Framingham's Inspectional Services division runs the city's Building Department from Room 203 at 150 Concord Street, permitting and inspecting construction for a municipality that became a city in 2018 after three centuries as a town. Its permitting and licensing moved to a new online platform on 1 July 2025, with a one-time account creation giving applicants a single place to check permits and licences, make payments and communicate with staff — while permits submitted or issued before that date remain searchable in the city's previous system.
Each of the building inspectors, the electrical inspector and the plumbing inspector has a direct line, answered in their office hours (8:30–9:30 am each weekday, plus 4:00–5:00 pm Monday to Thursday). Framingham adopted the Municipal Opt-in Specialized energy code on December 11, 2025, effective July 1, 2026: new construction follows the specialized pathway, while additions, alterations and renovations have no requirements beyond the stretch code. Applications that are not filed online may be printed and brought or posted to Room 203 with the fees submitted at the time of application.
This guide covers the City of Framingham. Natick, Ashland, Sudbury, Marlborough and Southborough run their own building departments under the same state code.
Two systems, one property history. Framingham's platform changed on 1 July 2025: permits submitted or issued before that date are searched in the city's previous system, and everything after it lives in the new account. Due diligence on a building — open permits, past work, prior inspections — needs both, and checking only the current platform will show a property as having no history at all.
What requires a building permit in Framingham?
What is local in Framingham is the building department, the fee schedule, zoning, and the city's permitting platform and its zoning bylaw.
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- Any construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, removal or demolition, and any change of use or occupancy
- New construction, which since July 1, 2026 meets the Specialized code’s performance and electrification-readiness requirements; additions, alterations and renovations stay on the stretch code
- Electrical work and plumbing and gas work, each permitted separately and inspected by the city's own trade inspectors
- New buildings, additions and any structural work on an existing building
- Alterations, repairs and reconstruction under the existing building provisions, and any change of use or occupancy
- Decks (except small, low, freestanding ones), sheds over 200 square feet at a one- or two-family home or 120 square feet elsewhere, swimming pools 24 inches deep or more, and solar installations
Often exempt
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Painting, wallpapering, flooring, cabinets and similar finish work
- Small items on the code’s exempt list, such as fences up to 7 feet and retaining walls up to 4 feet
- Work on a building owned by the Commonwealth, which the State Building Inspector enforces rather than the town
What is actually local, and what is not
The code is the Commonwealth's and cannot be amended locally. Framingham's layer is the building department itself, its fee schedule and filing route, the zoning bylaw or ordinance and the zoning enforcement that precedes the permit, the conservation commission's wetlands jurisdiction under the Wetlands Protection Act, and the permitting platform changeover of July 2025 and the two record systems a property history now spans.
Massachusetts has one State Building Code, 780 CMR, for every city and town; towns cannot rewrite it, though many opt into a stricter energy code. The trades run under their own state codes. Massachusetts rules
Who handles permitting in Framingham?
Inspectional Services is the enforcing division, made up of the Building Department, code and nuisance enforcement, electrical permits and inspections, plumbing and gas permits and inspections, sign regulation, weights and measures and zoning enforcement; the building inspectors, electrical inspector and plumbing inspector each hold their own direct line. The zoning board of appeals hears relief under the state Zoning Act, the planning board handles site plan review, and the conservation commission holds the Wetlands Protection Act jurisdiction along the Sudbury River and the city’s ponds.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Department | City of Framingham Inspectional Services — Building Department |
| Office | 150 Concord Street, Room 203, Framingham, MA 01702 |
| Phone | (508) 532-5500; office Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Tuesday to 7:00 pm, Friday to 12:30 pm |
| Inspectors | Building (508) 532-6178 and (508) 532-6175; electrical (508) 532-6179; plumbing (508) 532-6177 |
| Filing | The city's permitting and licensing platform, in use since July 1, 2025 |
| Older permits | Permits before July 1, 2025 searched in the city's previous system |
Not sure this scope needs a permit?
Get a free quote →In 2025, building permits issued in Framingham authorized 29 new privately owned housing units, 15 of them single-family homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.
Permit types
Residential permits
A Framingham house project files through the city’s platform against the state code, the zoning bylaw and the energy code (the Specialized code for a new house since July 1, 2026; the stretch code for additions and renovations), with the supervising individual's Construction Supervisor Licence and, on residential work for an owner-occupant, the contractor's Home Improvement Contractor registration. Applications that are not filed online are printed and brought or posted to Room 203, with the fees submitted at the time of application rather than on issuance.
Commercial permits
Commercial work in Framingham — a city whose Route 9 corridor and Technology Park carry much of the MetroWest's commercial development — clears zoning and site plan review, then plan review and the building permit, under the Specialized code’s commercial pathway for new buildings and the stretch code for fit-outs and alterations.
Zoning, conservation and the 30-day clock
The approvals that run ahead of the building permit are the local ones: zoning sign-off under Framingham's bylaw or ordinance, and, where the work is within 100 feet of a wetland or within the riverfront or floodplain areas, an order of conditions from the conservation commission under the Wetlands Protection Act, which is a hearing rather than a counter transaction. In Framingham the Sudbury River and the city's ponds bring the conservation commission's Wetlands Protection Act jurisdiction and floodplain review into the file, and the Specialized energy code governs new construction from July 1, 2026. Appeals from the building official go to the local zoning board of appeals on zoning matters and to the State Building Code Appeals Board on code matters.
Rather talk it over?
Call 1-855-478-4290 →Massachusetts has no general contractor licence: the supervising individual holds a Construction Supervisor Licence, and contractors working on existing owner-occupied homes register as Home Improvement Contractors. Massachusetts rules
Framingham permit costs and fees
Fees follow the city's schedule, paid in the permitting platform, or submitted with the application where it is filed on paper.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | City schedule by project type and construction value |
| Paper filing | Fees submitted at the time of application where the form is brought or posted to Room 203 |
| Trade permits | Electrical and plumbing permits filed separately with the city's trade inspectors |
| Zoning relief | Zoning board of appeals application under the state Zoning Act |
| Conservation | Wetlands Protection Act filing fees where the work is in a resource area |
| Energy compliance | Specialized code documentation for new construction; stretch code documentation for alterations |
Fees are due at application, not at issuance. Where a Framingham application is filed on paper rather than through the platform, the fees must be submitted at the time of application — not when the permit is issued. A form posted without payment is not a filed application, and the 30-day clock does not start on it.
Rather not deal with the building department?
Get a free quote →Trade permits and who may pull them
Permit required
- New construction — Specialized code compliance documentation with the application
- Electrical — state-licensed electrician; separate wiring permit under 527 CMR 12
- Plumbing and gas — state-licensed plumber or gas fitter; separate permits under 248 CMR
- Sheet metal work — state sheet metal licence where the work falls under it
- Fire protection and alarms — fire department plan review through the building permit, plus any fire department permit under 527 CMR; alarms by a state-licensed systems contractor
Typically exempt
- Fixing a leaking faucet or valve, clearing a blocked drain, or adjusting gas appliance controls, which need no plumbing or gas permit
Trade work is permitted separately and inspected by the municipality’s own wiring and plumbing inspectors under the state codes. Massachusetts rules
How to apply for a Framingham building permit
Zoning sign-off under the local bylaw or ordinance, and any variance or special permit the project needs, must come before the building permit.
Work in or near wetlands, rivers or land that floods needs conservation commission approval under the Wetlands Protection Act, usually an order of conditions, before work starts.
The Construction Supervisor Licence of the supervising individual, and the Home Improvement Contractor registration where the work is on an existing owner-occupied home of one to four units.
The building official reviews the documents against 780 CMR and the energy code the town has adopted.
Fees are the town's own and are due before issuance; trade permits are filed separately.
Footing to final, with the wiring and plumbing inspectors on their own trades, then a certificate of occupancy for a new building or change of use, or a certificate of completion for other work.
Review, corrections and what actually causes delay
Framingham's building official acts on a complete application within 30 days under the state code, and the platform holds status and messaging in one place. What delays a file here is a property history checked in only one of the two systems, a paper application posted without the fee, and an energy submission built for the base or stretch code.
Want this handled start to finish?
Get a free quote →Inspections in Framingham
Inspections follow the code's sequence — footing and foundation, frame, insulation and final — with the wiring and plumbing inspectors covering their own trades, and are requested from the building department by permit number. Work that passes final receives a certificate of occupancy for new buildings and changes of use, or a certificate of inspection where the code requires one. Buildings in the use groups listed in 780 CMR Section 110 also carry periodic inspections, with proof of maintenance filed with the building official. Framingham inspects in the code's sequence through the Building Department, with the electrical and plumbing inspectors carrying their own trades on their own direct lines and inspections requested through the city's platform.
Framingham permit search and official resources
- Framingham Inspectional Services — the department, the platform change and the inspectors' direct lines
- Framingham permit status — the current platform and the pre-July 2025 archive
- Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR — the 10th edition the department enforces
- Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR — the 10th edition and its Massachusetts amendments from the Board of Building Regulations and Standards
- Home Improvement Contractor registration — the consumer-protection registration and Guaranty Fund
- Construction Supervisor Licence — the examined licence held by the individual supervising the work
Inspections are where schedules slip.
Get a free quote →Frequently asked questions
Where do I find an older Framingham permit?
Permits submitted or issued before July 1, 2025 are searched in the city's previous system; anything after that date is in the current permitting platform.
Can I still file on paper?
Applications can be printed and brought or posted to the Building Department at 150 Concord Street, Room 203, with the fees submitted at the time of application.
How do I reach an inspector?
By direct line: building inspectors (508) 532-6178 and (508) 532-6175, electrical inspector (508) 532-6179, plumbing inspector (508) 532-6177, in their office hours of 8:30–9:30 am each weekday and 4:00–5:00 pm Monday to Thursday. Other inquiries go to the main line, (508) 532-5500.
Which energy code applies?
The Municipal Opt-in Specialized energy code, adopted December 11, 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, for new construction. Additions, alterations and renovations have no requirements beyond the stretch code, which Framingham has used since 2014.
Is Framingham a town or a city?
A city since 2018, though it was a town for three centuries before that; the building department serves the whole municipality either way.
Which building code edition applies?
The 10th edition of the Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR, in effect since October 11, 2024 and the only code in force since July 1, 2025.
Simplify Framingham permitting with Alliance Permitting
Framingham's records live in two places since the platform changed, and its inspectors each have a direct line. We search both systems on any diligence, file with the fee attached, and design to the Specialized pathway from the start.
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Send us the scope and the parcel. We confirm the review path with the Framingham Inspectional Services Division, assemble the submittal, file it, and track it through issuance — corrections included.
More Massachusetts permitting guides
More Massachusetts permitting guides
This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Framingham permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.