The City of Moore's building permits office at 301 North Broadway Avenue serves a Cleveland County city struck by four major tornadoes since 1999, including the EF5 of May 2013. In 2014 the city council approved eleven building code recommendations from structural engineers and became the first municipality in the country to adopt residential provisions aimed specifically at tornado resistance — requiring roof sheathing, hurricane clips or framing anchors, continuous plywood bracing and wind-resistant garage doors, with new homes designed to withstand winds of 135 miles per hour rather than the ninety of the ordinary standard.
That work has since been codified at state level. Appendix X of the Uniform Building Code Commission's rules, the Residential Tornado Provisions, sets an ultimate design wind speed of 135 miles per hour where it is adopted, and permits only oriented strand board or plywood sheathing — dimensional lumber sheathing may not be used — with allowable spans and attachment specified by framing spacing. It is an appendix rather than part of the statewide minimum, which is exactly how Oklahoma's framework works: the state sets a floor and a municipality may build above it.
This guide covers the City of Moore. Norman, Oklahoma City's Cleveland County portion, Del City and Midwest City are separate jurisdictions with their own departments, and the county office serves unincorporated territory only.
A city ordinance that became a state appendix. Moore's 2014 provisions — hurricane clips or framing anchors, continuous structural panel sheathing, wind-rated garage doors and a 135 mile-per-hour design wind speed — are now reflected in Appendix X of the state code, the Residential Tornado Provisions, which sets that same ultimate design wind speed and permits only OSB or plywood sheathing, with dimensional lumber sheathing prohibited. Confirm the current local adoption with the city before design.
What requires a building permit in Moore?
Oklahoma sets a statewide minimum and lets its cities build on it — the opposite of a code a locality may not touch. The Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission adopts the minimum codes at OAC Title 748 under 59 O.S. § 1000.23, and a municipality may adopt amendments above that floor through the procedure the commission's rules set out. The 2018 editions — the International Building Code, International Residential Code, International Fire Code, International Existing Building Code and International Energy Conservation Code, each as amended by the commission — remain in force until September 14, 2026, when the 2024 editions the commission has adopted take effect. Enforcement is municipal: Oklahoma delegates it to incorporated cities and towns, and there is generally no building official for the unincorporated area of an Oklahoma county. What is local in Moore is the permit office, the fee schedule, zoning, contractor registration, its own amendments above the state minimum, and the city's tornado building provisions and its zoning.
The adopted codes draw the exemption line and Moore may draw it tighter, not looser. Ordinary repairs need no permit; constructing, altering, repairing, moving, demolishing or changing the occupancy of a building does. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work carry their own permits and their own state trade licences from the Construction Industries Board, and Moore's zoning and platting approvals sit outside the building code entirely.
Typically permit required
- New residential construction meeting the city's tornado provisions, including sheathing, anchorage and garage door requirements
- Any construction, alteration, repair, demolition or change of occupancy under the adopted codes
- Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work, each by a Construction Industries Board licensee on its own permit
- New buildings, additions and any structural work on an existing building
- Alterations, repairs and renovations, and any change of occupancy under the existing building code
- Decks, accessory structures above the local threshold, retaining walls, storm shelters and swimming pools
Often exempt
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems — though work touching the load path may engage the anchorage requirements
- Ordinary repairs that do not alter structure, egress or systems
- Painting, papering, flooring, cabinets and similar finish work
- Like-for-like replacement that the adopted codes place below the permit threshold
- Small accessory structures below the local threshold — the zoning ordinance still applies
What is actually local, and what is not
The floor is the state's; the ceiling is not. Moore's layer is its permit office and inspectors, its fee schedule, its zoning and platting requirements, its contractor registration, any amendments it has adopted above the statewide minimum through the commission's procedure, and the tornado building provisions the city pioneered and the design wind speed they set.
Who handles permitting in Moore?
The city's building permits office is the permit authority, administering the adopted codes and the city's own tornado provisions alongside its zoning. The Construction Industries Board licenses the electrical, plumbing and mechanical trades and registers roofers statewide, and the Uniform Building Code Commission adopts the statewide minimum codes and the appendices — including the Residential Tornado Provisions — that a municipality may take up above that floor.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Department | City of Moore building permits office |
| Office | 301 North Broadway Avenue, Moore, OK 73160 |
| Phone | (405) 793-5051 |
| Design wind speed | 135 miles per hour under the tornado provisions |
| Sheathing | OSB or plywood only; dimensional lumber sheathing not permitted |
| Codes | OUBCC statewide minimum, 2018 editions to September 14, 2026 |
Permit types
Residential permits
A Moore house is the reason this guide exists. New construction meets the city's tornado provisions: continuous structural panel sheathing on the exterior walls attached with ring shank nails, hurricane clips or framing anchors tying the roof to the walls, bolts connecting the frame to the foundation, closer roof framing spacing and garage doors rated to the 135 mile-per-hour wind speed. Builders reported the added cost at roughly two dollars a square foot when the provisions came in, and the city's housing market absorbed it.
How Oklahoma contractor credentials work
Oklahoma issues no statewide general contractor licence. The Construction Industries Board licenses the trades — electrical, plumbing and mechanical contractors on an apprentice, journeyman and contractor ladder built on documented experience and a written examination — and registers roofing contractors under the Roofing Contractor Registration Act. Those credentials are valid statewide. General construction, framing, drywall, concrete and remodelling are not licensed by the board at all: they are registered city by city, and a registration does not transfer between cities. Moore's own requirement is the credential to confirm before a permit is pulled. A property owner may do electrical and plumbing work on their own residence under statutory exemptions, subject to local permit and inspection; the mechanical exemption is far narrower and does not extend to installing a system, gas piping or a furnace.
Commercial permits
Commercial work in Moore clears zoning and site development, then building plan review against the adopted codes as the city has amended them. The tornado provisions are residential in origin, but the anchorage and load-path thinking behind them informs how the city's inspectors read a commercial frame as well, and the code edition governing the permit should be confirmed against the September 2026 change.
Municipal enforcement and the September 2026 code change
Oklahoma delegates building code enforcement to incorporated municipalities. Cities the size of Moore run full permit and inspection departments; many rural counties issue no residential permits and run no inspections at all, because there is generally no building official for unincorporated county territory. The statewide minimum applies either way, but the enforcement does not. The commission has adopted the 2024 editions of the I-codes, taking effect on September 14, 2026, with the 2018 editions as amended remaining in force until that date — a project designed now against the 2018 codes and permitted after the change may face the later edition, and Moore's own adoption timing should be confirmed. In Moore the tornado hazard is not an abstraction — the city has been struck four times since 1999 — and its building provisions, storm shelter programmes and the state's Residential Tornado Provisions appendix all follow from that; the Canadian River floodplain and expansive clay soils shape the rest.
Moore permit costs and fees
Fees follow the city's schedule, with the tornado provisions adding construction cost rather than permit cost, and the trades permitted separately under the state licences.
| Item | Fee or rule |
|---|---|
| Building permit | The city's fee schedule, by project type and construction value |
| Tornado provisions | Added construction cost, historically around two dollars per square foot |
| Trade permits | Electrical, plumbing and mechanical by Construction Industries Board licensees |
| Zoning and site development | Charged by their own processes ahead of the building permit |
| Code edition | The 2018 editions to September 14, 2026; the 2024 editions from that date |
| County permits | Cleveland County's office, for unincorporated territory only |
Only OSB or plywood, and it is specified. The Residential Tornado Provisions state that only OSB or plywood sheathing is permitted and dimensional lumber sheathing may not be used, with allowable spans and attachment set by framing spacing — sixteen-inch framing having its own schedule. A specification carried in from a jurisdiction without these provisions will not pass here, and the substitution is not a field decision.
Trade permits and who may pull them
The trades are permitted separately from the building permit and performed by Construction Industries Board licensees, with the city's inspectors carrying the inspections.
Permit required
- New residential construction — the city's tornado provisions for sheathing, anchorage and garage doors
- Electrical — Construction Industries Board licensed electrical contractor; separate permit
- Plumbing — board-licensed plumbing contractor; separate permit
- Mechanical — board-licensed mechanical contractor; separate permit, with a narrow homeowner exemption
- Roofing — contractor registered with the board under the Roofing Contractor Registration Act
Typically exempt
- Electrical and plumbing work by a property owner on their own residence, under the statutory exemptions
- Like-for-like replacement the adopted codes place below the permit threshold
How to apply for a Moore building permit
Enforcement in Oklahoma is municipal; a site outside an incorporated city may have no building official at all.
Zoning, platting and site development approvals precede the building permit and are entirely local.
General contractors register city by city; the trades hold Construction Industries Board licences valid statewide.
The 2018 editions run to September 14, 2026, when the 2024 editions take effect; confirm the position for the permit date.
Reviewed against the statewide minimum as the city has amended it above that floor.
Footing to final, with the trades on their own permits, then the certificate of occupancy.
Review, corrections and what actually causes delay
Moore reviews against the adopted codes and its own tornado provisions, which are the substance of a residential plan check here. What delays a file here is a house designed to the ordinary ninety mile-per-hour standard, and a sheathing specification that a supplier substituted after the drawings were approved.
Inspections in Moore
Inspections follow the adopted codes' sequence — footing, foundation, framing, rough trades, insulation and final — and are requested from the city's inspection division by permit number, with the trades inspected on their own permits. Work that passes final receives a certificate of occupancy for new buildings and changes of occupancy. Moore inspects in the adopted codes' sequence, with the framing inspection carrying real weight because the anchorage, clips and sheathing attachment the tornado provisions require are visible only before close-in.
Moore permit search and official resources
- City of Moore — the city government, building permits and the tornado provisions
- OAC 748:20-6-53 — Appendix X, Residential Tornado Provisions — the 135 mph design wind speed and sheathing requirements
- Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission — the statewide minimum codes and the September 2026 change
- Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission — the statewide minimum codes, adopted editions and effective dates
- Oklahoma Construction Industries Board — electrical, plumbing, mechanical licensing and roofing registration
- OUBCC codes and rules — OAC Title 748 and the adopted code rules
Frequently asked questions
What makes Moore's building code different?
In 2014 the city became the first in the country to adopt residential provisions aimed at tornado resistance — hurricane clips or framing anchors, continuous structural sheathing, wind-rated garage doors and a 135 mile-per-hour design wind speed.
Is that now state law?
Appendix X of the state code, the Residential Tornado Provisions, sets the same 135 mile-per-hour ultimate design wind speed and sheathing rules where it is adopted — but it is an appendix a municipality takes up, not part of the statewide minimum.
What sheathing is permitted?
Only OSB or plywood; dimensional lumber sheathing may not be used, and allowable spans and attachment are specified by framing spacing.
What did the provisions cost builders?
The local builders' association estimated around a dollar a square foot when they came in and found the real figure closer to two dollars, with some builders reporting more.
Can a city require more than the state code?
Yes. Oklahoma sets a statewide minimum and a municipality may adopt amendments above it — Moore is the clearest example in the state.
Which code edition applies?
The statewide minimum 2018 editions as amended until September 14, 2026, when the commission's adopted 2024 editions take effect.
Simplify Moore permitting with Alliance Permitting
Moore builds to a standard the rest of the country still treats as optional. We design to the tornado provisions from the first sketch, specify the sheathing rather than leaving it to a supplier, and hold the framing inspection as the one that matters.
Ready to break ground in Moore sooner?
Send us the scope and the parcel. We confirm the review path with the City of Moore building permits office, assemble the submittal, file it, and track it through issuance — corrections included.
More Oklahoma permitting guides
More Oklahoma permitting guides
This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Moore permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.