Smithfield, Rhode Island Building Permit Guide

Smithfield’s Building & Zoning Department, at Town Hall, 64 Farnum Pike, issues building, demolition, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, sign, solar and pool permits, all filed through the town’s ViewPoint online permitting system, where you also request inspections. Zoning applications have been online-only since March 5, 2025. Building permit fees follow the state’s schedule for Smithfield: $8 per $1,000 of value up to $10,000, with a $50 minimum.

What requires a building permit in Smithfield?

The department enforces the building, fire, property maintenance and zoning codes Rhode Island has adopted, along with the town’s own ordinances. Its Apply For Permit page sets out the permits available online:

A variance, special use permit or appeal goes to the Zoning Board of Review, and those applications are filed separately online.

What Smithfield handles, and what stays with the state

Under Code Chapter 15, rewritten in March 2024, the Building Official issues every permit in town, inspects the land before a building permit is issued, and also serves as Zoning Enforcement Officer, Minimum Housing Enforcement Officer and Earth Removal Officer. When a building permit involves wetlands, the Building Official must inform the Town Council, the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board. Soil erosion permits under Chapter 299 also come from the Building Official, and the portal’s Engineering Department section takes soil erosion and sewer permit applications.

RIDEM keeps septic and freshwater wetlands permits. Fire safety is shared with the town’s Fire Department: the Fire Marshal is part of the online permit process, the Fire Department takes life safety inspection and tent permit requests in the portal, and under Chapter 154 no residential occupancy permit is issued until smoke detectors approved by the Fire Chief are installed.

Smithfield building department: who handles permitting

The Town of Smithfield’s Building & Zoning Department handles permitting, plan review, inspections and code enforcement for the town. Jacob Neves is the Building and Zoning Official. The online system links the applicant with the department’s clerk and inspectors, the town’s Engineering staff, the Building Official and the Fire Marshal.

Smithfield online permitting and forms

Every Smithfield permit application now goes through ViewPoint online permitting; the town no longer offers paper permit applications. In the system you can add guests such as a subcontractor or architect to receive email updates, check the permit’s status, request inspections and receive the construction certificates when the project is complete.

Residential permits

Houses, additions, garages, sheds and pool cabanas all use the Building Permit. A swimming pool or spa is one combined building-and-wiring permit, with any pool house filed separately, and solar systems are a combined permit too. The department’s guides cover where a shed can go and how big it can be, setbacks for additions, accessory dwelling units, fences, what a construction plan must show and what a site plan or land survey looks like. A new dwelling unit also triggers the town’s development impact fee (see costs below).

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

Commercial permits

Commercial work uses the same Building Permit with the trade permits, and signs are a combined building-and-wiring permit; the department posts a guide on where signs can go and how big they can be. Schools and nurseries need an annual permit certification inspection. Design professionals may need to file the engineer’s or registered design professional affidavit (the “128 form”); Chapter 17 of SBC-1 sets out what it is for and how often it is filed. Plan amendments and planning applications go through the portal’s Planning Department section.

Zoning Board of Review applications — appeals, special use permits and variances — have had to be filed online since March 5, 2025, under R.I. Gen. Laws 45-24-58.1. The department posts the board’s 2026 meeting dates and application closing dates, its current agendas, and a simplified timeline of the zoning process.

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

Smithfield permit costs and fees

Smithfield points applicants to the state regulation that sets its fees, 510-RICR-00-00-21 (amended effective December 10, 2023). The town’s schedule there is:

So a $120,000 addition carries a building permit fee of $320 plus 70 × $4, or $600. The town also offers a downloadable Permit Fee Estimator, which it notes leaves out impact and other fees, including the development impact fee that Town Code Chapter 193 (§ 193-12) charges on new residential dwelling units. On top of the town fee, the state levy of 0.1% of the construction cost is added to each permit, up to $50 per permit for one- and two-family dwellings.

Development impact fee (§ 193-12): all new residential development pays fees for libraries, roads, parks and recreation and police facilities (the school and open-space shares are $0 in the code’s table). The initially adopted totals per unit are $6,573.33 for the row the code labels “single family attached”, $5,596.39 for two- and three-family and condominium units, and $5,394.48 for multihousehold units; the code says these change as the formula’s variables change. The Department of Planning and Development assesses the fee before the building permit is issued, and it is paid in full by the certificate of occupancy. Subsidized low- and moderate-income units are exempt.

Zoning Board filing fees (§ 193-1): $150 for a single-family home, $200 for an accessory family dwelling unit, $300 for a two-family home, $600 plus $45 per unit for multifamily, $300 to $1,000 for commercial, industrial or office buildings depending on size, $200 for an appeal, and $150 or $200 for a sign needing relief, plus the full cost of notice. A soil erosion permit for a single-family home on a single lot is $25 under Chapter 299.

Electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits

Trade permits are issued by the Building & Zoning Department in the same online system. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work each have their own permit, and the mechanical permit can be taken out as a combination with its associated wiring. Signs, solar systems and pools are combination permits that cover both the building and the wiring work.

Alliance handles electrical permit filing for contractors here. More on this: who pulls the electrical permit.

Who may pull them

Electricians, plumbers and mechanical contractors need the matching Rhode Island licence, which can be checked on the state Department of Labor and Training’s professional regulation site, and contractors must be registered with the Contractors’ Registration and Licensing Board. Chapter 154 sets the town’s own rules: every applicant must produce a current state licence where the law requires one, all permits for a job are paid together, and a permit is issued only when the applications for the plumbing, electrical and mechanical work are filed with the main permit. Chapter 15 says the Building Official issues permits “to builders or owners”.

How to apply for a Smithfield building permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

Chapter 154 asks for the application at least 14 calendar days before work starts, and no work may begin until the permit is approved and issued. A permit can be issued only if the work complies fully with the zoning ordinance and with state and federal law, and the Building Official’s interpretations can be appealed only to the Town Council. A missing trade application holds up the main permit, because the code requires the plumbing, electrical and mechanical applications to be filed with it.

Site work can also add time. A soil erosion permit is not needed for a single-family or two-family house built on its own, not as part of a development, when the work stays more than 100 feet from any watercourse and slopes are no steeper than 10%, or, where the Environmental Affairs Officer finds no erosion will occur, for disturbing less than half an acre within the same watercourse and slope limits. In a mapped flood zone, Chapter 204 requires a new or substantially improved home’s lowest floor, including the basement, to be at or above the base flood elevation, and non-residential buildings may instead be dry floodproofed to 1 foot above it.

Inspections in Smithfield

Inspections are requested in the ViewPoint system for the permit, and completed inspection results show up in the record, along with email notifications to you and any guests you added. When the project is finished the construction certificates are issued through the same system. The annual permit certification inspection for a school or nursery is applied for in the same system.

Local details that matter in Smithfield

Energy code: the department notes that Rhode Island adopted the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code without amendments from September 2024, and the grace period for permits designed to the earlier energy code ended in February 2025.

Flood maps: Smithfield participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, and FEMA records June 23, 2026 as the effective date of its current flood maps.

Sewer, water and historic review: the town has an Engineering & Sewer Authority, a Smithfield Water Supply Board and a Historic Preservation Commission; septic systems on unsewered lots are permitted by RIDEM, not the town.

Demolition orders: except where a building is an immediate danger, the Building Official must give the Historic Preservation Commission at least 72 hours’ written notice before ordering a demolition, and the owner can appeal the order and submit an engineer’s or architect’s report.

Permit search and records

The town’s OpenGov portal has a public “Search for Records” tool and a “Claim a Record” option for linking an existing application to your account, and the town website has an Access to Public Records page for requests. Under Chapter 15 the Building Official gives the applicant and the owner a written or digital report for each inspection.

Rhode Island building code

Since December 1, 2025 the state code Smithfield enforces has adopted the 2021 International Codes with Rhode Island amendments, together with the 2023 National Electrical Code and the 2024 energy code.

Rhode Island has one state building code, kept by the State Building Code Office and enforced by each city or town’s building official; there is no county layer, and appeals go first to the town’s board of appeals, then to the state Building Code Board of Standards and Appeals. Rhode Island rules

Smithfield building permit FAQ

Who issues building permits in Smithfield?

The Building & Zoning Department at Smithfield Town Hall, 64 Farnum Pike, phone 401-233-1039. Jacob Neves is the Building and Zoning Official.

Can I file a paper application?

No. Smithfield takes permit applications only through ViewPoint online permitting, and zoning applications only through its OpenGov portal.

How much is a building permit in Smithfield?

$8 per $1,000 of value up to $10,000, $80 plus $6 per $1,000 up to $50,000 and $320 plus $4 per $1,000 above that, with a $50 minimum. A $120,000 project is $600 before the state levy.

Do I need a permit for a shed?

Sheds are among the structures the town’s building permit covers, and the department posts a guide on where a shed can go and how big it can be.

How do I book an inspection?

Request it in the ViewPoint system, where results and the final certificates also appear.

Is there an impact fee on a new house in Smithfield?

Yes. New residential dwelling units pay the development impact fee in Town Code § 193-12, assessed before the building permit and paid by the certificate of occupancy.

How far ahead should I apply?

Chapter 154 asks for applications at least 14 calendar days before work starts.

What does a Zoning Board application cost?

$150 for a single-family home and $300 for a two-family home, plus the cost of notice; commercial applications run from $300 to $1,000 by building size.

Smithfield permit search and official resources

• Smithfield Building & Zoning Department
• Smithfield: apply for a permit
• Smithfield ViewPoint online permitting
• Smithfield online zoning applications
• 510-RICR-00-00-21, statewide building permit fee schedules
• RI Building Code Commission: laws, rules and regulations
• RIDEM septic (OWTS) permitting
• RIDEM freshwater wetlands permitting
• RI Contractors’ Registration and Licensing Board
• FEMA Community Status Book, Rhode Island
• Smithfield Code Chapter 15, Building Official
• Smithfield Code Chapter 154, Building Construction
• Smithfield Code Chapter 193, Fees and impact fees
• Smithfield Code Chapter 299, Soil Erosion and Sediment Control
• Smithfield Code Chapter 204, Special Flood Hazard Areas

Simplify Smithfield permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Rhode Island. 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 Smithfield permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.