Wicomico County’s Permits and Inspections Division sits within the Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development in Room 201 of the Government Office Building at 125 North Division Street in Salisbury, and it runs electrical enforcement through private companies: electrical inspections are performed by private inspection companies approved by the Wicomico County Board of Electrical Examiners, the companies charge the permit holder directly, and the county requires their verification that the inspections have been performed and accepted before work proceeds to the next stage.
The health department is the other gate. Well and septic (health) permits come from the Wicomico County Health Department, and the county’s residential guidance is that a building permit cannot be issued without a valid health permit if any plumbing, well or septic issues are involved in the scope of the project; a Health Department letter approving the well is also required for the certificate of occupancy and use. Plumbing permits are applied for at the county’s Permits and Inspections office in Room 201, on an application that asks for the Maryland plumbing licence number and any Health Department sign-off. Electrical permits are issued for all electrical work in the county and its municipalities, to licensed electricians and to homeowners doing their own work in their own residence.
This guide covers Wicomico County. The City of Salisbury runs its own building permit process for work inside the city; the county's electrical permits, however, cover the county and its municipalities alike.
No health permit, no building permit. The county’s own guidance is that a building permit cannot be issued without a valid health permit from the Health Department if any plumbing, well or septic issues are involved in the scope of the project. On an unsewered lot the health application is not a parallel task — it is the gate the building permit waits behind.
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Get a free quote →What requires a building permit in Wicomico County?
Typically permit required
- Any construction on an unsewered lot, which needs the health department's permit before the building permit can issue
- All electrical work in the county and its municipalities, permitted by the county and inspected by an approved private company
- Disturbance over 5,000 square feet, which needs a sediment and erosion control permit from the soil conservation district
- 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
- Ordinary repairs and replacements that are non-structural, which the county states need no permit — with the office available to verify a specific project
- 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. Wicomico 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 private electrical inspection companies the Board of Electrical Examiners approves, and the health permit that precedes the building permit.
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 Wicomico County?
The Permits and Inspections Division of the Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development is the enforcing office, issuing building, electrical and plumbing permits, with the Board of Electrical Examiners licensing electricians and approving the private inspection companies, and the Fire Protection Division reviewing construction documents for everything but one- and two-family dwellings. The health department issues well and septic permits, the soil conservation district reviews sediment control, and the State Fire Marshal reviews educational and healthcare occupancies and state-funded projects.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Department | Wicomico County Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development — Permits and Inspections |
| Office | Government Office Building, 125 North Division Street, Room 201, Salisbury, MD 21801 |
| Phone | (410) 548-4810 |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm |
| Health department | (410) 546-4446 for well and septic permits |
| Soil conservation | (410) 546-4777 for sediment and erosion control above 5,000 square feet |
Not sure this scope needs a permit?
Get a free quote →In 2025, building permits issued in unincorporated Wicomico County authorized 58 new privately owned housing units, all of them single-family homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.
Permit types
Residential permits
A Wicomico house project files with the health permit already in hand on an unsewered lot, and with sealed truss drawings by a Maryland-licensed engineer where trusses are used in the roof or floor system. A homeowner may perform the construction and pull the permits if they accept the liabilities and responsibility for code compliance; otherwise the contractor holds the state home improvement licence or the state home builder registration. Electrical inspections are booked with an approved private company and their verification filed with the county.
Commercial permits
Commercial work in Wicomico County goes to the Fire Protection Division for plan review of construction documents — every building type except one- and two-family dwellings — unless it is an educational or healthcare occupancy or a state-funded project, which the State Fire Marshal reviews instead. Grading and building permits both wait on final erosion and sediment control approval from the soil conservation district and stormwater approval from public works, with recorded easements, a maintenance agreement and a performance bond where the code requires them.
Prior approvals, plan review and the local clock
In Wicomico County the Wicomico and Nanticoke river corridors bring floodplain review into the file under the county's participation in the national flood insurance programme, the soil conservation district reviews sediment control above 5,000 square feet, and health department approvals govern the county's large unsewered area. 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) — Wicomico 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
Wicomico County permit costs and fees
Fees follow the county's schedule, with electrical inspection charges paid directly to the approved private company and health and sediment control fees charged by their own agencies.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | County fee schedule by permit type and scope |
| Electrical inspections | Charged by the approved private inspection company and paid by the permit holder |
| Health permits | Well and septic fees charged by the health department; plumbing permit fees charged by the county |
| Sediment control | Soil conservation district permit above 5,000 square feet of disturbance |
| Stormwater | Non-refundable permit fees collected at each phase of stormwater management plan submittal |
| Electrical licence | County exam, or reciprocity with a letter of good standing from the other Maryland county |
Reciprocity needs a letter, not a copy. An electrician licensed in another Maryland county may reciprocate rather than sit the county's limited licence exam — but the county in which the licence is held must submit a letter of good standing directly to the Wicomico office. A photocopy of the licence is not the document that does it.
Rather not deal with the Wicomico County building department?
Get a free quote →Trade permits and who may pull them
Permit required
- Electrical — a county licence by exam or reciprocity, with inspections by an approved private company
- 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 Wicomico 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
Wicomico County reviews with the health department, soil conservation district and fire protection division running beside it. What delays a file here is a building application on an unsewered lot without the health permit, truss drawings without an engineer's seal, and electrical work that proceeded before the private inspector's verification reached the county.
Want this handled start to finish?
Get a free quote →Inspections in Wicomico 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. Wicomico County inspects building work through its own inspectors, electrical work through the approved private companies whose verification the county requires before the next stage, and health department inspections at stages of completion on wells and septic systems.
Wicomico County permit search and official resources
- Wicomico County permits, inspections, licences and fire protection — the divisions, electrical licensing and reciprocity
- Wicomico County residential permits — private electrical inspection, health permits and homeowner permits
- Wicomico County Code — stormwater permits — the erosion, stormwater and bond conditions on a building permit
- 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
Inspections are where schedules slip.
Get a free quote →Frequently asked questions
Who inspects electrical work in Wicomico County?
Private inspection companies approved by the county's Board of Electrical Examiners, charging the permit holder directly; the county requires their verification before work proceeds to the next stage.
Can a building permit issue without a health permit?
Not where any plumbing, well or septic issue is involved in the project — the county states the building permit cannot be issued without a valid health permit in that case, and the certificate of occupancy and use also needs the Health Department’s letter approving the well.
Can a homeowner pull their own permits?
Yes, if they accept all liabilities for the work and responsibility for compliance with the applicable codes.
How does an electrician get licensed here?
By sitting the county's limited licence exam, or by reciprocating a licence from another Maryland county, which must send a letter of good standing to the county's office.
What needs a sediment control permit?
Total site disturbance greater than 5,000 square feet, permitted through the Wicomico County Soil Conservation District.
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 Wicomico County permitting with Alliance Permitting
Wicomico County spreads its approvals across four agencies and outsources one of them entirely. We take the health permit before the building application, book the approved electrical inspector, and file the verifications that keep the work moving stage by stage.
Ready to break ground in Wicomico County sooner?
Send us the scope and the parcel. We confirm the review path with the Wicomico County Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development, 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 Wicomico County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.