Lee County, Alabama Building Permit Guide

Building permits for unincorporated Lee County and for the City of Smiths Station are issued by Lee County Building Inspections, 2555 Society Hill Road, Opelika 36804 (334-737-7014, buildinginspection@leeco.us), open Monday to Friday 7:00am to 3:30pm Central Time. Lee County had about 189,900 residents in 2025 (Census estimate), up 8.9% since 2020, making it one of Alabama’s larger and faster-growing counties. It is anchored by Auburn University and the Auburn–Opelika corridor, and it borders Georgia.

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 unincorporated Lee County and the City of Smiths Station, whose building permits Lee County Building Inspections administers. Auburn, Opelika and the part of Phenix City in Lee County permit separately. In the county’s small towns, confirm the issuing office with the town.

What requires a building permit in Lee County?

Where the county's adopted building code applies, a permit is required before most construction, alteration, demolition, repair, relocation, change of occupancy and trade work begins.

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

Lee County’s codes are adopted by the county commission for unincorporated territory (Code of Alabama § 34-14A-12). The county lists the 2021 International Building, Residential, Plumbing, Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Existing Building, Fire and Swimming Pool and Spa codes, the 2021 commercial energy code, the current National Electrical Code and ICC 500-2020 for storm shelters. Auburn and Opelika adopt independently, so confirm the county’s editions and amendments with the county rather than inferring them from either city.

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 Lee County, the code that governs you is the one the Lee County Building Inspections office 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 Lee County?

The county permits unincorporated territory and administers building permits for the City of Smiths Station. In Smiths Station the city’s own site plan (zoning certificate), land disturbance permit and stormwater approval must come first, before the county approves the building permit. Auburn and Opelika each run their own building departments. In a city’s police jurisdiction outside its limits, confirm with both the city and the county which office issues the permit.

The county's unincorporated territory ranges from suburban and rural residential around the Auburn–Opelika corridor to genuinely rural and agricultural land toward the county's edges. That gives the department a caseload mixing conventional subdivision work with rural building where private water, onsite sewage, access and address assignment come first and frequently decide feasibility.

The early counter day is worth planning around. Building Inspections is open 7:00am to 3:30pm Central Time, Monday to Friday — an early start that suits contractors coming off site at dawn, but a mid-afternoon close that rules out late-day submittals and payments.

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 includes subdivision development in the growth corridor, rental and student-adjacent housing at the edges of the municipalities, and rural construction further out. On rural parcels the health department, access and address questions govern feasibility before the building code does, and the 1 January 2027 residential code duty applies to the builder regardless of how thinly enforcement is spread.

Commercial permits

Commercial and industrial development includes manufacturing and supplier facilities in the corridor, highway retail and service, and the development that follows a large university and its regional economy. Larger projects bring grading, drainage, access, utility and fire review alongside the building set.

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

Lee County permit costs and fees

Lee County building permit fees are valuation-based: $40 for the first $1,000 plus $8 for each additional $1,000 up to $50,000, tiered above. Plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits have their own schedules. There is no fee for in-house plan review; when the Building Official sends plans to the International Code Council or another third-party reviewer, the applicant pays that reviewer directly. Auburn and Opelika maintain their own schedules.

Fee schedules are revised on each jurisdiction’s own cycle, so ask Lee 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 Lee County building permit

Review rules, permit duration, revival and appeal routes come from each Alabama jurisdiction’s own ordinance, so ask Lee 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 Lee 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. Rural parcels add onsite sewage verification, and commercial work adds fire system acceptance.

The mid-afternoon counter close affects inspection booking as well as submittals. Confirm the cut-off for next-day requests rather than assuming a late-day window exists.

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.

Lee 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 Lee County Building Inspections office 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.

• Lee 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

Does Lee County issue permits inside Auburn or Opelika?

No. Both cities run their own building departments. The county covers unincorporated territory and the City of Smiths Station; in a city’s police jurisdiction outside its limits, confirm with both the city and the county.

Can a contractor licensed in another state work here?

Not on that licence. Alabama licensing applies to work performed in Alabama regardless of where the contractor is based, so the appropriate Alabama board licence is required before a permit will issue.

My parcel is outside the city limits — does the county code apply?

Not necessarily. A county’s building code applies in unincorporated areas, and it may be enforced in a city’s police jurisdiction outside the city limits only as § 11-40-10(b)(2) provides (§ 34-14A-12(c)): a city that was enforcing its code there on 1 January 2021 may continue, unless the county gives notice that it is enforcing, in which case the city stops within 24 months unless the two agree otherwise. Confirm with both the city and the county.

What are the county's counter hours?

Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 3:30pm Central Time. The early start suits site-based contractors, but the mid-afternoon close rules out late-day submittals.

Which board licenses my contractor?

It depends on the trade and the value. The General Contractors board licenses undertakings of $100,000 or more (§ 34-8-1); the Home Builders Licensure Board covers residential work over $10,000 and residential roofing over $2,500 (§ 34-14A-2); electrical, plumbing and gas, and HVAC each have their own board regardless of project value.

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.

Simplify Lee County permitting with Alliance Permitting

Lee County pairs university-driven growth with a large rural remainder, and the two failure modes reflect that: filing with the wrong office near a city boundary, and out-of-state contractors assuming a licence travels across the state line.

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

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

• We confirm county versus Auburn or Opelika, including the police jurisdiction.
• We verify Alabama board licensing before a contractor reaches the counter.
• We front-load rural water, septic, access and address work.
• We plan submittals and inspection requests around a 3:30pm close.
• We prepare residential programmes for the 1 January 2027 transition.

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 Lee County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.