Russell County, Alabama Building Permit Guide

Building permits for unincorporated Russell County outside Phenix City’s police jurisdiction are handled by the county’s Building Inspection office under Chief Building Inspector Brian Tice, 311 Prentiss Drive, Phenix City 36867 (334-297-7964). The office keeps Eastern Time: Monday to Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm ET, closed 12:00 to 1:00pm ET for lunch. Applications are made on the Building Permit Request Form on the county’s page, signed and returned by email. Russell County is worth singling out for a reason that sounds mundane and is not: it actually operates a county building inspector, which in Alabama cannot be taken for granted.

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 Russell County outside Phenix City’s police jurisdiction. Phenix City permits its city limits and its police jurisdiction, a 1.5-mile area outside the city limits in Russell County. In the Town of Hurtsboro, confirm the issuing office with the town.

What requires a building permit in Russell 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

Russell County’s building requirements for unincorporated territory rest on the county commission’s power to adopt building codes (Code of Alabama § 34-14A-12(c)). The county does not publish its adopted editions online; its permit application refers to building codes, county resolutions and state laws. Phenix City adopts independently. Confirm the county’s editions and amendments with the office 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 Russell County, the code that governs you is the one the Russell County Building Inspection 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 Russell County?

The county’s Building Inspection office reviews residential and commercial plans, issues the permits, inspects in the field, issues certificates of occupancy and enforces business licences for general contractors. Who issues depends on where the parcel is:

• Phenix City and its police jurisdiction: the Phenix City Building Department (334-448-2740) covers the city limits and a 1.5-mile police jurisdiction outside them in Russell County. The part of the city in Lee County has no police jurisdiction.
• Hurtsboro: the published sources do not say who issues building permits inside the town limits; ask Hurtsboro town hall before applying.
• The rest of the county: the Russell County Building Inspection office, 311 Prentiss Drive, Phenix City.

The county sits on the Chattahoochee River at the Georgia state line, directly across from a much larger city in the neighbouring state, so the metropolitan area here is genuinely two-state. Contractors cross the line constantly — and an out-of-state licence carries no authority in Alabama. The correct Alabama board licence is required for work performed on the Alabama side regardless of where the contractor is based or licensed.

In 2025, building permits issued in unincorporated Russell County authorized 85 new privately owned housing units, 81 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 in unincorporated Russell County ranges from suburban development near Phenix City to rural and large-lot construction across the remainder. On rural parcels private water, onsite sewage, access and address assignment typically determine feasibility before the building code does. The 1 January 2027 residential code duty attaches to the builder’s licence regardless of who inspects.

The county’s Application for Building Permit asks for the building address and legal description, the use and occupancy, whether the job is new construction, an addition, an alteration or a repair, the material, the building and lot dimensions, the total and heated floor area, the cost of the work or the value of the new structure, and the owner, the architect or designer and the contractor with their Alabama registration numbers. The applicant certifies that the lot and floor elevations protect against storm drainage and flash floods and agrees to repair any damage to public improvements and utilities. A new driveway onto a county road needs the Highway Department’s driveway permit, and septic tank requests go to the Russell County Health Department’s Environmental Office.

Commercial permits

Commercial and industrial development includes highway corridor retail and service, manufacturing and distribution, and activity associated with the wider two-state metropolitan economy and the nearby federal installation. Larger projects bring grading, drainage, access, utility and fire review alongside any building permit.

Mobile home, recreational vehicle and cottage rental communities are reviewed by the Russell County Planning Commission under its Group Development Regulations, effective 21 November 2025. For a recreational vehicle park, a site plan, with construction plans where needed, goes to the Commission, which meets at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the first and third Tuesdays at the courthouse, 1000 Broad Street, Phenix City. A recreational vehicle park must cover at least 1 acre on a single lot of record, with 100 feet of frontage and setbacks of 35 feet at the front and rear and 30 feet at the sides.

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

Russell County permit costs and fees

Russell County does not publish a fee schedule online. Its permit application asks for the cost of the alterations or additions or the value of the new structure, so ask the office for the fee on your project. Phenix City maintains an entirely separate schedule, and the two should not be assumed comparable.

Fee schedules are revised on each jurisdiction’s own cycle, so ask Russell 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

The county office issues the electrical, plumbing, gas fitting and HVAC or mechanical permits itself, along with swimming pool, demolition, sign and home or mobile home moving permits. Its building permit application records the Alabama registration number of the contractor, or the name of the person in charge where the work is done by day labor.

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 Russell County building permit

Review rules, permit duration, revival and appeal routes come from each Alabama jurisdiction’s own ordinance, so ask Russell 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 Russell County

The Building Inspection office performs the field inspections on the permits it issues and issues the Certificate of Occupancy at the end of the job. Inspection requests go to the office on 334-297-7964 or at rcbuildinginspection@russellcountyal.org.

Give real notice when you book, confirm the work is genuinely ready, and remember the office keeps Eastern Time and closes for lunch from 12:00 to 1:00pm ET.

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.

Russell 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 Russell County Building Inspection 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.

• Russell County, Alabama
• Russell County Building Inspection
• Russell County Application for Building Permit (PDF)
• Russell County Highway and Engineering: driveway permits
• Russell County Planning Commission
• Group Development Regulations, effective 21 November 2025 (PDF)
• Phenix City Building Department
• Russell County Health Department
• 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 Russell County have a building inspector?

Yes. Russell County operates a building inspection office for unincorporated territory outside Phenix City’s police jurisdiction, which is worth confirming because county building departments are optional in Alabama and a number of counties operate none at all.

Do all Alabama counties have building departments?

No. County adoption of building codes is optional (§ 34-14A-12(c)), and several Alabama counties with well over 50,000 residents run no county building department. Where none exists, there is no county building permit to obtain.

Is a county license inspector the same as a building department?

No. A county license inspector administers business licences, not building codes. That office does not issue building permits or conduct construction inspections, and it is easy to reach by mistake.

Can a contractor licensed in the neighbouring 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.

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.

How do I apply for a building permit in Russell County, Alabama?

Complete the Application for Building Permit on the county’s Building Inspection page, sign it and email it to rcbuildinginspection@russellcountyal.org. The office is at 311 Prentiss Drive, Phenix City (334-297-7964), open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and closed for lunch from 12:00 to 1:00.

How much is a Russell County building permit?

The county posts no fee schedule. The application records the cost of the work or the value of the new structure and the office sets the fee. The fees it does post are the $25 driveway permit and the Planning Commission’s group development fees.

Who issues permits in Phenix City and Hurtsboro?

The Phenix City Building Department (334-448-2740) permits the city limits and its 1.5-mile police jurisdiction in Russell County. For Hurtsboro the published sources do not say, so ask the town hall first.

Who issues septic permits in Russell County?

The Russell County Health Department, 1850 Crawford Road, Phenix City (334-297-0251); ask for the Environmental Office.

Do I need a permit for a driveway onto a county road?

Yes. The Russell County Highway Department takes a Driveway Permit Application with a $25 permit and inspection fee, mailed or brought to the office; its number is (334) 855-0209.

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 Russell County permitting with Alliance Permitting

Russell County is a useful corrective to an assumption that costs people time across Alabama: that every county has a building department. It does have an inspector — but the general rule in this state is that county coverage has to be established rather than assumed.

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

• We establish whether a county building authority exists before planning a filing.
• We confirm what a county programme actually covers, not just its code year.
• We keep county, city and police jurisdiction boundaries straight.
• We verify Alabama board licensing for contractors working across the state line.
• We front-load rural water, septic, access and address work.

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