Flint building department

Flint’s Building and Safety Division handles plan review, permits and inspections for all four trades: building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical. Its inspectors are licensed by the State of Michigan. The division also runs the city’s rental registration and inspection program and the abandoned- and vacant-property registries. Zoning permits, site plan review and historic district review are handled separately by the Zoning Division.

Applying for a permit

Flint uses paper applications. You download the current-year building, electrical, plumbing or mechanical permit application from the Building & Safety page; Spanish versions are also posted. Then you submit it by mail or email to the reviewing department. An owner who sends someone else to pull a permit uses the city’s agent authorization form.

Permit fees are not paid upfront. Building permit fees depend on the cost of the work, and staff calculate them after the application is submitted. Once intake is complete and staff issue an invoice, you can pay three ways:

• in person at the Information Desk
• online through BS&A Online using the invoice number
• by check, made payable to the City of Flint, sent by mail or left in the drop box outside City Hall

BS&A Online also has a Building Department record search for Flint.

The division’s other forms include a used mechanical equipment certification, the electrical contractor’s license application and a Building Board of Appeals application.

Inspections

Inspections are scheduled by phone at (810) 766-7284. The city does not publish an online request option. The office is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which is shorter than a typical city office week. The division’s fax is (810) 762-7379.

FY27 fee highlights

These figures come from Flint’s adopted FY27 master fee schedule (the FY26/27 fee column).

Item	Fee
Building permit, project cost up to $2,000	$160 minimum
$2,001–$50,000	$160 plus $29 per $1,000 over $2,000
$50,001–$500,000	$1,500 plus $25 per $1,000 over $50,000
$500,001–$1,000,000	$8,250 plus $20 per $1,000 over $500,000
Re-inspection	$160
Work started before the permit was pulled	$500 (work up to $5,000); $1,000 (over $5,000)
Building Code Board of Appeals	$350
Cancelled or transferred permit (administrative fee)	$75
Contractor registration	Electrical $30; plumbing $15; mechanical $15

Under the same schedule, swimming pools and parking-lot or driveway work of 1,000 sq ft or more are charged the same as new construction.

Rental registration

Flint landlords register each rental unit with Building & Safety. The rental registration form lists these fees:

• Registration: a one-time $250 rental license fee.
• Inspection fees, charged each rental cycle: $225 for a single-family home, $300 for a two-family home. Multifamily complexes pay a $105 base fee plus per-building and per-unit charges.
• Late registration: $450 for one- and two-family properties, $600 for 3–10 units, and $1,000 for more than 10 units.

Inspection fees cover up to two inspections. The master fee schedule describes these as tri-annual compliance inspections under the International Property Maintenance Code. Rental questions go to (810) 766-7284, option 2. The division also posts a rental housing inspection checklist and a non-rental affidavit for owners whose property is not rented.

Zoning and historic districts

The Zoning Division issues zoning permits, reviews site plans and enforces the zoning code (Chapter 50, adopted October 29, 2022). It also staffs the Planning Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Historic District Commission. Fences do not need a zoning permit but still must meet the standards in Article 8 of the zoning code. Exterior changes to a building in a historic district need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic District Commission; the application form is posted on the Building & Safety page. Zoning and licensing fees are paid at the Customer Service Center, not at the Building & Safety desk.

County permits

The Building & Safety page links to Genesee County’s permit documents, including its soil erosion checklists and application.