The City of Des Moines runs its Permit and Development Center in the T.M. Franklin Cownie City Administration Building (City Hall), 1200 Locust Street (515-283-4200, permits@dmgov.org), combining building permits, development review and the associated approvals in one place for Iowa’s capital and largest city. Applications, payments, documents and inspection requests go through the city’s Customer Self-Service portal.
The name needs settling before anything else. The City of Des Moines sits in Polk County. Des Moines County is a separate Iowa jurisdiction around Burlington on the Mississippi, roughly 170 miles south-east, with its own government and its own arrangements. The two share nothing but a name, and in a state where each jurisdiction chooses its own code under Iowa Code chapter 103A, reading the wrong one means reading something with no application to the site.
This guide covers the City of Des Moines in Polk County. Des Moines County, around Burlington, is a separate jurisdiction elsewhere in Iowa; West Des Moines, Urbandale, Ankeny, Clive and Windsor Heights are separate cities, and unincorporated Polk County is permitted by the county.
The city is in Polk County, not Des Moines County. The City of Des Moines is in Polk County. Des Moines County is a different Iowa jurisdiction, around Burlington on the Mississippi. Because Iowa leaves code adoption to each jurisdiction, the two may not even enforce the same code — and a search that lands on the wrong one produces a confidently wrong answer.
What requires a building permit in Des Moines?
In Des Moines the questions are what has been adopted locally, what applies whether or not it has been, and the city's adopted code and its combined permit centre.
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- Construction, alteration, repair, demolition or change of occupancy of a building or structure
- Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work, each on its own permit under the statewide trade codes
- A statement of compliance with applicable energy conservation requirements, on every application except a one- or two-unit residential remodel
- New buildings, additions and structural work on an existing building
- Alterations, repairs and renovations, and any change of occupancy
- Decks, accessory structures above the local threshold, retaining walls and swimming pools
Often exempt
- Ordinary repairs and small accessory work below the city's adopted threshold, and one- and two-unit residential renovation from the energy statement requirement
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Painting, papering, flooring, cabinets and similar finish work
- Small accessory structures below the locally adopted threshold — zoning still applies
- Renovation and remodelling of one- and two-unit residential buildings, from the energy statement requirement
What is local, and what applies regardless
The general building code is Des Moines's choice. It may adopt the state code by ordinance, adopt something else, or adopt nothing; where it adopts the state code it may also adopt its own administrative and enforcement provisions, establish a building department and designate a building official. What is not its choice is the statewide core: the energy conservation requirements, which apply to all commercial construction and to new one- and two-family residences whether or not a local code exists; the state fire code, enforced by the State Fire Marshal with local fire departments acting under agreement; and the state plumbing and electrical codes. Beyond those, the combined permit centre and the city's own adopted code and amendments.
Iowa lets most cities and counties adopt the state building code, another code or none (a city of more than 15,000 must enforce at least the state code), but the energy, accessibility, fire, plumbing, mechanical and electrical rules apply statewide. Iowa rules
Who handles permitting in Des Moines?
The Permit and Development Center is the building authority for the city, enforcing the code Des Moines has adopted alongside its zoning and development review. The Building Code Bureau within the State Fire Marshal Division maintains the state code, the trades are licensed at state level, and the State Fire Marshal retains its own jurisdiction over the state fire code.
Not sure this scope needs a permit?
Get a free quote →| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Department | Des Moines Permit and Development Center |
| Office | 1200 Locust Street, Des Moines, IA 50309 |
| Phone | (515) 283-4200 |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, excluding city holidays |
| Energy statement | Required with the permit application |
| Not this jurisdiction | Des Moines County, around Burlington |
In 2025, building permits issued in Des Moines authorized 1,676 new privately owned housing units, 221 of them single-family homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.
Permit types
Residential permits
A Des Moines house project files at the Permit and Development Center against the code the city has adopted, with the electrical, plumbing and mechanical work carried out by state-licensed trades on their own permits. New one- and two-family construction carries the statewide energy conservation requirements and the compliance statement; renovation and remodelling of an existing one- or two-unit residence does not require the statement.
Commercial permits
Commercial work in Des Moines — the downtown and East Village, the insurance and financial campuses and the industrial corridors — runs through the same centre, with the statewide energy conservation requirements applying to all commercial construction whether new or work on an existing building, and the State Fire Marshal reviewing within its jurisdiction.
Establishing what applies to the site
In Des Moines the Des Moines and Raccoon river confluence brings substantial floodplain and levee considerations into the file, the downtown skywalk system reaches into building design on connected blocks, and historic districts govern parts of the older city.
Rather talk it over?
Call 1-855-478-4290 →Iowa contractors register with the state licensing department (DIAL), and electricians, plumbers and mechanical contractors hold state licences. Iowa rules
Des Moines permit costs and fees
Fees follow the city's schedule, with trade licensing handled at state level and the energy compliance statement carrying no fee of its own.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | The city's fee schedule, by project type and construction value |
| Trade permits | Electrical, plumbing and mechanical, each separately |
| Energy statement | Required with the application; no separate fee |
| Zoning and development review | Through the same centre, ahead of the building permit |
| Trade licensing | State boards; the city may require local registration |
| County permits | Polk County, for unincorporated territory only |
The energy statement is a filing requirement, not a fee. Every Iowa building permit application except one to renovate or remodel a residential building of one or two units must include a statement that the construction will comply with all applicable energy conservation requirements. It costs nothing and it is easy to omit — and an application without it is incomplete regardless of what the city itself has adopted.
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Get a free quote →Trade permits and who may pull them
Permit required
- Every application except a one- or two-unit residential remodel — the energy compliance statement
- Electrical — separate permit from the city or county, or from DIAL where there is no local electrical inspection; state-licensed electrician
- Plumbing — separate permit under the plumbing code the jurisdiction enforces; state-licensed plumber
- Mechanical — separate permit under the mechanical code the jurisdiction enforces; state-licensed mechanical contractor
- Fire protection — under the state fire code, enforced by DIAL’s fire safety bureau, or under a local fire code the state recognises
Typically exempt
- Like-for-like replacement the applicable trade code places below the permit threshold
- Work a property owner performs on their own residence, where the jurisdiction allows it
Trade work is permitted separately under state codes that apply across Iowa. Iowa rules
How to apply for a Des Moines building permit
The state code, another code, or none at all — though a city of more than 15,000 people must enforce at least the state code.
Energy conservation, accessibility, the state fire code and the state plumbing, mechanical and electrical codes run statewide.
Zoning and subdivision are local in every case and precede the building permit.
DIAL contractor registration, state trade licences, and any local registration for general contractors.
Required on every building permit application except one- and two-unit residential remodelling.
Footing to final, with the trades on their own permits, then the certificate of occupancy.
Review, corrections and what actually causes delay
Des Moines reviews through the combined centre against the code it has adopted. What delays a file here is a missing energy compliance statement, and a project researched against Des Moines County's arrangements rather than the city's.
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Get a free quote →Inspections in Des Moines
Inspections follow the sequence of the code the jurisdiction has adopted — footing, foundation, framing, rough trades, insulation and final — requested from the local building department by permit number, with the trades inspected on their own permits. Work that passes final receives a certificate of occupancy for new buildings and changes of occupancy. Des Moines inspects in the sequence its adopted code sets, with the trades inspected on their own permits and the certificate of occupancy following the finals.
Des Moines permit search and official resources
- Des Moines Permit and Development Center — the city's permitting, development review and inspections
- Iowa DIAL Building Code Bureau — state plan review and the list of local code enforcement
- 481 IAC chapter 300 — state building code administration, including the energy compliance statement
- 481 IAC chapter 280 — the state fire code (International Fire Code, 2024 edition, with Iowa amendments)
- 481 IAC chapter 301 — state building code — the codes adopted by reference and the state’s amendments
- Iowa Code chapter 103A — the statute leaving general code adoption to local discretion
Inspections are where schedules slip.
Get a free quote →Frequently asked questions
Is Des Moines in Des Moines County?
No. The City of Des Moines is in Polk County; Des Moines County is a separate Iowa jurisdiction around Burlington, roughly 170 miles south-east.
What is the energy compliance statement?
Every building permit application in Iowa except one to renovate or remodel a one- or two-unit residence must include a statement that the construction will comply with all applicable energy conservation requirements.
Which code does the city enforce?
The 2024 International Building, Residential, Existing Building, Mechanical and Fire Codes, the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code and the state electrical code based on the 2023 National Electrical Code, with the city’s amendments. Under Iowa Code chapter 103A each jurisdiction chooses whether to adopt the state code, another code, or none.
Does the county permit inside the city?
No. Polk County permits its unincorporated territory; the city permits inside its limits.
Who licenses electricians and plumbers?
State boards license the trades across Iowa; the city may require its own registration on top.
Does anything apply regardless of what the city adopted?
Yes — the energy conservation requirements, the state fire code and the state plumbing and electrical codes all apply statewide.
Simplify Des Moines permitting with Alliance Permitting
Des Moines runs one counter and shares its name with a county elsewhere in the state. We confirm the jurisdiction first and never file without the energy statement.
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Send us the scope and the parcel. We confirm the review path with the Des Moines Permit and Development Center, assemble the submittal, file it, and track it through issuance — corrections included.
More Iowa permitting guides
More Iowa permitting guides
This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Des Moines permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.