Town of Schodack, New York Building Permit Guide

In Schodack the town Building Department issues a combined building and zoning permit for work outside the two villages, from a notarized paper application filed at Town Hall (518-477-7940). The fee schedule dated January 1, 2025 charges $0.25 per square foot for a new house or addition, certificate of occupancy included, with a $25 minimum for one- and two-family homes; review can take up to two weeks.

What requires a building permit in Schodack?

The town’s official notice lists what needs a residential permit, and it reaches past the obvious. Fences, replacement furnaces and central air conditioning, roof, siding and window replacement, lawn sprinklers and plumbing extensions all need one, alongside new homes, additions and dormers, garages, decks, porches, pools, sheds and gazebos, fireplaces and wood stoves, wind generators, demolition and site development. Projects over $20,000 must include engineer-stamped plans.

What Schodack decides and what the state sets

The state Uniform Code and Energy Code set the construction rules. Schodack’s Chapter 90, rewritten in full by Local Law 1 of 2025 on June 26, 2025, sets the local permit procedure, the exemptions above, inspection stages and time limits. Zoning (Chapter 219), driveways (Chapter 112), freshwater wetlands, flood damage prevention, historic preservation and consistency with the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program are separate town chapters.

Schodack building department: who handles permitting

The Building Department’s two Building Inspector / Code Enforcement Officers and its secretary, who also serves the Planning and Zoning Boards, handle permits, inspections and certificates for the town outside its villages. The Village of Castleton-on-Hudson, which lies wholly inside Schodack, has its own Building Inspector, and the small corner of the Village of Nassau inside the town (54 of the village’s residents, Census 2025) is covered by the Nassau village Building Department. Schodack’s 12,892 residents include 11,375 outside the villages.

The Castleton-on-Hudson Building Inspector uses village forms: a building and zoning permit application with its own fee sheet, and separate deck, demolition, fence, roof, window and siding, and swimming pool permits, all posted on the village’s Permits & Applications page. The village also keeps a vacant building registry. Nassau’s Village Hall handles building inspections and certificates of occupancy for the small part of that village in Schodack.

The department page gives office hours of 9 am to 4 pm on weekdays, while its permit notice says 8:30 am to 4:30 pm; call before a visit near either end of the day.

Schodack permit types and filing rules

Residential permits

Most work uses the general Building and Zoning Permit application, which must be notarized and asks for the tax map number, zoning district, occupancy classification, estimated cost and floor area. The town posts separate forms for heating appliances, roofs, windows and siding, swimming pools, site development, culverts, home occupations and fireworks, plus a New Home Package. Requirements by project:

• New home, addition, garage or solar: notarized application, two copies of plans (stamped if the project costs over $20,000) and a plot plan showing the house, driveway, septic and well and their distances from property lines.
• Sheds: at least 5 feet from the property line; two sets of plans if built on site, or a brochure or picture if prefabricated.
• Decks: notarized application, two sets of detailed plans and a plot plan.
• Fences: a brochure or description of material, height and length, set 1 to 2 feet inside the line for maintenance.
• Pools: pool application and brochure; all pools need alarms, above-ground pools with walls 25 to 48 inches high need a fence, and every in-ground pool needs a 4-foot fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate.

Each application needs the builder’s liability and workers’ compensation certificates naming the town as certificate holder, or, if the owner does the work, a copy of the homeowner’s insurance declaration page.

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

Commercial permits

Commercial buildings and residential buildings of three or more units have a $100 minimum fee and higher square-foot rates. Cell towers need Planning Board approval before the permit, and signs, fuel tanks, elevators, fire sprinkler systems and operating permits have their own fees.

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

What comes before the building permit

• Planning Board approval, where the project needs site plan or subdivision review, is part of the New Home Package checklist.
• Culvert and driveway: a culvert permit showing the driveway location; the driveway permit is $35.
• Septic and well: a Rensselaer County Department of Health permit to construct, where applicable.
• Address: an E-911 mailing address application for a new house.
• Site development: clearing and grading a site has its own site development permit, valid for six months.
• Home occupation: running a business from home needs a home occupation permit form.
• Flood zones: Schodack participates in the National Flood Insurance Program with a flood map dated August 15, 1984; Castleton-on-Hudson’s is dated November 15, 1984.

Schodack building permit fees

The Building & Zoning Permit Application Fees schedule, dated January 1, 2025 and described by the town as adopted most recently in 2025, sets these residential (one- and two-family) rates, with a $25 minimum:

For example, a 2,400 sq ft new house is 2,400 × $0.25, or $600, including the certificate of occupancy. Commercial and three-plus-family work starts at $100, at $0.40 per sq ft for new buildings and additions. If a third-party inspector is used for construction inspections, fees over $25,000 are cut by one quarter, under a three-party agreement signed before the permit issues; the inspector’s own charges are extra. The department may waive up to $100 for non-profits such as churches and fire companies.

Trade permits and who may pull them

Electrical. Electrical inspections are done by approved third-party agencies, not the town. The New Home Package names Commonwealth Electrical Inspectors, Middle Department Inspection Agency, The Inspector and New York Atlantic-Inland, and the department’s current list gives offices for Middle Department (Watervliet, 518-273-0861), Commonwealth (Saratoga Springs) and The Inspector (Ballston Spa).

Plumbing, heating and fuel. Plumbing has its own fee with a per-fixture surcharge; furnaces and central air need a permit even as replacements, and the heating appliance permit covers wood stoves, gas inserts, pellet stoves, chimneys and masonry fireplaces, with a certificate of compliance included. Installing or removing a fuel tank is a separate permit ($100 each for a home). Residential fire sprinkler systems are $100, lawn irrigation systems $50, and a residential elevator $150.

Septic. Systems are permitted by Rensselaer County’s Department of Health, whose certificate of compliance is part of the town’s final inspection for a new house.

Licensing. Schodack’s code has no local electrician or plumber license; the town requires the workers’ compensation and liability certificates on file before a permit issues.

How to apply for a Schodack building permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

Review can take up to two weeks, so the town asks applicants to plan for it. Applications are held for unsigned or un-notarized forms, missing stamps on jobs over $20,000, plot plans without septic and well locations, and insurance on the wrong form. Changes after approval must go back through plan review, and the town notes that it reviews building plans exactly as drawn: it expects to find the finished structure built as the plans show, so any change needs the Building Inspector’s review first. A permit becomes invalid if work has not started within six months, and expires a year after issue (six months for a site development permit); renewal costs half the new-permit fee.

Schodack inspections and certificates

Every inspection needs 24 hours’ notice by phone to 518-477-7940. For a new house the town inspects the footings before concrete (all footings formed), the foundation walls before pouring, the walls and footing drains before backfill, framing with plumbing, heating and electrical before anything is closed in, chimneys, fireplaces and wood stoves, insulation, and the final. The surveyor’s foundation location must reach the department before framing starts or a modular house is set; until it does, no framing inspection will be done. Covered work must be exposed at the applicant’s expense.

At the final, the site, the building and all utilities are checked, together with the Rensselaer County Department of Health certificate of compliance for the septic system. No one may occupy a new building before the certificate of occupancy, and the Building Inspector can revoke a permit under Section 90-4(J) if the work does not follow the application. Each inspection beyond the standard ones is $50, payable before the certificate.

Chapter 90 also lets the code officer look at the work site before the permit is issued and lists Energy Code compliance as an inspection stage, alongside fire-resistant construction and penetrations for buildings that have them. For a new home the package must already include a sealed energy study, such as a REScheck or COMcheck report.

New York building code

New York builds on one statewide code, the Uniform Code, outside New York City; the 2025 edition and 2025 Energy Code took effect on 31 December 2025 (the all-electric provisions remain suspended by court order). Cities, towns and villages administer it, and local standards stricter than the code need Code Council approval. The Uniform Code in New York

Schodack permit FAQ

Do I need a permit for a shed or a fence in Schodack?

Yes for both. Sheds must be at least 5 feet from the property line, and fences are expected 1 to 2 feet inside it.

How much is a building permit for a new house?

$0.25 per square foot, including the certificate of occupancy, so about $600 for 2,400 square feet.

How long does a Schodack permit take and last?

Review can take up to two weeks. Most permits last one year; site development permits last six months.

Do I need a permit to replace my furnace or roof?

Yes. Replacement furnaces, central air, roofs, siding and windows are all on the town’s permit list.

I live in Castleton. Where do I apply?

To the Village of Castleton-on-Hudson’s Building Inspector (518-605-2184), not the town.

Can I pay by credit card?

No. The department takes checks and cash in exact change.

Is the fee lower if I hire a third-party inspector?

Possibly. The schedule says that when a third-party inspector does the construction inspections, fees over $25,000 are reduced by one quarter, under a three-party agreement made before the permit issues. The inspector’s charges are not included and are billed separately.

What does a pool need?

A permit ($50 above ground, $100 in-ground), an alarm, and a fence: 4 feet with a self-closing gate for in-ground pools, and for above-ground pools with walls of 25 to 48 inches.

Permit search and official resources

Schodack’s permit forms are paper documents filed and kept at Town Hall. To look into a property’s permit history, the department handles zoning compliance and research requests for a $50 fee, and copies of permits and certificates can also be requested from the town under the Freedom of Information Law.

• Schodack Building Department
• Do I need a building permit? (town notice)
• List of permit applications
• Building and zoning permit fees, January 1, 2025
• Required information for permits
• New home package and inspection schedule
• Third-party electrical inspectors
• Building Department FAQs
• Town Code Chapter 90, Building Code Administration
• Village of Castleton-on-Hudson permits
• Village of Nassau Building Department
• Rensselaer County Public Health Engineering (septic)
• NYS code adoption notice

Simplify Town of Schodack permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in New York. 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 Town of Schodack permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.