Washington County's Division of Permits and Inspections, in the Washington County Administrative Annex at 747 Northern Avenue in Hagerstown, permits and inspects construction across the Maryland county that runs from South Mountain to the West Virginia line — the Maryland Washington County, not the several others that share the name. Its arrangement with three of its towns is unusual and worth knowing before filing: residents within the limits of Boonsboro, Funkstown and Williamsport apply at the county's offices after receiving zoning approval from their town's zoning administrator, the town reviews and approves for local zoning, forwards the application and plans to the division for building code review, and the division returns the approved application to the town for issuance.
The county also publishes a state requirement for new houses. Under Maryland’s public safety code (Public Safety Article § 12-205), new single-family detached houses, duplexes and townhouses subject to the residential code that include a garage, driveway or carport must have one electric vehicle supply equipment-installed parking space or one electric vehicle-ready parking space. All new one- and two-family dwellings and additions to them comply with the residential provisions of the 2021 energy code, with the energy efficiency form completed before building plan review approval.
This guide covers Washington County, Maryland. The City of Hagerstown issues its own building permits; Boonsboro, Funkstown and Williamsport share the process described here. The county’s homeowner booklet says that inside Clear Spring, Hancock, Keedysville and Sharpsburg an application may be made at the town hall, so confirm the town’s role before filing there. The Washington Counties of other states are unrelated jurisdictions.
Town zoning, county code, town issuance. For Boonsboro, Funkstown and Williamsport the sequence is fixed: zoning approval from the town's zoning administrator, then the county's building code review, then issuance by the town. The application travels; the applicant does not file twice. Elsewhere in the county the division both reviews and issues, and Hagerstown runs its own department entirely.
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Get a free quote →What requires a building permit in Washington County?
Typically permit required
- New single-family detached, duplex and townhouse dwellings with a garage, driveway or carport, which need an electric vehicle installed or ready parking space
- All new one- and two-family dwellings and additions, which file the energy efficiency form before building plan review approval
- Construction, grading or stream crossing within a mapped hundred-year floodplain, which needs a county floodplain permit and a state letter of authorisation before any disturbance
- New buildings, additions and any structural work on an existing building
- Interior alterations that reconfigure space, add plumbing fixtures or extend circuits, under the building or residential code and the Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code
- Decks, accessory structures above the local exemption threshold, retaining walls and swimming pools, including above-ground pools
Often exempt
- Work the adopted codes place outside the permit requirement; the division confirms it before work starts
- Painting, wallpapering, interior finishes, cabinets, flooring and trim
- Like-for-like replacement of windows and doors in the same opening
- Small detached accessory structures below the jurisdiction's exemption threshold and fences below its height limit — the zoning rules still apply
- Minor repairs that do not remove or alter structural members
What is actually local, and what is not
The code editions are the state's. Washington County's layer is the enforcing office and its amendments to the building and residential codes, its fee schedule, its grading ordinance and its stormwater programme under MDE criteria, and the town-and-county sequence for Boonsboro, Funkstown and Williamsport, and the electric vehicle parking requirement on new houses.
Maryland enforces one statewide set of codes, the Maryland Building Performance Standards (COMAR 09.12.51), through the county or city permit office, which may amend the building and residential codes for local conditions. Maryland rules
Who handles permitting in Washington County?
The Division of Permits and Inspections is the enforcing office, and since July 2025 it also provides fire prevention services across the county through the Office of the Fire Marshal. The Washington County Health Department issues well and septic permits, which may be applied for concurrently with the building permit; the state highway administration approves residential driveway access onto state roads; and the county planning commission approves site plans, which may be reviewed concurrently with the building permit once the site plan has accepted status.
Not sure this scope needs a permit?
Get a free quote →| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Department | Washington County Division of Permits and Inspections |
| Office | Washington County Administrative Annex, 747 Northern Avenue, Hagerstown, MD 21742 |
| Phone | (240) 313-2460 |
| Office hours | Monday to Friday, 7:30 am to 4:30 pm |
| Permit processing | 7:30 am to 4:00 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; to 3:00 pm Wednesday |
| Health department | (240) 313-3400 for well and septic permits, applied for concurrently |
In 2025, building permits issued in unincorporated Washington County authorized 315 new privately owned housing units, 155 of them single-family homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.
Permit types
Residential permits
A Washington County house project files at the annex — or through the town first, in Boonsboro, Funkstown or Williamsport — with the energy efficiency form completed before plan review approval and the electric vehicle parking space designed in where the house has a garage, driveway or carport. Well and septic permits are taken concurrently with the building permit from the health department, and driveway access onto a state road goes to the state highway administration.
Commercial permits
Commercial work in Washington County files three sets of detailed architectural drawings, drawn to scale and carrying a Maryland-licensed design professional's wet seal with signature, date and professional certification — drawings marked preliminary or not for construction are refused. A building permit may be reviewed concurrently with the site plan where the site plan has been submitted and has accepted status with the plan review department, with three copies of the pending dimensioning plan filed alongside, and proof of paid water and sewer allocation fees is part of the checklist.
Prior approvals, plan review and the local clock
In Washington County the Antietam and Conococheague creeks and the Potomac bring mapped floodplain into much of the county, where a county floodplain permit and a state letter of authorisation precede any disturbance, and the state highway administration controls access onto its roads. Maryland sets no deadline for deciding a building permit (though since 1 October 2026 the office must decide within 30 days whether a housing application is complete) — Washington County publishes its own targets, and they are the number to plan against.
Rather talk it over?
Call 1-855-478-4290 →Maryland licenses home improvement contractors through the Maryland Home Improvement Commission and home builders register with the Attorney General; trade licences are mostly state licences, but some counties and WSSC license or register trades themselves. Maryland rules
Washington County permit costs and fees
Fees follow the division's residential and commercial building fee schedules, with health department, water and sewer allocation and state approvals charged by their own offices.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | The division's residential and commercial building fee schedules |
| Well and septic | Health department fees, applied for concurrently with the building permit |
| Water and sewer allocation | Proof of paid allocation fees required on the commercial checklist |
| Floodplain permit | County permit plus a state letter of authorisation before any disturbance in a mapped floodplain |
| Driveway access | State highway administration approval for access onto a state road |
| Town fees | Charged by Boonsboro, Funkstown or Williamsport where the town issues |
Processing hours are shorter than office hours. The division's office is open 7:30 am to 4:30 pm, but permit processing runs only to 4:00 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and to 3:00 pm on Wednesday. An applicant arriving at four on a Wednesday finds the office open and the counter closed.
Rather not deal with the Washington County building department?
Get a free quote →Trade permits and who may pull them
Permit required
- Floodplain work — county floodplain permit and a state letter of authorisation before any disturbance
- Electrical — state-licensed master electrician; separate electrical permit
- Plumbing and gas — state-licensed master plumber or gas fitter; separate plumbing and gas permits
- HVACR — state-licensed HVACR contractor; mechanical permit
- Fire protection, alarms and sprinklers — fire marshal review, state or local, with the building permit
Typically exempt
- Like-for-like fixture, receptacle and switch replacement where the licensing boards' rules allow it
- Low-voltage and communications wiring below the local permit threshold
Trade work is permitted separately and inspected locally or, for electrical work in many counties, by a state-certified private inspection agency. Maryland rules
How to apply for a Washington County building permit
Zoning certification, grading and sediment control, stormwater, forest conservation and Critical Area review run ahead of the building permit.
The home builder registration number (required by state law for new homes) or, where the office asks for it, the Maryland Home Improvement Commission licence number goes on the application.
The local application with the building, residential and energy code submittals the scope requires, and trade permits alongside.
Reviewers in the local office check the building, residential and energy codes as the jurisdiction amended them; corrections are answered in writing.
Fees follow the jurisdiction's ordinance and are due before issuance.
Footing to final by permit number, then the use and occupancy certificate that closes the permit.
Review, corrections and what actually causes delay
Washington County allows the building permit to be reviewed concurrently with the site plan once the site plan has accepted status, which is the county's own lever on schedule. What delays a file here is drawings marked preliminary, a town application filed directly with the county, and a floodplain disturbance begun before the state letter of authorisation.
Want this handled start to finish?
Get a free quote →Inspections in Washington County
Inspections follow the adopted codes' required sequence — footing, foundation, framing, rough trades, insulation and final — and are requested from the local office by permit number. Work that passes final receives a use and occupancy certificate for new buildings and changes of use, or a final approval on the permit for everything else. Washington County inspects through the division, which since July 2025 also carries fire prevention services for the county; health department inspections for wells and septic systems run on their own track beside the building inspections.
Washington County permit search and official resources
- Washington County Permits and Inspections — the division, its hours and the electric vehicle and energy requirements
- Homeowner permit procedures booklet — the town-and-county sequence and homeowner filing
- Commercial permit application checklist — sealed drawings, concurrent site plan review and allocation fees
- Maryland Building Performance Standards — the statewide code adoptions from the Department of Labor's Building Codes Administration
- Maryland Home Improvement Commission — home improvement contractor licensing and the guaranty fund
- Home Builder Registration Unit — new home builder registration with the Attorney General
Frequently asked questions
Inspections are where schedules slip.
Get a free quote →Is this the Maryland Washington County?
Yes — the county between South Mountain and the West Virginia line, with Hagerstown as its seat. Washington Counties in other states are unrelated jurisdictions.
How does permitting work in Boonsboro, Funkstown or Williamsport?
The town's zoning administrator approves for local zoning, then forwards the application and plans to the county division for building code review; the division returns it to the town, which issues the permit.
Do new houses need an electric vehicle space?
Under state law (Public Safety Article § 12-205), new single-family detached, duplex and townhouse dwellings subject to the residential code that include a garage, driveway or carport must have one electric vehicle installed or electric vehicle-ready parking space.
When is the energy efficiency form due?
Before building plan review approval, for all new one- and two-family dwellings and additions to existing ones, under the residential provisions of the 2021 energy code.
Can the building permit be reviewed with the site plan?
Yes, where the site plan has been submitted and has accepted status with the plan review department, with three copies of the pending dimensioning plan filed alongside the building permit application.
Which code edition applies?
The 2021 editions of the International Building Code, International Residential Code and International Energy Conservation Code with Maryland modifications, effective statewide on May 29, 2023 under the Maryland Building Performance Standards, with local enforcement required from May 29, 2024.
Simplify Washington County permitting with Alliance Permitting
Washington County will run reviews in parallel if the file is right and stop dead if it is not. We route town applications through the town, seal every drawing, and file the floodplain and highway approvals before the disturbance rather than after.
Ready to break ground in Washington County sooner?
Send us the scope and the parcel. We confirm the review path with the Washington County Division of Permits and Inspections, assemble the submittal, file it, and track it through issuance — corrections included.
More Maryland permitting guides
More Maryland permitting guides
This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Washington County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.