Chicago Building Permit Fees: What Homeowners Actually Paid

Quick Facts

From our city pages and each city's open permit data (refreshed October 30, 2026).

Two Ways Chicago Sets a Permit Fee

Chicago's Construction Codes Administrative Provisions use two fee routes. Simple, well-defined jobs such as many Express Permits are charged stand-alone fees from a fixed table. Anything that needs plan review is priced with a formula published in the city's Building Permit Fee Tables, issued under Section 14A-12-1204.3.1 and amended for 2026 by an ordinance passed in December 2025. The amended tables apply to permits issued from January 6, 2026.

The plan-review formula is the construction factor multiplied by the scope-of-review factor multiplied by the area of the work in square feet. The construction factor depends on the building's occupancy group and construction type: for the R-1, R-2 and R-3 occupancy groups that cover most homes, it ranges from $0.63 per square foot for Type V construction to $0.84 for Type I. The scope-of-review factor rises with the complexity of the work, from 0.25 for simpler scopes to 1 or more for the most involved. Each scope also carries a minimum fee, so a small project pays the minimum even when the formula gives a lower number.

Every Project Type in Chicago

These summaries come from the same official sources as our city pages and were last checked October 30, 2026. Permit counts are the city's own open-data records for the last 12 months.

Roofing: Depends on Slope

On a house or other residential building up to 4 stories, repairing, recovering or replacing a roof with a pitch of at least 2:12 needs no building permit. Low-slope (flat) roofs and any structural repair need a permit, usually an Express Permit, with an Illinois-licensed roofing contractor doing the work.

• No permit: repair, recover or replacement of a roof pitched 2:12 or steeper on a residential building up to 4 stories (Municipal Code 14A-4-402).
• Permit needed: any work on a low-slope roof and any structural repair.
• Express reroofing permits require an Illinois roofing contractor license; a recover over 2 or more existing layers needs structural calculations.
• Landmark properties and landmark districts may not qualify for the exemption.
• Official fees: Roof recover (no tear-off) or roof repair, from Jan 1, 2027: $185 per area up to 5,000 sq ft; Roof replacement, from Jan 1, 2027: $475 per area up to 5,000 sq ft.
• Chicago issued 1,344 matching permits in the last 12 months, with a median of 1 days from application to issue.

Source: Chicago DOB: Roofing Work (work not requiring a permit) · Full details: Do You Need a Roofing Permit in Chicago?

HVAC: Not for In-Kind Swaps

In a residential building up to 4 stories, repairing or replacing a furnace, boiler or air conditioner in-kind (same type, size and shape) needs no building permit. A new system or a replacement that is not in-kind needs a permit, which the Express Permit Program covers with load calculations.

• No permit: in-kind repair or replacement of a furnace, boiler, radiator, ductwork or air conditioning appliance in a residential building up to 4 stories.
• "In-kind" means the same type, size and shape.
• Permit needed: new equipment or non-in-kind replacement; Express Permits require HVAC load calculations, and rooftop or truss-hung equipment needs a structural evaluation.
• Landmark properties may not qualify for the exemption.
• Chicago issued 223 matching permits in the last 12 months, with a median of 12 days from application to issue.

Source: Chicago DOB: Mechanical (HVAC) Work (work not requiring a permit) · Full details: Do You Need an HVAC Permit in Chicago?

Solar Panel: Yes

New small rooftop solar systems up to 13.44 kW inverter output can use Chicago's Express Permit Program, with drawings and calculations from an Illinois-licensed architect or structural engineer. Larger systems, roofs over 40 feet and some ballasted systems need a standard permit.

• Express Permit limit: 13.44 kW inverter output.
• Drawings and calculations by an Illinois-licensed architect or structural engineer are required.
• Associated battery storage is generally limited to 20 kWh under the Express route.
• Chicago issued 1,613 matching permits in the last 12 months, with a median of 10 days from application to issue.

Source: Chicago DOB Express Permit Program: Small-Scale Solar PV System · Full details: Do You Need a Solar Panel Permit in Chicago?

Fence: Sometimes

No building permit is needed for a fence no more than 5 feet high (measured on both sides) that meets the Chicago Zoning Ordinance. Taller fences use the Express Permit Program; front-yard fences are limited to 4.5 feet, or 6 feet if at least 80% open, and anything over 6 feet needs zoning approval.

• Exempt: fences up to 5 ft that conform to zoning.
• Express Permit: back-yard fences up to 6 ft; front-yard fences up to 4.5 ft, or 6 ft if 80% open.
• Masonry fences need drawings by an Illinois-licensed architect or structural engineer.
• Chicago issued 1,100 matching permits in the last 12 months, with a median of 1 days from application to issue.

Source: Chicago DOB: Fences (work not requiring a permit) · Full details: Do You Need a Fence Permit in Chicago?

Deck: Usually Yes

A permit is needed for most porch and deck work. The exceptions are in-kind replacement of non-structural parts (deck boards, treads, pickets) and in-kind repair or replacement of a whole porch, deck or stair system no more than 6 feet above ground with a landing of 50 sq ft or less.

• Exempt: in-kind replacement of deck boards, stair treads or railing pickets (if no violation has been issued).
• Exempt: in-kind rebuild of a porch or deck up to 6 ft high with a landing of 50 sq ft or less.
• New decks, size or layout changes and enclosed porches need a plan-based permit.
• Chicago issued 1,404 matching permits in the last 12 months, with a median of 12 days from application to issue.

Source: Chicago DOB: Porches, Decks and Balconies (work not requiring a permit) · Full details: Do You Need a Deck Permit in Chicago?

Step-by-Step: What to Do

1. Check whether the job needs a permit at all; in-kind furnace, boiler, air conditioner and water heater replacements in residential buildings up to 4 stories are exempt.
2. Find out whether the job fits the Express Permit Program, which is the cheapest and fastest route.
3. For plan-review work, run the numbers in the city's online permit fee calculator using construction type, occupancy, floor area and scope.
4. Budget for the $600 non-refundable deposit on plan-based permits, which is lost again as a penalty if the application is incomplete or filed under the wrong program.
5. Ask your contractor whether their price includes the permit fee, and get the permit number before work starts.

Minimum Fees for Homes in the 2026 Tables

The 2026 amended tables set these minimums for Group R residential work in buildings with one to three dwelling units and no mixed occupancy:

The Department of Buildings' 2026 changes notice adds three points that matter for budgeting. The initial non-refundable deposit on plan-based permits rose to $600. A penalty equal to that deposit is charged if the department finds an application substantially incomplete, and another if the application is not eligible for the review program it was filed under. And the minimum fee for reducing the number of dwelling units, a deconversion, now matches the $1,800 minimum for adding units. The same notice says fees for many fence permits were to fall from mid-March 2026.

What Permits Actually Cost by Review Type

Formulas are hard to translate into a budget, so we used the city's own records. The table below covers all 31,574 permits issued from October 30, 2025 through October 29, 2026, grouped by the city's permit type. "Total fee" is the fee recorded on each permit, and the middle half is the range between the 25th and 75th percentiles.

Source: City of Chicago Data Portal, Building Permits dataset, permits issued October 30, 2025 to October 29, 2026. Days to issue is the dataset's processing time field. Sign and elevator permits are left out of this table.

The gap between the first row and the rest is the main lesson. A job that fits the Express Permit Program typically costs a few hundred dollars and is issued within days. Once the same home needs plan review, the median fee is about eight times higher and the median wait is roughly two months. Within plan review, the city's review types also differ: Standard Plan Review permits had a median fee of $1,061, while Self-Certification permits, which are usually larger projects certified by a licensed architect or engineer, had a median of $1,959.

Median Fees for Common Home Projects

To get closer to individual jobs, we matched keywords in each permit's work description and left out new construction. A permit can mention more than one job, so these are rough guides rather than exact prices, but they show the typical range a Chicago homeowner paid.

Matched on work descriptions; permits issued October 30, 2025 to October 29, 2026. New construction permits are excluded.

Solar is the most uniform: almost every matching permit cost exactly $300, the sign of a flat stand-alone fee. Fences were the cheapest, and 362 of them showed a total fee of zero. The HVAC row is high because the in-kind replacements that make up most home furnace and air conditioner jobs need no building permit in residential buildings up to 4 stories, so the permits that remain tend to be larger systems or part of a wider renovation. The same applies to water heaters: an in-kind swap is exempt, as Do You Need a Permit to Replace a Water Heater? City Rules and Permit Data explains.

How to Keep Your Permit Fee Down

• Check the exemptions first. In a residential building up to 4 stories, the Department of Buildings lists in-kind repair or replacement of a furnace, boiler, air conditioning appliance or hot water heater as work that needs no building permit. Landmark properties are an exception.
• Fit the job to the Express Permit Program where you can. The program and its eligibility rules are covered in Chicago Express Permit Program Explained.
• File a complete application. On plan-based permits, an incomplete application or one filed under the wrong review program costs an extra $600 penalty on top of the deposit.
• Combine related work. Each permit carries its own minimum, so splitting one renovation into several applications can cost more than one permit covering the whole scope.
• Use the city's calculator for anything that needs plan review. It applies the current construction factors, scope factors and minimums.

Permit fees are only one part of the cost of a project. For a wider look at how cities set fees and what else to budget for, see How Much Does a Building Permit Cost? Verified Fee Examples.

Where to Go Next

For the rules on specific Chicago projects and live permit counts, start at Chicago Building Permits for Home Projects.

Who Issues Permits in Chicago

Residential permits in Chicago are issued by the Chicago Department of Buildings. Its website has the current application portal, fee schedule and inspection scheduling. Issued permits are published as open data in Chicago Building Permits, which is the source of the permit counts and recent permits shown on our Chicago pages. Rules and fees change, so confirm with the department before you start work.