Woodhaven, Michigan Building Permit Guide

For property in the City of Woodhaven, building, zoning, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits come from the Building & Ordinance Enforcement department at City Hall, 21869 West Road (734-675-4930), where Jonathan Tackett is Building Official. Most home projects cost a $50 administration fee plus $10 per $1,000 of construction value under the 2024 fee schedule, each trade permit adds a $75 application fee and a $50 final inspection, and every contractor must register with the city each year.

What requires a building permit in Woodhaven?

The department’s advice is “check first”, because many home improvement projects need a permit. Its own list of work that usually needs one runs from new buildings and additions to windows, siding, re-roofing, concrete, fences and water heaters, and the fee schedule sorts the jobs into building permits and zoning permits.

Water heaters appear on the department’s list of residential work that needs a permit, and the trade forms price them on both the plumbing application (with the fixtures, $25) and the mechanical application ($50).

What Woodhaven decides and what the state holds

The state’s Statewide Jurisdiction List (Bureau of Construction Codes, revised November 6, 2026) shows the City of Woodhaven enforcing building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing codes on its own, with no Wayne County program to fall back on. Construction standards are the state’s; Woodhaven sets the fee schedule, registers every contractor, administers its zoning ordinance and 2024 master plan, and runs the resale, rental and vacant property programs adopted by the city.

Woodhaven building department: who handles permitting

The Building & Ordinance Enforcement department issues and inspects all construction permits in the city and also handles code enforcement. The Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals, served through the city’s planning and economic development pages, decide site plans, special land uses, sign reviews, rezonings and variances.

The electrical and mechanical forms say they can be filled in on screen but are not designed for electronic submission: print them, sign them and bring or mail them with the fees, made payable to the City of Woodhaven.

Woodhaven permit types

The downloadable forms page carries the building permit and plan examination application (2024), sign, fence, shed, concrete and side-yard variance forms, the pool and spa packet, electrical, mechanical and plumbing applications, a gas pressure test affidavit, the roof permit policy, the contractor registration form and the 2024 fee schedule, along with the resale, rental and vacant property ordinances and their request forms.

Residential permits

• Building application. It asks for the owner, any architect or engineer, the contractor’s builder license number and expiry, the type of improvement and use, frame, heating fuel, sewer and water type and floor areas, and it notes that plumbing, mechanical and electrical work need separate applications. Plans go in with an application for plan examination unless the Building Official finds the alteration or repair minor.
• Roofs. Before a roofing permit is issued, the permit holder signs the roof policy: ice guard photographs must reach the department within six months and before the final inspection is scheduled. If the permit expires without inspections, the whole permit fee is charged again to reinstate it and the contractor must meet the inspector on site to open a section of the roof.
• Pools. An above-ground pool is a flat $125 building permit plus a separate electrical permit; an in-ground pool is $50 plus $10 per $1,000 of value, with separate electrical and mechanical permits.
• Fences, sheds, concrete and decks. These are zoning permits, each with its own form or packet, and an inspector reviews every one before it is issued.
• Mobile homes. Set-up is $70 and needs separate plumbing, mechanical and electrical permits.

Building or remodeling a home here? Alliance handles residential permit filing, so the crew isn't waiting on the counter.

Commercial permits

Commercial and industrial permits are $50 plus $50 for the first $1,000 of construction value and $10 for each $1,000 after that. Plan review is $200 for small commercial projects and $800 for large commercial or industrial projects, with $200 or $400 for each set of revised drawings. A commercial or industrial occupancy request (2025 routing sheet) and a $400 commercial resale or occupancy inspection apply when a business moves in or a building changes hands.

For tenant improvements and new commercial builds, Alliance handles commercial permit expediting through issuance. More on this: commercial building permits explained.

What comes before the building permit

• Planning Commission site plan review. The site plan application goes to the City Clerk’s Office, not the Building Department, with a checklist covering the legal description, site area, a scale of at least 1 inch to 50 feet for sites under three acres (1 inch to 100 feet above that), all property-line dimensions and setbacks, and the footprints of neighboring buildings within 100 feet. Sign review and rezoning have their own procedures and forms.
• Special land uses. The city processes a special use much like a rezoning: the Planning Commission holds a public hearing and sends its findings to City Council, which makes the final decision and may attach conditions. The approved application and site plan must then be recorded with the Wayne County Register of Deeds by the applicant, with proof of recording given to the city.
• Zoning Board of Appeals. Variances, including the city’s side-yard variance request.
• Soil erosion. Woodhaven is not one of the cities that run their own program, so Wayne County’s Environmental Services Division issues soil erosion permits for earth changes over an acre or within 500 feet of surface water ($435 for two years for a single-family house).
• Floodplain. Check the city’s flood plain map first; the city has arranged for its city engineer, Hennessey Engineers, to survey homes for residents who need a floodplain determination.
• County roads. Driveway or utility work in a Wayne County road right-of-way needs a county DPS construction permit (734-858-2774).

Woodhaven permit costs and fees

The department posts its building and zoning fee schedule as the 2024 schedule, and the trade applications revised in January 2024 print their own charts. Permit fees are the same whether a contractor or a homeowner applies.

Worked examples: a re-roof valued at $12,000 is $50 plus 12 × $10, or $170. Replacing a furnace with its duct and pipe on a mechanical permit is the $75 application fee, $75 for the heating system and the $50 final inspection, or $200, before any rough or gas pressure inspection the job needs. Every electrical permit starts at $125, the $75 application fee plus the $50 final. Read the zoning line’s “(Minimum $1,000)” note with the department before you budget a small fence or shed.

Trade permits and who may pull them

Woodhaven issues its own electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits. All contractors working in the city must register each calendar year (January 1 to December 31) with a copy of the contractor license, the licensee’s driver’s license and proof of liability insurance.

• Registration fees. Building, zoning and sign contractors $50 a year; electrical $50 a year; plumbing and mechanical $15 for the length of the license.
• Homeowners. The electrical form’s homeowner affidavit lets an owner install the work personally in the home the owner lives in or is about to occupy, keep it uncovered until the inspector approves it, and arrange the inspections. The department also suggests that owners who hire a contractor have the contractor pull the permit and ask for a copy.
• Electrical plans. Plans with an application for plan examination are needed unless the service is 400 amps or less and the building is 3,500 square feet or less.
• Common electrical items. A residential generator, transfer switch or interlock is $30 each, a pool or hot tub $111, the first circuit $30 and each additional circuit $10, on top of the $75 application fee and $50 final inspection.
• Gas work. Mechanical permits carry a $50 gas pressure inspection, and the city posts a gas pressure test affidavit form.

How to apply for a Woodhaven building permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

The department asks for every section of the application to be completed, signed and dated, and every contractor on the job must be registered with the city. Zoning permits wait for an inspector’s review, and revised commercial drawings cost $200 or $400 per revision. Projects needing site plan, special land use or a variance must also wait for the Planning Commission or Zoning Board of Appeals.

Inspections and certificates in Woodhaven

Call the Building Department at 734-675-4930 to book; after hours, leave the address, permit number and work on the 24-hour voicemail and the department calls back with a date. The trade forms ask you to call with as much notice as possible and to keep work uncovered until it is inspected. A permit with no inspection requested within six months of issue or of the last inspection is closed and cannot be refunded or reinstated, and failed work costs $50 to re-inspect.

Since April 16, 2010 every residential sale or transfer has needed a city occupancy inspection ($200, with re-inspections at $40 per inspector); the city posts a request form, its resale ordinance, a list of common violations and a buyer’s affidavit for buyers who agree to take on the repairs. Rental properties have had to be registered and inspected since January 1, 2017, and vacant properties must be registered under their own ordinance.

Michigan building code in Woodhaven

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists the City of Woodhaven (community 260730) as a participating National Flood Insurance Program community, with a current map dated October 21, 2021; the department’s flood plain page links the city’s own map and FEMA’s map search.

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

Woodhaven permit search and official resources

Permit records are requested in writing under the Freedom of Information Act. Send general requests to the City Clerk’s Office, Attn: FOIA Coordinator, 21869 West Road, by email to clerks@woodhavenmi.gov or by fax to 734-675-4948; police records go to the Police Records Department. The city answers within five business days, the first hour of staff search time is generally free, and a deposit may be required when the estimate exceeds $50.

• Woodhaven Building & Ordinance Enforcement
• Woodhaven building forms and applications
• Building and zoning fee schedule (2024)
• Building permit and plan examination application
• Electrical permit application and fee chart
• Mechanical permit application and fee chart
• Plumbing permit application and fee chart
• Contractor registration form
• Roof permit policy
• Woodhaven flood plain information
• Planning Commission documents
• Site plan review application
• Special use permit information
• Zoning Board of Appeals
• How to submit a FOIA request
• Wayne County soil erosion FAQs (2026)
• Wayne County construction permits
• Bureau of Construction Codes Statewide Jurisdiction List
• FEMA Community Status Book, Michigan

Woodhaven building permit FAQs

Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Woodhaven?

Yes. Re-roofing is a building permit at $50 plus $10 per $1,000 of value, and you must send ice guard photos before the final.

Do fences and sheds need permits?

Yes. Fences, sheds, decks and concrete are zoning permits that an inspector reviews before issue.

Can I submit permit applications online?

The city posts fillable forms, but they are printed, signed and delivered or mailed to City Hall with the fee.

Does a contractor have to register with Woodhaven?

Yes, every year: $50 for building or electrical contractors and $15 per license term for plumbing or mechanical.

Is an inspection required when I sell my house?

Yes. Every residential sale or transfer has needed a $200 city occupancy inspection since 2010.

Can a homeowner do their own electrical work?

Yes, in the home they live in or are about to occupy, by signing the affidavit on the electrical application.

Who issues soil erosion permits in Woodhaven?

Wayne County’s Environmental Services Division (734-326-3936).

Simplify Woodhaven permitting with Alliance Permitting

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 Woodhaven permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.