Montgomery, Alabama Building Permit Cost Calculator

Montgomery codifies its building permit fees in section 5-71 of the City Code, which amends the adopted building and residential code fee provisions and prints one Building Permit Related Fees table. A building permit carries a flat base permit fee plus a charge computed from construction cost at a fixed factor, and properties inside the city limits pay a separate license fee computed at the same factor. Construction cost is defined to include all fees paid to architects, surveyors, engineers, contractors, sub-contractors and others for services rendered in connection with the construction.

Section 5-71 sets one building fee schedule for buildings, structures and alterations requiring a permit; it lists a $75 base permit fee for residential and commercial building permits, a residential building permit fee of construction cost times 0.0025, and a license fee of construction cost times 0.0025 for properties inside the city limits. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-28 (lane B, pipeline run 98). Sec. 5-71 rendered with headless Chromium; code edition is "VERSION: JUL 21, 2026 (CURRENT)" and the section is flagged "modified" in this version. THE MODIFICATION IS A CODE ADOPTION, NOT A FEE CHANGE: Sec. 5-71 now adopts the 2024 editions of the International Building, Fuel Gas, Mechanical, Plumbing, Property Maintenance, Existing Building and Swimming Pool and Spa Codes. The Subsection 109.2 "Schedule of permit and other required fees" table is unchanged and all three stored figures re-read verbatim: "License fee (applies to properties inside city limit) Cost (.0025)", "Base Permit Fee (applies to Res/Comm Building Permits) $75", "Residential Building Permit Cost (.0025)". No figure superseded.

Section 5-123 sets a $50.00 base permit fee plus itemized charges by service size, outlet, fixture, appliance and equipment; fees for old work are the same as for new work, and failing to obtain a permit before starting work doubles the permit amount, with an exception for reported emergency work.

The fee schedule in section 5-71 prices fences greater than 3 feet at construction cost multiplied by 0.0025, with a $75 minimum. UNRESOLVED READ 2026-09-11, NOT WRITTEN: a WebFetch read of Montgomery Code sec. 5-71 through the api.municode.com JSON route (product 11272, job 485940, Supplement 26 - the same supplement the 2026-09-11 earlier pass confirmed, so no supersession at the edition level) returned the permit fee table with "Fences greater than 3 feet - Cost (.0025) min $25" and "Retaining walls greater than 4 feet high - Cost (.0025) min $25", against the min $75 both of these rows store. The surrounding rows came back with differing minimums (Signs Permanent min $25, Demolition Commercial min $50), so a single smeared column is not the obvious explanation; but note that $75 is also the Base Permit Fee on the same table, which is a plausible source for a transcription bleed in either direction. Direct egress was refused by the agent proxy for the whole pass, so neither figure was changed and neither row was stamped. ONE pdftotext-grade read of sec. 5-71 settles it. | 2026-09-14 (lane B run 1131), SUSPECTED DEFECT DISPROVED. Run 712 read "min $25" for this line via WebFetch and flagged our $75 as a suspected defect in our own row. The Municode codified text was read DIRECTLY this pass through the JSON API (client 3374, product 11272, job 493253; codified through Ord. No. 4-2026, enacted March 5, 2026, Supp. No. 27) and Sec. 5-71 prints verbatim "Fences greater than 3'" then "Cost (.0025) min $75". The stored figure is CORRECT; the $25 was a WebFetch artifact. Closed.

Montgomery publishes no roofing or re-roofing fee line, and does not require a permit for a roof replaced with like-for-like materials. Where a permit is required, because the roofing material, the slope or the structural support is changing, the work is priced by the general Building Permit Related Fees table in section 5-71 of the City Code: a flat base permit fee plus construction cost at a fixed factor, with a separate license fee at the same factor for properties inside the city limits.

The fee schedule in section 5-71 prices retaining walls greater than 4 feet high that are not part of a larger project at construction cost multiplied by 0.0025, with a $75 minimum. UNRESOLVED READ 2026-09-11, NOT WRITTEN: a WebFetch read of Montgomery Code sec. 5-71 through the api.municode.com JSON route (product 11272, job 485940, Supplement 26 - the same supplement the 2026-09-11 earlier pass confirmed, so no supersession at the edition level) returned the permit fee table with "Fences greater than 3 feet - Cost (.0025) min $25" and "Retaining walls greater than 4 feet high - Cost (.0025) min $25", against the min $75 both of these rows store. The surrounding rows came back with differing minimums (Signs Permanent min $25, Demolition Commercial min $50), so a single smeared column is not the obvious explanation; but note that $75 is also the Base Permit Fee on the same table, which is a plausible source for a transcription bleed in either direction. Direct egress was refused by the agent proxy for the whole pass, so neither figure was changed and neither row was stamped. ONE pdftotext-grade read of sec. 5-71 settles it. | 2026-09-14 (lane B run 1131), SUSPECTED DEFECT DISPROVED. Run 712 read "min $25" via WebFetch and flagged our $75 as a suspected defect in our own row. The Municode codified text was read DIRECTLY this pass through the JSON API (codified through Ord. No. 4-2026, March 5, 2026, Supp. No. 27) and Sec. 5-71 prints verbatim "Retaining walls greater than 4' high (Not part of project)" then "Cost (.0025) min $75". The stored figure is CORRECT; the $25 was a WebFetch artifact. Closed.

Montgomery requires a permit to place an accessory structure, portable building or storage building, but publishes no shed-specific fee. A shed is priced by the general Building Permit Related Fees table in section 5-71 of the City Code: a flat base permit fee plus construction cost at a fixed factor, with a separate license fee at the same factor for properties inside the city limits. Construction cost is defined to include all fees paid to architects, surveyors, engineers, contractors, sub-contractors and others for services rendered in connection with the construction.

Water heater work falls under the plumbing and gas fee schedules in section 5-71: plumbing permits carry a $50 base fee plus a $5 charge for an electric water heater, and the code assigns fuel-gas-fired water heaters and water heater venting systems to the fuel gas code, whose permits carry a $50 base fee plus per-fixture charges.