Kansas Building Permit Guides

Kansas has no general statewide building code. It is a home rule state. Cities and counties adopt and enforce their own building codes, and there is no state agency that runs a building code for private buildings. State law names the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code as the energy standard for new commercial and industrial buildings, but no state agency enforces it, and cities and counties may adopt their own energy codes. The main statewide code is the Kansas Fire Prevention Code, enforced by the Office of the State Fire Marshal; it does not cover one- and two-family homes, and a local jurisdiction may make it more stringent but not less. The State Fire Marshal also holds plan review jurisdiction over particular occupancies such as schools, and the Department of Administration sets the codes that apply on state-owned property. Almost everything else is the city’s or county’s own, within limits set by state law. What that means in practice is that the adopted edition and the local amendments must be verified for the specific address before design begins — what complies in one Kansas city may not comply in the next.

The exemption line is the city’s or county’s to draw, because the code is theirs to adopt. Under most local codes, ordinary repairs and like-for-like replacement need no permit; new circuits, moved outlets, altered wiring, structural work and any change of occupancy do. The Kansas Fire Prevention Code applies regardless, except to one- and two-family homes, and state law, administered by the Kansas State Board of Technical Professions, decides when a licensed architect or engineer must seal the drawings.

What is actually local, and what is not

In Kansas almost everything is local. The city or county adopts its own building, residential, mechanical, plumbing and electrical codes and amends them, within a few limits set by state law. It sets its fee schedule, runs its permit office and inspections, administers zoning, and decides whether to license contractors, following state rules on exams and on licences from other Kansas cities and counties. What is not local is the Kansas Fire Prevention Code and the State Fire Marshal’s plan review of certain occupancies, the state’s codes for school buildings and for state-owned property, the state accessibility and elevator safety laws, and the state law on when a design professional must seal drawings.

Verifying the code before design

Because there is no general state building code, the first step on any Kansas project is confirming which editions the city or county has adopted and which amendments it has made. The city’s adopting ordinance, or the county’s resolution, is the governing document rather than the model code, and jurisdictions across the state sit on different editions. Each city or county must keep an official copy of its adopted code on file for public inspection, and many publish their adoption ordinances online. The State Fire Marshal’s review runs alongside on the occupancies it covers, and state law on the technical professions decides whether sealed drawings are required.

Kansas issues no state licence for general contractors, plumbers, electricians or mechanical contractors. A few specialist trades are covered at state level: roofing contractors register with the Kansas Attorney General, and the State Fire Marshal licenses elevator contractors and propane installers, certifies fire-extinguisher service firms and registers fire alarm and sprinkler companies. Cities and counties decide whether to license contractors and trades, but state law sets the rules. A plumbing, electrical or general, building or residential contractor licence based on one of the standard examinations named in state law is valid in any other Kansas city or county that licenses that trade, without a new exam. A licence based on a city’s or county’s own exam is valid only where it was issued. A contractor working across a metropolitan area may still need to register and pay a fee in each city or county. The city’s or county’s own requirement is the credential to confirm before a permit is pulled, along with any state registration or licence the trade needs, such as roofing registration. Separately, state law, administered by the Kansas State Board of Technical Professions, sets the threshold at which a licensed architect or engineer must seal the construction documents.

Trade work is permitted separately under the codes the jurisdiction has adopted, and inspected by its own inspectors under whatever licensing it requires.