Free tool
Building Permit Fee Calculator
Select a jurisdiction and permit type, enter what your project involves
and get an estimated permit fee calculated from that jurisdiction's published fee schedule — with every component, the rules that produced it, and the official source to verify it against.
Estimate a permit fee
Based on the published fee schedule for the jurisdiction you select
What is a building permit fee calculator?
A building permit fee calculator turns a jurisdiction's published fee schedule into an estimate for a specific project. Permit fees are not set by the market: a city or county adopts a schedule — a set of rates, brackets, minimums and conditions — and the permit office applies it to whatever your project involves. A calculator's job is to apply those same published rules to the numbers you supply, and to show the arithmetic.
That is different from an average or a ballpark. Averages blend jurisdictions that price entirely differently, so an “average permit cost” for a $300,000 house can be wrong for every city it averages. An estimate calculated from one jurisdiction's own schedule is checkable: every component can be traced to a published rule, and the rule to a document.
How permit fee estimates are calculated
Published schedules use a small number of patterns, and this calculator models each one directly rather than approximating it:
- Flat fee — a fixed amount for the permit, whatever the project is worth.
- Percentage or per-$1,000 rate — a rate applied to the project valuation, sometimes charged per whole $1,000 “or fraction thereof”, which rounds up.
- Marginal bands — a base amount plus different rates for successive portions of the valuation, the way income tax works.
- Bracket table — a fixed amount for any project whose valuation falls in a published range.
- Per unit — a rate applied per countable thing — fixtures, outlets, circuits, dwelling units.
- Minimums and maximums — floors and ceilings that override the calculated amount when it falls outside them, applied exactly as the schedule states.
What information do you need?
It depends on the jurisdiction, which is why the calculator asks different questions for different cities. The most common inputs are:
- Project valuation — the cost of construction; the most common basis by far.
- Square footage — some schedules price by area rather than value.
- Unit counts — fixtures, outlets, circuits, dwelling units — trade permits especially.
- Occupancy and work type — residential or commercial, new construction or alteration, where the schedule distinguishes them.
Why permit fees vary by jurisdiction
Each authority sets its own fees by ordinance or resolution, and there is no state or national standard. Two cities in the same state can price the same permit in opposite ways: one by project valuation at a rate per $1,000, another by square footage, a third as a flat fee per fixture. The same word — “building permit” — can describe a fee that differs by an order of magnitude across a metro area.
Jurisdictions also change their schedules on their own calendars, often at the start of a fiscal year. This calculator always calculates with the rules in effect on today's date, and each estimate shows the date the underlying schedule was last verified.
What is included in the estimate?
An estimate includes the permit fee components published in the schedule this site has transcribed: the base permit fee, plan review where it is charged separately, technology or surcharge lines the schedule lists, and any state surcharge the jurisdiction adds. Each estimate names every component and every rule that was considered and did not apply.
What is typically not included: impact fees (school, park, transportation), utility connection charges, permits from other departments, re-inspection fees, and any discretionary fee the schedule does not publish. On a new house these can exceed the permit fee itself. Each jurisdiction's permit page states its own exclusions specifically — follow the links under the result to see them.
How to verify the final permit fee
Every estimate links to the official document the rates came from: the fee schedule, municipal code section, or fee page published by the authority that issues the permit. To verify, compare the components shown in the calculation against that document, then contact the permit office with your project's specifics — valuation, square footage, scope of work — and ask them to quote the fee.
The permit office's calculation is the one that applies. This site's estimate is arithmetic on a published schedule, not a quote; where a schedule is ambiguous, the ambiguity is documented on the jurisdiction's pages rather than resolved silently in the arithmetic.
Why this calculator is different
Most permit fee tools online show one number with no working. This one is built on the same engine that produces every worked example on this site: the jurisdiction’s own published rules, applied exactly as written — including “per $1,000 or fraction thereof” rounding, minimums, maximums and conditional components — with every step of the arithmetic visible and every rule that did not apply listed with its reason.
The rates come from primary sources: the fee schedules, codes and ordinances published by the issuing authority, each with a verification date. Where a jurisdiction’s schedule is ambiguous, the pages document the ambiguity rather than pick a reading quietly. And where we have no verified data, the calculator says so instead of estimating — a missing answer is more useful than a plausible wrong one.
Read the how the fee schedules are sourced, verified and calculated on the methodology page.
Common questions
How are building permit fees calculated?
A permit office applies its jurisdiction's published fee schedule to your project: a rate or bracket for the permit itself — often based on project valuation or square footage — plus separate components for plan review, technology fees, state surcharges and similar, each with its own conditions, minimums and maximums. This calculator applies those same published rules to the inputs you enter, and shows every component so the arithmetic can be followed.
Are permit fee estimates exact?
No — and a calculator claiming exactness should not be trusted. The estimate reproduces the published schedule for the inputs you provide, but the final fee can depend on details a schedule does not capture: how the office computes valuation, additional review charges, fees from other departments. Use the estimate to budget, and confirm the final amount with the issuing authority.
What information do I need to calculate a permit fee?
It depends on the jurisdiction. Most building permits are priced from project valuation (the cost of construction); some use square footage. Trade permits — electrical, plumbing, mechanical — are often priced per item: outlets, fixtures, circuits. The calculator asks only for the inputs the selected jurisdiction's rules actually use, and explains what each one means.
Do all cities use the same permit fee schedule?
No. Every jurisdiction sets its own fees, and two cities in the same state can price the same permit in completely different ways — by valuation, by area, or as a flat fee per item. This is why the calculator first asks for the jurisdiction and only shows the permit types and inputs that jurisdiction's schedule supports.
Can a permit fee include additional charges?
Yes, and they are usually itemised separately on the invoice: plan review, technology or automation fees, state surcharges, per-inspection charges. Where the jurisdiction's schedule publishes these as separate components, the estimate shows each one as its own line with its own calculation, rather than folding them into one number.
How often do permit fees change?
There is no fixed cycle. Many jurisdictions adjust fees at the start of a fiscal year, others by periodic ordinance. Each estimate shows the date the underlying schedule was last verified against the official source, and the calculation always uses the rules in effect on the date you calculate.
Where can I verify the final fee?
With the authority that issues the permit. Every estimate links to the official document the rates came from — the fee schedule, code section or fee page published by the city or county — and to that jurisdiction's permit pages, which list the department's contact details. The permit office's own calculation is the one that applies.
Where to go next
Every estimate links to the jurisdiction’s own pages here — the fee structure, what is excluded, the issuing department’s contact details and the official documents. Start from the state directory, or read how the numbers are produced.