Troy, Michigan Building Permit Guide

Troy is Oakland County’s largest city, with about 88,700 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Its Building Department’s rules are unusually mechanical, and every one of them is a scheduling trap for anyone who does not know them.

Electrical, mechanical, plumbing and sewer permits, and building permits for roofing, windows and siding only, may be applied for on BSAonline.com. All other building permits — including anything requiring plan review and all new construction permits — must be emailed to the department in PDF format instead. Right-of-way work needs a certificate of insurance naming the City of Troy as an additional insured, with endorsement, at application.

This guide covers work inside the Troy city limits. Oakland County and the neighbouring Oakland communities each run their own permitting.

What requires a building permit in Troy?

The code is the same statewide, but fee schedules, procedures and the choice of third-party agency differ from one municipality to the next, so an exempt list from a neighbouring township is not reliable. An exemption from a building permit is never an exemption from zoning, the energy code, or an electrical or plumbing permit. Confirm scope with the Troy Building Department before work starts.

Local rules worth knowing

The department is paperless: only electronic plans are accepted. The inspection line and the online request system both accept inspection requests only between eight in the morning and two in the afternoon; requests made after two are reviewed the following business day, which catches contractors who call at the end of the working day.

Michigan enforces one statewide construction code under the Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act (1972 PA 230); local units cannot amend it, and enforcement sits with the city, village or township, a county program or the state Bureau of Construction Codes, sometimes split by trade. Michigan rules

Who handles permitting in Troy?

The Building Department handles plan review, building and trade permits and inspections for the city, with engineering handling sidewalk, approach and right-of-way permits separately.

The split between the two filing routes matters. Trade permits and roofing, window and siding permits go through BSAonline.com. Every other building permit, anything that needs plan review, and every new construction permit has to be emailed to the department as a PDF instead — filing those online is a wasted submission.

Commercial submissions carry a defined drawing standard. A Michigan registered professional engineer’s seal is required on drawings where the mechanical and electrical trades form a significant part of the work, and only one design professional may be named as the design professional or architect of record. Fences and signs are excluded from the building permit and need separate applications under their own chapters of the city ordinance code.

In 2025, building permits issued in Troy authorized 116 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

Residential permits cover new homes, garages, basement finishes, pools, re-roofs and the usual additions and alterations. Since 12 January 2026, new homes and residential additions need a performance-based energy compliance report from ACCA-approved software at application, and new homes need Manual J, Manual S and Manual D heating and cooling calculations. Confirm which code edition governs each part of the work before drawing to it, because the building and residential parts of the state code are not on the same edition.

How Michigan contractor credentials work

Commercial permits

Commercial work runs through plan review with sealed drawings, landscaping approved before a certificate of occupancy issues, and a site compliance inspection where preliminary site plan approval was required. Commercial applicants should request an extension before the permit expires: Troy’s position is that failing to request within 30 days after expiry loses the permit and forces a new one under the code cycle then in force.

Licenses, trade classifications and design professionals

Practically, three credential layers appear on Michigan projects: the state residential builder or maintenance and alteration licence on residential work; separately licensed electrical, plumbing and mechanical trades, also licensed by the state; and, on commercial and larger residential work, drawings sealed by a Michigan-licensed architect or professional engineer, with plans reviewed by a state-registered plan reviewer; detached one- and two-family houses of 3,500 square feet or less need no architect or engineer seal. Confirm what the Troy Building Department requires for the specific building before filing.

Michigan licenses residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors at state level, and the permit application must carry the licence number. Michigan rules

Troy permit costs and fees

Troy fees are valuation-based with separate plan review, trade and re-inspection charges. The city applies an over-the-counter processing charge for in-person handling, so the same permit can cost more filed at the counter than filed electronically.

Michigan fees are set by whoever holds enforcement for the parcel — the local unit, the county, or the state where neither has taken it on — so the schedule follows the authority rather than the state. A figure from a neighbouring municipality is not reliable, and a figure from a neighbouring township can be wrong even where the county enforces both. Ask the Troy Building Department for the schedule in force on your filing date.

Fees are set by the enforcing agency — the local unit, a county program or the state — and may only fund that agency's work. Michigan rules

Trade permits and who may pull them

Electrical, plumbing and mechanical contractors hold state licences valid anywhere in Michigan, and each trade follows its part of the state construction code. Michigan rules

How to apply for a Troy building permit

Review, corrections and what actually causes delay

In Michigan, the first cause of delay is uncertainty over who enforces the code — filing with the local unit when the county holds enforcement for it, or with the county when the state does. After that comes the edition question, because the trade parts and the building parts moved on different dates, and houses still follow the 2015 residential code, so a submission drawn to the wrong one is a correction cycle. Then a missing or expired state licence number on the application, energy-code and plan documentation, and floodplain requirements along the shorelines and rivers. Build the plan-review time into the schedule and confirm the checklist with the Troy Building Department before filing.

A Michigan permit lapses if work does not start within 180 days or stops for 180 days; confirm the expiry with Troy on phased or delayed work. Michigan rules

Inspections in Troy

Where a permit is required, standard checkpoints include footing and foundation, framing, rough-in electrical, plumbing and mechanical, insulation and energy-code compliance, fire systems on commercial work, and final, with a use-and-occupancy certificate before the building is used. Requests made after two in the afternoon are not accepted that day on either the phone line or the online system.

Ask the enforcing agency which edition applies to your application, especially around a code change date — because editions are adopted part by part, the answer can differ between the building inspection and the trade inspections on the same job. They are carried out by an inspector registered with the state, employed or contracted by whichever authority holds enforcement for the parcel. Keep the approved plans and the energy-code documentation on site for the inspector to check against, and confirm the notice the Troy Building Department needs and its inspection windows.

Do not cover work before the required inspection has been approved. Keep the issued permit, the approved plans, product listings, energy-code documentation and your correction responses available on site.

Troy permit search and official resources

Permit records in Michigan sit with the authority that issued them — the local unit, the county, or the state bureau where neither took enforcement on. Where the Troy Building Department is the authority for the City of Troy, it holds the building permit, the inspection history and the use-and-occupancy certificate. If you are buying, refinancing or renovating, confirm that past work was permitted rather than assuming it was — open permits and missing certificates are a common closing problem.

These are the primary sources behind this guide. Codes, fee schedules and procedures change — confirm the position for your filing date.

• City of Troy Building Department
• Troy permit requirements
• Troy sidewalk and approach permits
• Troy online permit application
• Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes - current code books and effective dates

Frequently asked questions

Why was my inspection cancelled when the inspector arrived?

Most often because the permit board was not printed and posted. Troy states that failure to print and post the permit board will result in inspectors cancelling inspections. The board is available as a PDF from the forms library or at the Building Department counter.

Can I file my new construction permit online?

No. Permits requiring plan review, all new construction permits and every building permit other than roofing, windows and siding must be emailed to the department in PDF format. Electrical, mechanical, plumbing and sewer permits, and roofing, window and siding permits, can be applied for online.

What time do I have to book an inspection by?

Two in the afternoon. Both the inspection phone line and the online request system accept requests only between eight in the morning and two in the afternoon.

Which code edition applies to my project?

It depends which part of the code the work falls under. One Michigan point catches almost everyone: the commercial and residential codes are not on the same edition. The bureau moved the plumbing, mechanical and electrical parts to new editions on the twelfth of March, 2024, and the building and rehabilitation parts to their 2021 editions on the ninth of April, 2025; houses still follow the 2015 Michigan Residential Code. The residential code did not move with them. Replacement residential rules were filed for an August 2025 effective date, but the Court of Claims entered a stipulated order stopping the department from implementing them while a builders’ association challenge is litigated, so the bureau still lists the 2015 Michigan Residential Code as the code in force. That case was still live when this guide was written. Confirm the edition governing each part of your work on your filing date rather than assuming the newest one applies.

Can I bring paper plans to the counter?

No. The Building Department is paperless and only electronic plans are accepted. There is also an over-the-counter processing charge for in-person handling, so counter filing costs more as well as taking longer.

Do I need a licensed contractor?

For work requiring a licence, yes, and the licence is issued by the state rather than the city. Residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors are licensed by the state under Article 24 of Public Act 299 of 1980, administered by the Bureau of Construction Codes, and the plumbing, electrical and mechanical trades are state-licensed as well. The licence is valid statewide. The permit application must set out the licence number and its expiry date, and performing residential work that requires a licence without holding one is a civil violation the county prosecuting attorney or the Attorney General may pursue.

Simplify Troy permitting with Alliance Permitting

Troy’s rules are mechanical, which means they are entirely avoidable. We file on the right route, in the right format, and book inside the window.

Trusted by leading builders, developers, and national contractors — 21+ years of filing in the jurisdictions we write about.

Contractors and builders choose Alliance for Troy because the work is done by people who have stood at the counter:

• 21+ years of filing, so the authority question gets answered before the application goes in
• We confirm the edition in force for each code part on your filing date, not the newest one published
• Licence numbers, expiry dates and the written authorisation instrument checked before submission
• Correction cycles handled directly with the reviewer so your crew is not waiting on a resubmission
• Inspection sequencing tracked through to the certificate, including trade sign-offs

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Michigan. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the permitting authority through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Troy permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.