Baldwin County, Alabama Building Permit Guide

Building permits for unincorporated Baldwin County, and for the Towns of Elberta, Magnolia Springs and Perdido Beach, are issued by the Baldwin County Building Department (251-972-6837; Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm), with offices in Robertsdale (22251 Palmer Street), Foley (201 East Section Avenue), Fairhope (1100 Fairhope Avenue) and Bay Minette (203 Oak Street, Suite B). Applications go through the county’s CitizenServe portal. With about 267,800 residents (Census estimate, 2025) and roughly 1,590 square miles — the largest land area of any Alabama county — Baldwin combines Gulf beachfront, the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, substantial agricultural land and some of the fastest population growth in the state.

This guide covers the department and how to reach it, the code edition that governs a filing here, what permits cost and who may pull them, and how inspections are booked. Rules that apply everywhere in Alabama are summarized in each section, with a link to the full statewide explanation.

This guide covers the county’s building-permit jurisdiction: unincorporated Baldwin County and the Towns of Elberta, Magnolia Springs and Perdido Beach. Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Foley, Fairhope, Daphne, Spanish Fort, Bay Minette, Robertsdale and the county’s other municipalities permit their own limits, and Silverhill and Summerdale also permit their police jurisdictions outside their limits.

What requires a building permit in Baldwin County?

Under the county’s adopted codes, a permit is required before most construction, alteration, demolition, repair, relocation, change of occupancy and trade work begins within the county’s building-permit jurisdiction.

Exemptions are narrow and local, and an exemption from a building permit is not an exemption from zoning, setbacks, floodplain rules, utility approval or a fire authority review. Confirm scope with the department before work starts rather than after.

Which code edition applies

Baldwin County adopts its construction codes by County Commission resolution. Under Resolution No. 2025-067, in effect since 5 March 2025, the county enforces the 2024 International Building, Residential, Mechanical, Plumbing and Fuel Gas Codes, the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code and the 2023 National Electrical Code, several with local amendments, together with the 2025 Baldwin County Building Code Modifications. It also enforces its Floodplain Development Ordinance and its Beach and Dune Protection and Management Regulations (Resolution No. 2015-011), and those local provisions are where much of the practical coastal requirement lives. Confirm the position for your filing date.

In Alabama, where a project is and what it is decide who reviews it, and whether anyone reviews it at all. There is a State Building Code, but its scope is deliberately narrow. There is a statewide residential code, but it is enforced only by local jurisdictions that run residential permitting and inspection programs (§ 34-14A-12(b)). And everything else — ordinary private commercial and residential work — is permitted and inspected locally, by whichever city or county has taken that job on.

The State Building Code is administered by the Division of Construction Management (DCM), a division of the Alabama Department of Finance (§ 41-4-400), under Title 41, Chapter 9, Article 6 of the Code of Alabama. DCM adopted the 2021 International Building Code effective 1 July 2022, and amended it on 17 March 2025 to pull in portions of the 2024 International Building Code and its companion codes. But DCM applies that code only to work on state-owned property or using state funds, to all public and private K–12 schools, to public postsecondary schools, and to hotels, motels and movie theatres. On municipal and county-owned projects DCM’s jurisdiction is limited to ADA Standards compliance. DCM has no jurisdiction over residential property, and none over commercial property beyond hotels, motels and theatres.

So for the overwhelming majority of private construction in Baldwin County, the code that governs you is the one the Baldwin County Building Department has adopted, and the office that enforces it is the local one.

From 1 January 2027, under Act 2024-443, a residential home builder must build to the applicable residential code (the Alabama Residential Building Code, or the local code where one applies) even where no building department inspects the work. Since 1 October 2024 the Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board adopts the residential code, and the Licensing Board for General Contractors the commercial energy code. Alabama’s codes and the 2027 change

Who handles permitting in Baldwin County?

The Baldwin County Building Department handles plan review, permit issuance and inspections, including electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits, across the county’s building-permit jurisdiction. Baldwin has fourteen incorporated municipalities, several with substantial building departments of their own, so the jurisdiction question here is genuinely multi-way rather than binary.

Growth is the defining feature. Baldwin County has been among the fastest-growing counties in Alabama for years, driven by coastal tourism and second homes at the Gulf end, retirement and commuter growth on the eastern shore, and steady residential development across the interior. High sustained volume affects plan review turnaround and inspection scheduling, and it means administrative requirements are revised more often than in a settled jurisdiction.

The county's sheer size compounds it. At roughly 1,590 square miles, travel between the northern county and the Gulf beaches is substantial, and inspection scheduling reflects that. Give real notice and confirm the work is genuinely ready before booking, particularly at the far ends of the county.

In 2025, building permits issued in unincorporated Baldwin County authorized 937 new privately owned housing units, 929 of them single-family homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.

A county’s building code applies in its unincorporated areas; inside a city it applies only with the city’s consent, so confirm for the specific parcel whether the city or the county issues. Outside the city limits, a county code may be enforced in a city’s police jurisdiction only as § 11-40-10(b)(2) provides. County authority and police jurisdictions in Alabama

Permit types

Residential permits

Residential work spans coastal and waterfront construction with elevation and wind design governing the envelope, second-home and resort development near the beaches, and conventional subdivision and rural building inland. Substantial damage and substantial improvement thresholds under the floodplain programme are a live consideration on any repair or renovation of older coastal stock, and they can convert a repair project into a full-compliance one.

Commercial permits

Commercial development includes coastal hospitality and resort construction, retail and service growth following the population, medical and office development on the eastern shore, and agricultural and light industrial activity inland. Coastal commercial work brings wind, flood and environmental review alongside the building set, and larger projects add grading, drainage, traffic and utility scope.

Statewide rules also shape Alabama submittals: commercial and multi-family plans must be sealed by an Alabama-licensed design professional where the thresholds require it; a parcel in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area generally needs floodplain approval before the building permit; where adopted, storm shelter (ICC 500) and coastal wind provisions drive the detailing; and no state, county or city body may require residential fire sprinklers (§ 34-14A-12.2). Sealed plans, flood, storm and sprinklers in Alabama

Baldwin County permit costs and fees

Baldwin County fees are set by the Building Department’s fee schedule (effective 1 October 2023, trade fees updated 1 October 2024). For a new house, plan review is $0.75 and the building permit $3.00 per $1,000 of valuation calculated from the ICC Building Valuation Data, and each trade permit is 1.5% of the job value. Every permit adds a $15 data-processing fee and a $10 issuance fee, and work in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area adds a $75 flood permit fee. The municipalities that permit their own limits each maintain their own schedules.

Fee schedules are revised on each jurisdiction’s own cycle, so ask Baldwin County for the schedule in force on your filing date, and ask separately about plan review, trade, re-inspection and revision charges. How Alabama permit fees work

Trade permits and who may pull them

Alabama licenses contractors through five state boards: the Licensing Board for General Contractors (undertakings of $100,000 or more), the Home Builders Licensure Board (residential work over $10,000, and residential roofing over $2,500), and separate electrical, plumbing and gas, and HVAC boards that license by trade regardless of project value. A local business licence and registration with the building department are commonly required as well. Contractor licensing in Alabama

How to apply for a Baldwin County building permit

Review rules, permit duration, revival and appeal routes come from each Alabama jurisdiction’s own ordinance, so ask Baldwin County which code editions apply on your filing date, how long a permit stays valid and where appeals go. Where a jurisdiction has adopted no building code, no building permit is issued, but zoning, floodplain, health and utility requirements can still apply. Review and corrections in Alabama

Inspections in Baldwin County

Standard checkpoints include footing and foundation, framing, rough-in electrical, plumbing and mechanical, insulation, and final, with a certificate of occupancy before legal occupancy. Coastal projects add elevation verification and inspection of wind-resistive connections, strapping and opening protection.

In a county of this size, travel is a genuine scheduling constraint and a wasted trip is expensive in calendar time. Sequence the wind-resistive inspections so concealed connections remain observable, and keep elevation certificates and product approvals on site.

Do not cover work before the required inspection has been approved. Keep the issued permit, the approved plans, energy documentation, product listings, special-inspection reports and your correction responses available on site.

Baldwin County permit search and official resources

Permit records sit with the authority that issued them, which in Alabama makes record research a jurisdictional question before it is a clerical one. A search of the wrong office returns nothing and proves nothing — and in parts of the state a property may genuinely have no permit history because no permit was ever required. If you are buying, refinancing or renovating an existing building, ask the Baldwin County Building Department what it holds for the parcel, whether any permit was closed without a final inspection, and whether the property was inside the enforcing jurisdiction at the time the work was done.

Annexation, changing police jurisdiction boundaries and counties adopting codes at different times all mean that the authority over a parcel today is not necessarily the authority that governed it when a previous addition or alteration was built.

These are the primary sources behind this guide. Codes, fee schedules and portal procedures change, and in Alabama a jurisdiction’s own published packet can lag an adoption by months — the adopted ordinance governs, not an un-updated handout. Confirm the position for your filing date.

• Baldwin County, Alabama
• Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board
• Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors
• Alabama State Building Code (Division of Construction Management)
• Code of Alabama Title 34, Chapter 14A

Frequently asked questions

Which authority issues my Baldwin County permit?

It depends on the parcel. Inside the limits of Bay Minette, Daphne, Fairhope, Foley, Gulf Shores, Loxley, Orange Beach, Robertsdale, Silverhill, Spanish Fort or Summerdale, the city or town permits. The Baldwin County Building Department permits the rest of the county, including the Towns of Elberta, Magnolia Springs and Perdido Beach and the police jurisdictions outside city limits, except the police jurisdictions of Silverhill and Summerdale, which those towns permit. Fairhope stopped issuing permits in its police jurisdiction on 1 January 2023 (City Ordinance 1766), so Fairhope’s police jurisdiction outside the city limits is now permitted by the county. The county’s parcel viewer shows a “Building Permit Jurisdictions” layer for checking a parcel.

Do the same design criteria apply across the county?

No. Wind exposure and flood zones vary substantially between the Gulf beachfront, the bay shore and the inland interior. Establish design wind speed, exposure and the effective flood mapping for the specific parcel.

I am repairing an older coastal home — is that just a repair?

Not necessarily. Substantial damage and substantial improvement thresholds under the floodplain programme can require the whole structure to be brought into compliance. Establish the threshold before scoping the work.

Which code edition applies?

Confirm the adopted editions and local amendments with the county for your filing date. Coastal jurisdictions commonly layer wind and floodplain provisions onto the base code, and that local layer carries much of the requirement.

What changes on 1 January 2027?

Under Act 2024-443 a residential home builder must build in accordance with the applicable residential building code from that date. The duty attaches to the builder's licence rather than to a local building department, so it applies even where no inspector will attend.

How far ahead should I book inspections?

Baldwin is Alabama's largest county by land area and travel between the northern county and the beaches is substantial. Give real notice, and make sure the work is genuinely ready before booking.

Simplify Baldwin County permitting with Alliance Permitting

Baldwin County asks two hard questions at once: which of many authorities issues the permit, and what the specific coastal site demands of the design. Both have to be answered before drawings are developed, because neither can be corrected cheaply afterwards.

Trusted by leading builders, developers, and national contractors — 21+ years of filing in the jurisdictions we write about.

Contractors and builders choose Alliance for Baldwin County because the work is done by people who have stood at the counter:

• We identify whether the county or a municipality issues for the parcel.
• We fix design wind and flood criteria to the parcel, not to the county.
• We test coastal repair scopes against substantial damage thresholds early.
• We read the local coastal amendment layer, where much of the requirement sits.
• We build inspection schedules that respect the county's scale.

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Alabama. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the building department through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Baldwin County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.