "replaces and supersedes" it. The chain checks arithmetically — every current figure is its 2023 predecessor × 1.0896 ($232 → $253, $67 → $73, $1,219 → $1,328) — which is the independent confirmation that this site models the schedule actually in force.
Two columns, and they are not occupancy classes. PG_012's headers are "Residential (1 or 2 family)" and "Other Occupancies": a building-type question, not a use class. A two-family house and a twenty-unit apartment building are both in the other column unless the reader says otherwise, and no `occupancy` value derives the split — so every rule here reads `custom.single_or_two_family`, and absent the flag the other column applies, which is the larger figure.
The revision after this one is already published. PG_012 Rev 7.2026 takes effect October 1, 2026 (released 2026-07-29); it was diffed against the document in force on the verification date, and the only change to its four pages is one administrative row moving from $75 to $300. Every area band, every fixture block, the electrical ladder and both surcharges are identical — so it is recorded as a source with its own effectiveFrom rather than as a second rule set.
Zoning is a separate schedule. Zoning permits are priced under PZ_008 and, as the City puts it, "In most cases, you must get a Zoning Permit before you can apply for a Building Permit" — so a zoning fee is never inside a building total on this site.
Valuation
How valuation is determined here
Philadelphia has three bases, one per trade, and the schedule says which is which.
Square footage, in bands, for building permits. The band is the shape of the whole building side: a published base for the first 500 square feet, then a rate per additional 100 square feet *or fraction of one* — "$253 for the first 500 sq. ft.; plus $73 for each additional 100 sq. ft. or fraction thereof above 500" for other occupancies, $76 + $56 for a residential alteration, $75 + $56 for a residential addition. The "or fraction thereof" is what makes partial hundreds round up: 1,000 square feet is five steps above the threshold, 1,050 is six. A new one-or-two-family dwelling is the exception that proves the shape — $1,328 flat, whatever its size — and the foundation-only permit is the one table in the schedule: $253 up to 500 square feet, $442 from 501 to 2,500, $759 above.
Valuation, for electrical permits and one building election. The electrical fee is "$25 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of estimated electrical construction cost; minimum fee of $63 and maximum fee of $18,975" — an estimate of electrical construction cost, rounded up to the next thousand, floored and capped at figures the schedule prints. The building side has one valuation row too: the applicant's published option to price any alteration at 2% of the cost of construction (minimum $253) instead of by area, which the City documents require an executed contract or itemized cost estimate to claim.
Counts of things, for plumbing. Fixtures select the block — $284 for the first seven on new construction, then $25 each; $189 then $22.50 for alterations — and the repair rows are priced per activity: a water heater at $37 each ($31 flat in a one-or-two-family home), fixture replacement at $75 for seven then $6.30 ($31 flat). There is no dollar figure in this schedule whose basis is not named here.
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 Philadelphia's building, electrical and plumbing permit fees from PG_012, plus the filing fee credited toward them and the $7.50 of surcharges every service page publishes. They are not a total project cost, and they exclude:
- The record retention fee — "$4 per plan" / per page larger than 8.5 by 14 inches. A count of sheets this calculator does not collect. Named with its amount on every page.
- The development impact tax, published only as "Fixed values based on construction and use classification for new construction" and "1% of total improvement costs for alterations and additions", and only for residential projects "eligible for a real estate tax abatement". Neither the fixed values nor the eligibility test is on the page; named, never priced.
- Accelerated Plan Review — $2,000 for building and foundation permits, $1,050 for electrical and plumbing — an optional five-business-day service that "will not be credited toward your final permit fee".
- Zoning permit fees, a separate schedule (PZ_008) that in most cases must be bought before the building permit.
- Mechanical and fire suppression, priced on the same PG_012 table — 2% of the value of construction with a $189 minimum; $15.10 per sprinkler head with a $189 minimum — transcribed in the research record and named on the pages, not modelled, because this release's third page is plumbing.
- The plumbing repair rows this calculator has no input for: waste or water lines and stacks at "$126 each pipe" ($37 flat for one-or-two-family), house drain, trap and fresh air inlet at $75 ($31), area/roof/storm drains at $75 ($31), and water distribution line replacement at $126. Also unmodelled on the same table: new plumbing systems without structures ($284) and a new water distribution and drainage system filed separately ($253). Naming only the residential halves would publish half a schedule, so all of them are named with their amounts instead.
- Interior (non-load-bearing) demolition — $76 for the first 4,000 square feet, $5 each additional 100 — a different row from complete demolition, selected by a choice the reader has not stated.
- The tenant fit-out row ($16.40 per 100 square feet or fraction, minimum $189) and manufactured / industrialized housing ($569 or $1,138 per building), both published, neither modelled.
- The Administrative Services rows — amended permits, copies, certificates of occupancy, preliminary review, extensions, reinstatements. PG_012's layout mode and L&I's regulation's drifting columns disagree about which amount belongs to which label, and none of them prices work; recorded, not paired by guess.
- Payment surcharges — credit card +2.10%, debit +$3.45 — payment methods rather than permit fees.
- Everything another authority charges: Philadelphia Water Department connections, meters and utility plan review; the Streets footway permit, which is issued automatically with a plumbing permit; Historical Commission approval for historic properties; dust-control and site permits; PECO service and meter applications; and any fee L&I collects for a permit this site does not model.
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.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Construction Permit Fees, effective January 1, 2025 (PG_012, Rev 2.2026)
Read 2026-09-25 in both pdftotext -layout and plain modes, because layout mode mispairs labels with amounts in this document (its "Foundation Only" row appears to sit beside "$16.40 per 100 sq. ft."). Four pages, two columns — Residential (1 or 2 family) and Other Occupancies — covering building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, fire suppression and administration. Every figure this site charges comes from this table; the pairings recorded in the research file are the ones both extraction modes and the City's service pages agree on.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Construction Permit Fees, effective October 1, 2026 (PG_012, Rev 7.2026)
Read and diffed against the in-force document on 2026-09-25, six days before it takes effect: the whole four-page document changes its header dates and its revision number, and exactly one administrative row changes, $75 → $300. Every row this site models — every area band, the electrical ladder, every plumbing block, every surcharge — is byte-identical between the two documents. Recorded as its own source with its own effectiveFrom rather than as a second rule set, because there is no rate in it to re-price. The row the $300 hangs on is not resolvable from the extraction (see the research file's open questions).
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Fees for L&I permits and licenses — City of Philadelphia
Read 2026-09-25. The index that lists every L&I schedule with its release date, which is how the document in force on the verification date was told from the revision effective 2026-10-01, and it carries the separate zoning fee schedule (PZ_008) that this site names rather than prices.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Get a Building Permit — City of Philadelphia
Read 2026-09-25. Its Cost block publishes what PG_012 does not: the filing fee ("For one-or-two-family dwellings: $25. For any other occupancy: $100. This fee is nonrefundable and is applied towards the final permit fee"), City surcharge $3, State surcharge $4.50, record retention $4 per plan, Accelerated Plan Review at $2,000 ("Accelerated review fees will not be credited toward your final permit fee"), the development impact tax, and the payment surcharges. It also establishes the workflow (eCLIPSE, appointment-only counter), the zoning order ("In most cases, you must get a Zoning Permit before you can apply for a Building Permit"), the contractor rules, and the executed-contract requirement for the 2% alteration fee option.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Get a Foundation-only Building Permit — City of Philadelphia
Read 2026-09-25. States the three foundation tiers without the table's column drift — "For foundations 500 sq. ft. or less: $253", $442 for 501 to 2,500, $759 above — and with no occupancy split at all, which is why one tier table prices both of PG_012's columns. This page is the sourceId of the foundation rule itself.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Get a Plumbing Permit — City of Philadelphia
Read 2026-09-25. States the three plumbing categories as the City states them — new construction and additions / alterations / repairs and replacements — each row with its residential exception, the $100 filing fee, both surcharges, record retention, the $150 rough-in (one-or-two-family dwellings are not eligible) and the $1,050 accelerated review. Under its Alterations heading the row labels are pasted from the table above ("All new construction and additions" / "Additions to one-or-two-family homes") while the amounts are the alteration figures — a copy-paste error on the page, recorded as a needs_review verification against that rule rather than smoothed over. It also lists what needs no permit and what routes to a Site Work / Utility Permit.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Get an Electrical Permit — City of Philadelphia
Read 2026-09-25. Publishes the electrical fee in words — "The permit fee for electrical work is $25 for each $1000 or fraction thereof of estimated electrical construction cost. Minimum fee: $63. Maximum fee: $18,975" — the $100 filing fee ("nonrefundable … counted toward the final permit fee"), the $150 rough-in as its own application valid 60 days while the work is not concealed, the exemption list of Title 4-A-301.2.3, the third-party inspection rule ("The owner or the owner's agent must hire a licensed electrical inspection agency to perform all inspections"), the $1,050 accelerated review, and the rule that no electrical permit issues until the paired building permit has issued.
- OrdinanceCityPrimary source
L&I regulation of August 8, 2022, fee schedule effective January 1, 2023 (CPI 16.1%)
Superseded, read 2026-09-25 for the chain of authority and to check the arithmetic: it set the 2023 schedule at a CPI multiplier of 16.1% on the same July 1, 2017 base, became law September 8, 2022 and took effect January 1, 2023. Every 2025 figure equals its 2023 figure × 1.0896 (1.265 ÷ 1.161): $232 → $253, $67 → $73, $1,219 → $1,328, $23 → $25.30, $15 → $16.40. The chain closing is the independent check that the schedule in force is the one this site models.
- OrdinanceCityPrimary source
The operative legal instrument, read 2026-09-25 in both pdftotext modes. It states the mechanism — fees set at "the fee as it existed on July 1, 2017, multiplied by the CPI Multiplier (26.5%)" — the effective date (January 1, 2025), and that it "replaces and supersedes the fee schedule promulgated on August 8, 2022". It pairs each fee row with its Philadelphia Code citation (A-902.2.1, A-903.2, A-905.3.1…), which is how the code sections in every rule description here were sourced. Its three-column table drifts by one row — the citation column puts A-902.2.4 on the tenant fit-out line — recorded rather than smoothed over.