Madison, WI
Madison plumbing permit cost
Madison's plumbing permit is priced from square footage on new construction and from the fixture count on everything else.
A new building or addition pays $.09 a square foot in Group I, $.10 in Group II and $.06 in Group III, each with a $25.00 minimum. Alterations and repairs to existing structures pay $8.00 per fixture, again with a $25.00 minimum — and a fixture in Madison is a wider idea than a toilet: the chapter counts water heaters, water softeners, capped openings left for future fixtures and every altered drain run inside the count, so a like-for-like water heater replacement is a one-fixture permit.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbing permit — alterations, $8.00 per fixturePermit fee | $8.00 per fixture | Work type is one of alteration, remodel, repair, replacement and fee group is not provided | min $25.00 |
| Plumbing permit — new construction or addition, by fee groupPermit fee | Fee group per sq ft | fee group is provided and not (shell only is true or interior build out is true), and where the schedule publishes a rate for Fee group | min $25.00 |
| Plumbing permit — shell-only or interior build-out, half the group feePermit fee | Fee group × 0.5 per sq ft | fee group is provided and shell only is true or interior build out is true, and where the schedule publishes a rate for Fee group | min $25.00 |
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
An alteration to an existing single family house that replaces six plumbing fixtures — two toilets, two lavatories, a kitchen sink and a dishwasher connection.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Project valuation | $6,000 |
| Fixtures | 6 |
| Type of work | Alteration |
Example total
$48.00
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 1Rules considered 3
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Plumbing permit — alterations, $8.00 per fixturePermit feeMGO 18.09 Group IV: "$8.00 per fixture, Minimum Fee $25.00", for "all alterations and repairs to existing structures". The chapter's own note is what makes the count readable: a two-bowl laundry tray, two-bowl kitchen sink, multi-bowl soda fountain or bar fixture "shall be considered a single fixture", and so is "each replacement or alteration to a fixture or appliances ... including ... the replacement of water heaters, water softeners, each plugged or capped openings left for future installation of fixtures, each altered or repaired building sewer, building drain, soil, waste or vent pipes within an existing building". Three fixtures is $24.00 of fee and pays the $25.00 minimum instead; four is $32.00. Supply the count as fixtures.Show the working
| $8.00 per fixture | $48.00 |
| Total | $48.00 |
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.
- Plumbing permit — new construction or addition, by fee group — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Plumbing permit — shell-only or interior build-out, half the group fee — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Assumptions
- Calculated from 1 fee rule in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
Six fixtures at $8.00 is $48.00, above the $25.00 minimum, so the minimum contributes nothing. The $6,000 of fixture and labor cost in the inputs is deliberate and does not enter the calculation: Madison does not price a plumbing alteration by value — that is the building permit's row at $11.00 for each $1,000.
Two neighbouring cases show what the floor does. Three fixtures is $24.00 of fee and pays $25.00 instead, because the minimum is stated on the same line as the rate. And the same job as new construction is not a fixture count at all: 1,800 square feet in Group I is $.09 a square foot, $162.00, however many fixtures the house ends up with.
What is different in Madison
The fixture count is where a small job and a large one part company, and where the City's own definition matters more than the rate. MGO 18.09's note says a two-bowl laundry tray, two-bowl kitchen sink, multi-bowl soda fountain or bar fixture counts as a single fixture, and then folds in "each replacement or alteration to a fixture or appliances ... the replacement of water heaters, water softeners, each plugged or capped openings left for future installation of fixtures, each altered or repaired building sewer, building drain, soil, waste or vent pipes within an existing building". Replacing a water heater and a dishwasher in the same week is two fixtures and $16.00; three fixtures is $24.00 of fee, which is below the $25.00 minimum, so the City charges $25.00; four is $32.00.
New construction has no fixture count at all. The plumbing permit is $.09 a square foot for a house — the same area, the same group and the same $25.00 minimum as the building and electrical permits — which is why the City's fee page can print a per-square-foot Total column across all four trades.
One number is genuinely in dispute, and this page states it rather than hiding it. MGO 18.09 enacts $.10 per square foot for Group II, while the Building Inspection fee page currently prints $.11 for that cell and builds its Total column from .11. This site charges the enacted figure.
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 MGO 18.09's fee schedule — the three group rates, the Group IV fixture rate and the $25.00 minimum. It excludes:
- The State's money. Plumbing plan examination is set by SPS 302.64, Table 302.64-1 wherever plans are required, and the DSPS State Seal fee is collected with plan review. Wisconsin's code server answered no request from this environment on 2026-09-25, so no figure from that table is published rather than guessed.
- The mechanical column, whose new-work rates on the City's table are $.09, $.11 and $.06 a square foot and whose existing-work rows price replacement heating equipment by BTU and air-conditioning units at $25.00.
- The round-up. Madison rounds every fee up to the next highest dollar; this site rounds to the cent.
- Gas piping, which the City's permit chart routes through the HVAC permit rather than plumbing.
- Water and sewer connection charges from the Water Utility, excavation and street permits from Engineering, and any fee another authority charges — none of these is a plumbing permit fee under MGO 18.09.
- The penalty for unpermitted work — double the fee plus $100.00 a day — and the extension fee of half the original inspection fee.
What you need before applying
- A State plumbing licence, or the owner of an occupied single-family homeRequired
MGO 18.06(1): "It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to perform any plumbing in the City of Madison without holding a qualified license with the State of Wisconsin, except that repairs and stoppages as defined do not require license status." MGO 18.06(3) adds that an application "will not be approved unless such individual is qualified as required by State law, except that an application may be approved for plumbing work to be done by the owner in a single-family residence which is occupied by the owner", and the section points at Wis. Stat. ch. 145 for the definitions of master plumber, journeyman, restricted plumber licensee, apprentice and registered learner.
- The application, signed and filed within three working days of starting workRequired
MGO 18.08: the application is on forms furnished by the Division, "properly filled out" and "signed by a person qualified as a licensed plumber registered with the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services", and it is filed "as soon as possible after work has started, but no later than three (3) working days from the commencement of work". It must carry the business name and address, the plumber's licence number and a telephone number. MGO 18.08 also exempts minor repairs to part of an existing plumbing system from the application, and MGO 18.07(3)(b) sets the plan examination fee by SPS 302.64, Table 302.64-1 wherever plans are required.
Common questions
How much is a plumbing permit for a new building in Madison?
Nine, ten or six cents a square foot, by use group: $.09 in Group I, $.10 in Group II and $.06 in Group III, each with a $25.00 minimum. It is the same square footage and the same three groups as the building and electrical permits, and it is charged once for the building rather than once for the fixtures.
MGO 18.09, enacted by ORD-21-00025, effective 2021-03-27.
How much is a plumbing permit for an alteration?
$8.00 per fixture with a $25.00 minimum, for all alterations and repairs to existing structures. The count is the chapter's own: a combined multi-bowl sink is one fixture, and so is each replacement of a water heater, water softener or appliance, each capped opening left for a future fixture, and each altered building sewer, drain, soil, waste or vent run.
MGO 18.09 Group IV and the note printed beneath it.
Does Madison price new construction plumbing by the fixture?
No. On a new building or an addition the plumbing permit is a rate on square footage — $.09, $.10 or $.06 by group — and the fixture ladder is Group IV's row for alterations and repairs to existing structures. The City's own online-permits page puts the same division in its own words: plumbing fees for repair and replace are calculated "by the number of new or replaced fixtures".
MGO 18.09; corroborated by the City's Online permits page read 2026-09-25.
Why does the City's fee page show a different Group II rate?
Because the two City sources disagree. MGO 18.09 as enacted prints $.10 per sq. ft. for Group II, while the Building Inspection fee page prints $.11 for that cell and builds its Total column from .11. Every other cell of that table matches its ordinance exactly, including electrical Group II at .11 next door, and no amending file for §18.09 was reachable — so this site charges the enacted $.10 and prints the page's $.11 beside it. The division at 608-266-4551 can settle which it charges.
Both figures read on 2026-09-25: the ordinance PDF and the City's fee page. Recorded as an open question in research/wisconsin/madison.md.
Who can pull a plumbing permit in Madison?
A plumber licensed with the State of Wisconsin, or the owner of an occupied single-family home. MGO 18.06(1) makes it unlawful to do plumbing without a State licence — repairs and stoppages excepted — and MGO 18.06(3) allows an application "for plumbing work to be done by the owner in a single-family residence which is occupied by the owner". MGO 18.08 requires the application to be signed by a licensed plumber registered with DSPS and filed within three working days of starting work.
MGO 18.06 and 18.08.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- OrdinanceCityPrimary source
Read 2026-09-25 as a PDF, twice. File 63536, effective 2021-03-27. §18.09 enacts Group I $.09, Group II $.10 and Group III $.06 per sq. ft. with a $25.00 minimum, and Group IV at $8.00 per fixture with its fixture-counting note. Also carries §18.06 (plumber's licence, and the owner exception for an occupied single-family residence), §18.07(3)(b) (plan examination by SPS 302.64, Table 302.64-1), §18.07(1)(d) (the City as agent municipality) and §18.08 (application, signed by a licensed plumber registered with DSPS, filed within three working days).
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.