Building Department Fees
Post date: Aug 29, 2018 6:2:43 PM
Andrew Groff has put together some background on fees. Note there is an attachment of county comparisons that was used at the last major fee review in 2017 (called Permit Fees) as well as a chart of comparisons from this year for locations both in county and around state (called Commercial Fee Comp.) To us, these show reasonable consistency with "market"; however, as you can see by looking at either of the tables, some individual fees on each list vary greatly both in basis for calculation as well as rate.
The Community Development Department provides numerous services to residents, businesses, and institutions in our community. Under the authority of Section 22F Chapter 40 Massachusetts General Law, approved by Town Meeting May 16, 2000. The Department's public officials and those appointed and elected boards that we work with are authorized to "from time to time, fix reasonable fees for all such licenses, permits, or certificates issued pursuant to statutes or regulations..." The department does not take changes to its fee structure lightly and has tried to do so only when absolutely necessary to keep pace with the cost of providing said services. The history of changes to the fees schedule for building permits reflects this conservative approach. We also upon each revision have completed a regional review of similar sized communities to ensure that we are staying within regional norms. We conduct this review about every 5 to 6 years to ensure we're still within range of our peers even if we choose to leave the fee structure unchanged at that time.
Commercial Building Permit fees over the years have been as follows;
1998
New Buildings or Structures - .35 / SF
Renovations - $7 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Mechanical Permits - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Demolitions $100
Plumbing $20 per permit $5 per fixture
Gas $10 per fixture
Wiring
$501.00 - $2500.00 – 25.00
$2501-$5000 – 50.00
$5001 -$10000 –$100.00
>$10000 -$25.00 PER $1000
2004
New Buildings or Structures - .40 per SF
Renovations - $7 per $1,000 in estimated cost up to $5 Mil, $4 per $1000 over.
Mechanical Permits - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Demolitions $100
Plumbing $20 per permit $5 per fixture
Gas $10 per fixture
Wiring
$501.00 - $2500.00 – 25.00
$2501-$5000 – 50.00
$5001 -$10000 –$100.00
>$10000 -$25.00 PER $1000
2011
New Buildings or Structures - .40 per SF
Renovations - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost
Mechanical Permits - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Demolitions $100
Wiring - $25 per $1,000
Plumbing $20 per permit $10 per fixture
Gas $10 per permit $20 per fixture
2017
New Buildings or Structures - .55 per SF
Renovations - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost
Mechanical Permits - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Demolitions $100 Minimum, .15 per SF
Wiring - $25 per $1,000
Plumbing & Gas $25 per permit $25 per fixture
2018
New Buildings or Structures - .55 per SF
Renovations - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost
Mechanical Permits - $8 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Demolitions $100 Minimum, .15 per SF
Wiring - $25 per $1,000
Plumbing & Gas $25 per permit $25 per fixture
Re-inspection / No Show Fee $35
If fees had been indexed with inflation as calculated by the consumer price index since 1998 they would be
New Buildings or Structures - .55 / SF
Renovations - $10.92 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Mechanical Permits - $12.48 per $1,000 in estimated cost.
Demolitions $155.94
Wiring - $39 per $1,000
Plumbing & Gas $31.19 per permit $7.80 per fixture
Re-inspection / No Show Fee $35
Some additional notes on the ways in which these fees have evolved over the years and some of the distinct differences between fees for various construction types.
Why are fees for new buildings, and certain systems calculated differently?
This is due to the fact that different types of building projects take varying resources from the Department. In general, new buildings are simpler to inspect and review than alterations / renovations where varying complexities can occur. We feel the square footage of a new building is a straight forward way to capture the amount of work that is needed. Generally, the cost of an alteration or renovation, even if confined to a small part of a building, bears a direct relationship to the resources the department must spend on the project.
There's been some new fees added over the years, why is that?
In response to the significant amount of time the department had to spend on the Sawyer Library demolition, the fees for commercial demolition were revised to reflect the fact that very large commercial demolitions consume more than $100 worth of services. Also, the re-inspection fee was added to encourage major projects to assure areas to be inspected are complete before our building officials arrive on site. With the significant increase in commercial work in our community the number of re-inspections requested had become an impediment to delivering the timely service the public has come to expect.
It looks like the plumbing gas and electrical fees have changed more, is that true?
These fees have gone up a bit more than the other fees, plumbing fees were simply increased, wiring fees were simplified and are no longer tiered. There main reason for this is that it has become increasingly difficult to find skilled trades people to perform these tasks which are part time work. Due to the shortage of trades people in our region we have needed to significantly increase the wage rates of these inspectors.