Minnesota Building Permit Guides

Minnesota has one building code. The Minnesota State Building Code is the standard for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair and use of buildings statewide, and it supersedes the building code of any municipality (Minn. Stat. §326B.121). A city or county administers it but must not, by ordinance or development agreement, require building code provisions that differ from it; the only exception is a more restrictive ordinance justified by geological conditions and approved by the state building official. Agricultural buildings are outside the code, with narrow exceptions.

Enforcement is local. A municipality that had adopted the code by 1 January 2008 must keep enforcing it (municipalities of fewer than 2,500 people outside a metropolitan county are excepted), and any other municipality may adopt it by ordinance. The core code is the 2020 Minnesota State Building Code, and the commercial energy code was updated on 5 January 2024.

A municipality may require exterior work authorised by a building permit to be finished within a set period, but not sooner than 180 days after the permit is issued (§326B.121, subd. 1a). A state surcharge is collected with building permits and remitted to the state (§326B.148).

The Department of Labor and Industry licenses residential building contractors, remodelers, roofers, electricians and plumbers for the whole state, so the credentials travel between cities. A contractor doing residential building or remodeling work for homeowners in more than one special skill needs a residential building contractor or remodeler licence; a specialty contractor offering only one special skill generally does not, but residential roofers must be licensed (§326B.805). A contractor whose gross annual receipts from licensed work will not exceed $15,000 can instead obtain a state certificate of exemption. Owners building or improving a home they occupy, or will keep as a rental, are exempt, but not when building for resale or speculation.

The licence is issued to the business, with a qualifying person who meets the examination and education requirements: the proprietor, a general partner, a chief manager, an owner or officer, or a managing employee regularly employed by the business.

Instead of posting a surety bond, licensees pay into the Contractor Recovery Fund, from which homeowners may be compensated (§326B.89). A payment from the fund on a contractor’s account is a ground for action against the licence unless the contractor repays twice the amount paid, with 12 percent interest, and obtains a surety bond of at least $40,000 (§326B.84).

Mechanical contractors need no state licence, but anyone contracting for gas, heating, ventilation, cooling, air conditioning, fuel burning or refrigeration work must give the state a $25,000 bond (§326B.197).

• Electrical work must be done by state-licensed electricians. An individual may do electrical work on a home they own and occupy, or will occupy, if it has its own electrical service not shared with another dwelling (§326B.33). Electrical permits and inspections come from the state unless the city or township has taken on electrical inspection by ordinance (§326B.36); the Department of Labor and Industry’s Local Code Lookup shows which applies.
• Plumbing work must be done by state-licensed plumbers. The state reviews plumbing plans for public and commercial buildings and for residential buildings of five or more units, except in municipalities with a plan review agreement with the department and in the first-class cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and Rochester.

Where the state holds the administrative authority for plumbing — on public buildings, state-licensed facilities, school district and charter school projects and certain others — inspections are carried out by state plumbing inspectors rather than municipal staff, and the permit and inspection fees are submitted to the state. Where a municipality holds a plan review agreement and its inspectors are licensed master or journeyworker plumbers, the municipality inspects instead.