The McCracken County Building and Electrical Inspection Department at 633 Washington Street in Paducah (270-444-4724) permits and inspects construction in McCracken County outside the City of Paducah, at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers in far western Kentucky. Building and electrical inspection sit in one department, so both permits come from the same office. The City of Paducah is not covered: its own Community Development Department Building Division, on the first floor of City Hall at 300 South 5th Street (270-444-8527), issues building and electrical permits inside the city through its Online Services Portal.
The department takes applications through Cloudpermit, an online system that handles building and electrical permits together — applying, tracking, paying and requesting inspections all in one place — and keeps an early counter, half past seven in the morning to half past three in the afternoon. The Kentucky Building Code and Kentucky Residential Code apply without local amendment as everywhere in the Commonwealth, so what the county controls is its zoning, its fee schedule and its inspection programme.
This guide covers McCracken County outside the City of Paducah, which runs its own Building Division at City Hall. Ballard, Carlisle, Graves, Marshall and Livingston counties around it run their own programmes.
One department for building and electrical. McCracken County holds building and electrical inspection in a single department, and runs both through one online system for applications, tracking, payment and inspection requests — so there is no second office to find for the electrical permit. Inside Paducah, the city’s own Building Division does the same job.
What requires a building permit in McCracken County?
What is local in McCracken County is the inspection programme, the fee schedule, zoning and planning, contractor registration, and the combined building and electrical department and the county's zoning.
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- Any construction, alteration, repair, demolition or change of occupancy under the Kentucky Building Code or Residential Code
- Electrical work, permitted and inspected by the same department as the building work
- Plumbing and heating and air work, by state-licensed contractors under the state divisions
- New buildings, additions and any structural work on an existing building
- Alterations, repairs and renovations under the building or residential code, and any change of occupancy
- Decks, accessory structures above the code threshold, retaining walls over 4 feet and in-ground swimming pools
Often exempt
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems, and agricultural buildings within the statutory definition
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Painting, papering, flooring, cabinets and similar finish work
- Like-for-like replacement that the codes place below the permit threshold
- Small accessory structures below the code's threshold — the zoning ordinance still applies
What is actually local, and what is not
The code is the Commonwealth's and cannot be added to. McCracken County's layer is its building inspection programme and the certified inspectors staffing it, the fee schedule its ordinance sets, the zoning ordinance and planning commission that govern use and site development, any local contractor registration it requires, and the combined building and electrical department and the single online system behind it.
Kentucky has one mandatory statewide building code that local governments may not add to. Cities and counties enforce it and run zoning. The state reviews plans for larger and higher-risk buildings, and the local programme reviews smaller ones. Kentucky rules
Who handles permitting in McCracken County?
The Building and Electrical Inspection Department is the enforcing authority for the county outside Paducah, with certified building and electrical inspectors as the state regulation requires of a local programme. The City of Paducah is covered by its own Building Division instead, described above. The planning authority handles zoning, the state Division of Building Codes Enforcement reviews the projects the code assigns to it, and the state Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction licenses the plumbing and heating and air trades.
Not sure this scope needs a permit?
Get a free quote →| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Department | McCracken County Building and Electrical Inspection Department |
| Office | 633 Washington Street, Paducah, KY 42003 |
| Phone | (270) 444-4724 |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 7:30 am to 3:30 pm |
| Filing | Cloudpermit, for applications, tracking, payment and inspection requests; Paducah sites go to the city (270-444-8527) |
| Codes | Kentucky Building Code and Residential Code, without local amendment |
In 2025, building permits issued in unincorporated McCracken County authorized 86 new privately owned housing units, 74 of them single-family homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.
Permit types
Residential permits
A McCracken County house project files through the department's online system against the Kentucky Residential Code and the applicable zoning, taking the building and electrical permits from the same department and the plumbing and heating and air permits through the state-licensed contractors doing that work. Requesting inspections runs through the same system rather than a separate call.
Commercial permits
Commercial work in McCracken County — the river industry, the Paducah riverfront and the highway corridors — is reviewed either locally or at the state Division of Building Codes Enforcement depending on which side of the code's jurisdictional division it falls, with the county's own department carrying the work it retains and the electrical inspection alongside.
Plan review, local programmes and the state's role
In McCracken County the Ohio and Tennessee river frontages bring floodplain review into the file, the agricultural land brings the statutory exemption into play, and the county's zoning runs ahead of the building permit. Fees a local government charges are required by statute to cover the cost of the service performed and not to exceed it.
Rather talk it over?
Call 1-855-478-4290 →Kentucky has no general contractor licence: the state licenses the trades, and cities or counties may require their own contractor registration. Kentucky rules
McCracken County permit costs and fees
Fees follow the county's schedule, which by statute may not exceed the cost of the service performed, and are paid through the department's online system.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | The county's fee schedule, paid through the online system |
| Electrical permit | From the same department, through the same system |
| Plumbing and heating and air | By state-licensed contractors under the state divisions |
| Inspections | Requested through the same online system |
| Statutory limit | Local fees may not exceed the cost of the service performed |
| State fees | Department fees where the state reviews the project |
Electrical is the inspection that always exists. Across Kentucky, even where a county has no single-family building inspection programme, the local county electrical inspector still inspects — alongside the state's own heating and air inspections. McCracken has both functions in one department, but the underlying point holds statewide: the electrical inspection is the one that does not disappear.
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Permit required
- Electrical — permitted and inspected by the same county department as the building work
- Electrical — state-licensed electrical contractor; separate permit and a certified electrical inspector
- Plumbing — state-licensed master plumber; separate plumbing permit, inspected under the state plumbing code
- Heating and air conditioning — state-licensed HVAC contractor; separate mechanical permit
- Fire sprinkler and fire alarm — sprinklers by a state-licensed fire sprinkler contractor and alarms by a state-licensed electrical contractor; system plans are reviewed with the building plans, and the fire official may inspect
Typically exempt
- Like-for-like replacement the trade codes place below the permit threshold
- Electrical or heating and air work a homeowner does on their own home, which state law exempts from the trade licence — a permit is still needed
The trades are permitted separately and done by contractors holding state licences. Kentucky rules
How to apply for a McCracken County building permit
Zoning approval, and planning commission or site development review where the ordinance requires it, precede the building permit.
The state reviews plans for larger and higher-risk buildings, and the local programme reviews smaller ones; homes are local.
The state licenses the trades; general contractor registration, where it exists, is the city's or county's own.
Reviewed against the Kentucky Building Code or Kentucky Residential Code as adopted, with no local amendments to satisfy.
Fees are set by local ordinance and by statute may not exceed the cost of the service performed.
Footing to final, with the trades inspected on their own permits, then the certificate of occupancy.
Review, corrections and what actually causes delay
McCracken County reviews through its own department within the jurisdiction the code gives it, with the online system carrying status. What delays a file here is a commercial project that belonged with the state, and a counter visit planned for late afternoon against a half past three close.
Want this handled start to finish?
Get a free quote →Inspections in McCracken County
Inspections follow the codes' sequence — footing, foundation, framing, rough trades, insulation and final — and are requested from the local inspection programme by permit number, with the electrical inspections carried by a certified electrical inspector. Work that passes final receives a certificate of occupancy for new buildings and changes of occupancy. McCracken County inspects building and electrical work through the same department, with requests made in the online system; plumbing and heating and air inspections run through the state divisions.
McCracken County permit search and official resources
- McCracken County Inspection Department — the combined department, its system and its hours
- Kentucky building codes and jurisdiction — the state-local division and what happens without a local programme
- Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction — the statewide codes and trade licensing
- Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction — the statewide codes, trade licensing and the Division of Building Code Enforcement
- 815 KAR 7:120 — Kentucky Building Code — the mandatory uniform state building code and its general provisions
- 815 KAR 7:125 — Kentucky Residential Code — the code governing one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses
Inspections are where schedules slip.
Get a free quote →Frequently asked questions
Does one department handle building and electrical?
Yes. McCracken County's Building and Electrical Inspection Department covers both, with a single online system for applications, tracking, payment and inspection requests.
When is the office open?
Monday to Friday from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm — an early close, so plan counter visits for the morning.
Who handles plumbing and heating and air?
State-licensed contractors under the state divisions; the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction licenses those trades.
Does the state review some projects here?
Yes. Sections 104.15 and 104.16 of the Kentucky Building Code divide jurisdiction, with the state Division of Building Codes Enforcement taking the larger projects.
Can the county amend the building code?
No. Kentucky's mini/maxi framework means no local government may adopt or enforce any other building code.
Which code editions apply?
The 2018 Kentucky Building Code, Fourth Edition and the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition, both built on the 2015 International Codes with Kentucky amendments.
Simplify McCracken County permitting with Alliance Permitting
McCracken County put two inspection functions in one department and one system. We file both permits together, request inspections in the same place, and settle the state-versus-county question before the commercial submission.
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Send us the scope and the parcel. We confirm the review path with the McCracken County Building and Electrical Inspection Department, assemble the submittal, file it, and track it through issuance — corrections included.
More Kentucky permitting guides
More Kentucky permitting guides
This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about McCracken County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.