Anchorage building department

The Municipality of Anchorage Development Services Department, Building Safety Division, issues building, trade, retrofit, grading, right-of-way, and on-site well and septic permits from its office at 4700 Elmore Road. Building permits are tied to the Building Safety Service Area (BSSA), which is mapped on the department’s site:

• Inside the BSSA, any owner, contractor, or agent who builds, enlarges, alters, repairs, moves, demolishes, or changes the occupancy of a building, or installs or replaces regulated electrical, gas, mechanical, or plumbing systems, needs a permit unless the code exempts the work.
• Outside the BSSA, a land use permit is required for new buildings, additions, and changes of use or occupancy, but full building-code permitting does not apply. Commercial projects outside the BSSA should also check the State Fire Marshal’s plan review requirements.

Check the BSSA map before assuming your lot is (or is not) under building-code review.

Work that does not need a building permit

Handout A, “Do I Need a Permit for My Project?”, lists exemptions under AMC 23.10.104.2.1. Separate plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permits may still be required for these items.

Exempt work	Limit
One-story detached shed, playhouse, or similar	Up to 200 sq ft floor area
Fences of light-frame construction	Not over 8 ft high
Retaining wall	Up to 4 ft retained height (footing to top of soil), with no more than 1 ft of wall above the soil
Platforms, walks, ramps, driveways	Not over 30 in above grade and not over a basement or story below
Window and door replacement	Rough opening not enlarged
Exterior wall covering or roof covering repair/replacement	Total cost (materials and labor) up to $5,000
Gypsum board repair/replacement	Up to $5,000; not for fire-rated assemblies
Above-ground prefabricated pool at a house	Under 24 in deep and 5,000 gallons or less
Water tank on grade	Up to 5,000 gallons
Temporary structures	Up for less than 15 days
Painting, flooring, cabinets, countertops, similar finish work	No limit

Like-for-like replacement of a boiler, furnace, water heater, electrical service, or plumbing fixture uses a retrofit permit rather than a full building permit, and still needs a final inspection.

How to apply

Applications are submitted by worksheet. The Residential Permit Worksheet (for detached buildings with three or fewer dwelling units) can be delivered to 4700 Elmore Road or emailed to the permit counter. A separate Commercial Worksheet covers commercial work. The department’s “Rhythm for Civics” pages list the application types: residential building, commercial building, commercial trade, retrofit, administrative, on-site wells/septic, right-of-way, elevator, and vacant/abandoned buildings.

For a new residential addition, the checklist is:

• Completed residential worksheet
• Two sets of drawings signed by the person who did the structural calculations, plus one set of matching calculations
• Two plot plans sealed by an Alaska-registered land surveyor
• Completed stormwater handout AG.21

Residential additions valued over $100,000 must go through ePlans, the Municipality’s ProjectDox electronic plan review portal. Accounts are set up by the Municipality, so the worksheet asks for an ePlans contact name, email, and phone.

Residential permit fees

From the current Residential Permit Worksheet:

Fee	Amount
Building permit	0.009 x valuation, minimum $360
Plan review	0.005 x valuation, minimum $75
Optional third-party or pre-approved plan review	0.003 x valuation, minimum $75
Land use review	15% of the building permit fee, minimum $75

For new buildings and additions, valuation is calculated from square footage (living area, basement, garage/carport) by construction type, with a 1.30 regional multiplier on the worksheet. The permit fee covers 23 inspections up to $500,000 valuation, with 2 more for each additional $100,000. Address, floodplain review, and NPDES stormwater fees can also apply.

Contractor licensing and owner-builders

Anchorage requires contractors to hold a Municipality of Anchorage contractor license in addition to the State of Alaska contractor license, and residential work requires a residential endorsement. Building permits are issued only to licensed contractors, with a few exceptions. A homeowner may pull a permit only when doing all of the work themselves, and owner-builders must complete form AG.07 (owner/builder acknowledgement and authorized agents). Contractor licenses can be checked on the Municipality’s Verify Municipal Contractor License page.

Adopted codes

The Codes & Handouts page lists the 2024 codes with Anchorage local amendments as current. Amendments are in AMC Title 23 (for example, chapter 23.85 for the IRC and 23.15 for the IBC). The local IRC design criteria table sets a ground snow load of 50 psf (allowable; 40 psf roof snow load), Seismic Design Category D2, severe weathering, required ice-barrier underlayment, and frost depths of 42 inches for warm foundations and 60 inches for cold foundations. It also requires a site-specific geotechnical investigation in seismically induced ground failure zones 4 and 5.

Inspections

Request inspections online through the Permit Information & Inspection Request site, or call the 24-hour inspection line at (907) 343-8300. Inspections need 24 hours’ notice. Workload permitting, a request received before 6:00 a.m. can get a same-day inspection. Phone messages left after 6 a.m. are scheduled for the next available morning unless you give a date, and incomplete messages get no inspection. Have ready the permit number, contact phone, inspection type, site address (or lot, block, and subdivision), and whether you want a.m. or p.m. If no one is available to give the inspector access, the visit can be marked a “No Show” and fees may apply.

Handout AG.13 lists the required inspection sequence: excavation, fill and grade, and footing/foundation first; then underground and rough trades, framing, and insulation; and finally structural, electrical, plumbing/mechanical, zoning, and fire finals. The approved, reviewer-stamped plans must be on site, and the permit card must be posted where it can be seen from the street. Before any certificate of occupancy, zoning must approve a final as-built stamped by an Alaska-registered land surveyor. Commercial buildings and Planned Unit Developments also need a final zoning inspection.

Useful phone lines

Purpose	Number
Permit counter (menu: status, fees, land use review, building codes, on-site water/wastewater)	(907) 343-8211
Main office	(907) 343-8301
After-hours emergency work	(907) 343-7500
New and re-roof deck inspections, after hours and weekends	(907) 717-7491
Well and septic inspections	(907) 343-7904
Right of way	(907) 343-8240

The CityView Portal handles planning cases, short-term rental registration, and business licenses, not building permits.