How building permits work in South Dakota
These rules apply across South Dakota. Each local guide above covers what is specific to that city or county: its building department and contacts, permit types, fees and inspections.
Local building codes, state trade permits
South Dakota has no building code that the state enforces. Whether a building permit is required depends on the jurisdiction: cities and counties each decide whether to adopt and enforce a code. Many rural counties and small towns adopt no code, and there a building can often go up with no local permit or inspection. Where a city or county adopts a code for buildings other than houses, state law says it must comply with the 2024 International Building Code; local amendments are allowed. A city that adopts a code for houses must use the 2024 International Residential Code, and it cannot make it stricter or require sprinklers. Where no code has been adopted, state law still says a new non-residential building must be designed to the 2024 International Building Code, but no one issues a permit or inspects for it; homes, farm buildings and manufactured homes are outside that rule.
Two trades are regulated by the state, not by local building codes. The South Dakota Electrical Commission permits and inspects electrical work, and the South Dakota Plumbing Commission does the same for plumbing. That is true even where there is no building department. The exceptions are a few cities that run their own inspections: Sioux Falls and Rapid City inspect electrical work inside city limits, and Aberdeen, Brandon, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Spearfish inspect plumbing. In those cities the trade permit comes from the city. The State Fire Marshal’s plan review is narrow. Schools, day care centres (21 or more children), group family day care homes (13 to 20 children) and fuel or LP-gas storage installations need its written approval before work starts. Commercial construction in general does not.
By state law, no city, county or township may require a building permit to repair or replace, like for like, the doors, windows, gutters, downspouts, fascia, soffits, nonstructural siding or fence panels of an owner-occupied, detached single-family home. The door or window must stay the same size. Historic properties are an exception.
Whether a building code is enforced where you are building
This is the first question on any South Dakota project, and the answer is sometimes that no code is enforced at all. Inside a city that runs a building department — the larger cities do — the city issues the permit and enforces its adopted code. In an unincorporated area the county is the building authority only if it has adopted a code, and many South Dakota counties have not; where none is adopted, there is no county building permit for general construction. The state issues no building permit to fill that gap — but electrical and plumbing permits still come from the state commissions, except in the few cities that run their own inspections.
The state permits that run regardless of local code
Outside the few cities with their own trade inspections, two state permits run in parallel with any South Dakota project, whether or not the local jurisdiction enforces a building code: the South Dakota Electrical Commission issues the electrical permit and inspects the work, and the South Dakota Plumbing Commission does the same for plumbing. On a project where no building code is enforced, these may be the only permits and inspections the work sees. The State Fire Marshal is the third, but only for the occupancies within its narrow reach.
Contractor and trade licensing
South Dakota does not license general building contractors at state level, though every contractor must hold a contractor’s excise tax licence from the Department of Revenue — a tax registration, not a skills licence. Trade competency is regulated by the state: electricians are licensed by the South Dakota Electrical Commission and plumbers by the South Dakota Plumbing Commission, both under the Department of Labor and Regulation. Both commissions also permit and inspect their trade across most of the state; Sioux Falls and Rapid City inspect electrical work themselves, and Aberdeen, Brandon, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Spearfish inspect plumbing themselves. A city that enforces a building code may add its own local contractor licence or registration on top, but a city trade licence requires the state licence first.
Electricians and plumbers hold state licences, even in cities that run their own trade inspections. A homeowner may wire or plumb their own owner-occupied home without a licence; they still need a state homeowner permit and a state inspection.