Overland Park building department

The City of Overland Park’s Building Safety Division reviews plans, issues building and trade permits, and inspects construction inside Overland Park city limits. Its counter is on the second floor of City Hall, 8500 Santa Fe Drive, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Other Johnson County cities and the unincorporated county run their own permit offices. An Overland Park mailing address does not guarantee the parcel is inside the city, so check before you apply.

Unless noted, the details below come from the city’s building permits page as published in February 2026.

What needs a permit

The city requires a building permit for any new residential building, addition, alteration or demolition, including decks, fences, pools and changes of use. Installing or replacing building wiring or equipment also needs a permit, including branch circuits, electrical panels, water heaters, furnaces and air conditioners. Specific residential permit types include:

• Accessory structures over 200 sq ft
• Additions of any size
• Basement finishes: new walls, circuits, plumbing drains or vents, and ductwork
• Decks, balconies and porches, new or replaced
• Fences, new or substantially updated, and retaining walls 48 inches or taller (taller walls need a sealed engineered design)
• Pools deeper than 24 inches, and all spas and hot tubs
• Foundation repairs, except minor maintenance such as epoxy injection
• Solar panels, generators (a transfer switch is required), gas lines (pressure-tested at inspection) and water heaters

Work in a FEMA floodplain also needs a floodplain development permit, a $15 supplement processed with the construction permit. Septic systems are permitted by Johnson County Department of Health and Environment. Call Kansas One-Call before digging; the city does not do utility locates.

Residential work that doesn’t need a permit

The city’s Residential Building Permit Exceptions and Guidance (based on Municipal Code 16.100.105.2) lists these exemptions:

Work	No permit when…
Shed, garage, carport or gazebo	200 sq ft or less
Deck	Detached from the house, 200 sq ft or less, no more than 30 inches above grade (measured 36 inches out from the edge), and not serving an egress door
Deck repairs	Walking surfaces, guards or handrails only
Retaining wall	Under 48 inches
Re-roofing	Same or lighter covering. Going from shingles to tile, clay or slate needs a permit and an engineered roof analysis
Siding	Repair or replacement, except stucco or EIFS
Windows	In-kind replacement (altering exterior walls needs a permit)
Patios	On grade and not supporting a structure
Arbors and pergolas	At least 50% open on top, with no member wider than 2 inches
Fuel gas tanks	Under 500 gallons

Basketball goals, flagpoles, playground equipment, tree houses, cabinets, garage door openers, replacement sump pumps and dishwashers, and low-voltage wiring under 25 volts and 50 watts are also exempt. Re-roofing still has to meet code even though the city does not inspect it. No more than two roof layers are allowed, and an ice barrier is required. Driveway work between the property line and the curb needs a right-of-way permit from Public Works.

Applying in ePLACE

All permits are filed in ePLACE, the city’s Tyler EnerGov portal. There you apply, upload plans, pay fees and download approved plans. You must log in with the same account that created the application. Only the original applicant can add contacts such as a contractor; city staff cannot. Staff do a completeness check first and report deficiencies within one to two working days.

Electronic drawings must be:

• vector PDFs with a graphic scale, unlocked and flattened
• page-labeled and bookmarked to match each sheet
• uploaded as separate PDFs by document type (specifications, soils report, structural calculations, truss layout and so on)

Revisions during review are resubmitted as full sets with clouded changes. After the permit is issued, submit only the revised sheets.

If the applicant is not the permit holder, the permit holder must complete a Permit Holder Acknowledgement form before the permit is issued. A permit expires if work does not start within 180 days of issuance or stops for 180 days. Going 180 days without an inspection request counts as abandonment.

Fees

Project	Fee
Remodels, repairs, additions under $5,000	$30
$5,000–$19,000	$50
Larger projects	Valuation × 0.005, rounded to the nearest dollar
New buildings	ICC building valuation data (sq ft × construction type × occupancy) × the fee multiplier
Signs	$60 plus $1.25 per sq ft
Public improvement permits	5% of construction value

Valuation covers all construction work except land. Commercial projects pay 50% at plan submittal and 50% at issuance. Shell-only permits get a 20% valuation reduction. Credit card payments are capped at $10,000; larger amounts must be paid by check or e-check. Water taps are handled by WaterOne and sewer connections by Johnson County Wastewater.

Contractor licensing and homeowners

The city issues building permits only to contractors with an active Johnson County contractor license of the right type. Residential fences are the one exception. The applicant must be listed as a permittee in the county’s system. Johnson County Contractor Licensing, part of the county’s Department of Planning, Housing and Community Development, issues 11 license types and runs the online Contractor Licensing System. Homeowners acting as their own contractor do not need a license, but any subcontractors they hire do.

Codes

As of the city’s February 2026 pages, Overland Park reviews plans under the 2018 International Codes. These include the IBC, IRC, IECC, IEBC, IFC, IFGC, IMC, IPC, the property maintenance and private sewage codes, and the 2017 National Electrical Code. Local amendments are in Title 16 of the Municipal Code. Code appeals go to the Code Board of Appeals with a $250 fee, and a meeting is set within 10 days of the application. A variance needs at least three affirmative votes.

Inspections and occupancy

Schedule inspections in ePLACE or by calling permit services at 913-895-6220. The city publishes guidance for site, foundation, framing, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, fire protection and final inspections. A permit is not closed until the final inspection passes and the city issues a Certificate of Compliance or Certificate of Occupancy. No building, structure or equipment may be occupied or used before then. Homeowners associations may impose their own rules on top of city codes, and the city does not enforce them.