Bloomington building department

Bloomington’s Building and Inspections Division, part of Community Development at City Hall on West Old Shakopee Road, handles building, electrical, mechanical/HVAC and plumbing permits inside Bloomington. It also runs the city’s time-of-sale housing inspections. The counter is open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. General questions go to [email protected], and plan-review questions go to [email protected].

Online-only applications

Bloomington no longer accepts paper applications. Building and inspections permits must be filed through the city’s online portal (blm.mn/portal) unless city staff have agreed to another arrangement beforehand. You need to register and verify your account before applying. The city warns applicants not to verify the account on a mobile device, because that causes verification errors. Building-permit documents in the portal are visible only to registered users who are listed as a contact on the application.

The same portal takes zoning letters, encroachment agreements, and some engineering requests (wetlands, easements, right-of-way vacations). Other planning cases have to be started by city staff. Planning can be reached at 952-563-8920.

What needs a permit and what doesn’t

The city requires permits for roofing, siding, decks, foundations, demolition, grading, driveways, pools, heated garages, and all electrical, HVAC and plumbing work. The building FAQ lists these exemptions:

Project	No building permit when
Shed, playhouse or similar	One story, detached, 200 sq ft of floor area or less
Fence	7 feet high or less (setbacks still apply)
Retaining wall	4 feet or less, from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall
Deck or platform	30 inches or less above grade and not attached to a structure with frost footings
Deck resurfacing	Only the decking boards are replaced
Finish work	Painting, papering, tiling, carpet, cabinets, countertops

Replacing more than one square of roofing (100 sq ft) requires a residential roofing/siding permit. A pool deeper than 24 inches needs a pool/spa permit. A driveway needs its own permit, plus a separate permit for the approach or curb cut.

Most permits expire 180 days after issuance, and each passed inspection restarts the 180 days. Exterior roofing and siding permits last one year. Construction is allowed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays.

Fees

The city’s building permit and plan check fee schedule (form revised 08/26) bases fees on project valuation. Projects valued at $1–$500 pay $80. The plan check fee is 65% of the permit fee, and revisions to approved plans are billed at $48 per hour with a half-hour minimum. A certificate of occupancy costs $80 for projects up to $15,000 and 10% of the building permit fee above that. New construction also pays the Metropolitan Council SAC ($2,485 per unit) and the city SAC ($2,026 per unit) when the permit is issued.

Flat and minimum fees from the permit-information page:

Permit	Fee
Residential roofing	$100
Residential siding	$150
Roofing and siding together	$250
Residential electrical, minimum or minor work	$65 + $1 state surcharge
Electrical for a new dwelling, including service	$150
Residential HVAC	1.5% of valuation, $65 minimum
Residential plumbing	2% of valuation, $65 minimum

Deck fees depend on valuation and are quoted by phone. If a building permit application has no contractor named, the plan-review portion of the fee is due before the city accepts it. Some jobs also need a separate electrical application alongside the main permit: furnace reconnects with an HVAC permit, electric water heaters with a plumbing permit, and exterior light fixtures with a roofing or siding permit. The city accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and checks.

Licensing and homeowner work

Bloomington adopts the 2020 Minnesota State Building Code as the state sets it, and contractors must hold the matching state license from DLI. The city also issues its own mechanical contractor licenses (gas, HVAC, hot water/steam, oil burner, refrigeration) and a plumbing and gas “B” license ($75). These require a Mechanical Contractor Bond on file with DLI and a Minnesota tax ID. Plumbing and gas licenses also require a state plumbing contractor license with a master plumber of record. Applicants need either a Minneapolis/St. Paul certificate of competency or a pass on Bloomington’s open-book mechanical test. The test costs $35 and is given quarterly; the remaining 2026 date is December 18. Sewer and water work outside the building is licensed through the Public Works Utilities Division.

Homeowners may pull permits for work on a home they live in as their homestead. Non-homestead properties require licensed contractors.

Time-of-sale inspections

Single-family and two-family homes, condominiums, townhouses and mobile homes for sale need a time-of-sale housing evaluation. Exemptions include a new home’s first sale, buildings with four or more units, and sheriff sales. A city inspection costs $250 plus a payment service charge and takes about two hours on a weekday. The report is valid for one year and only for the owner named on it. The seller must correct the hazards listed in the report, or the buyer can take them on with the city’s written consent. Questions go to [email protected].

Records and inspections

Inspections are scheduled through the portal or by calling 952-563-8930. Permits issued since January 30, 2017 can be searched by address in the portal’s Property Locator; their application numbers have 13 characters and begin with “PR.” Permits from December 7, 1998 to January 29, 2017 are searchable only by their 7-digit permit number. The division also posts monthly building reports as Excel files going back to January 2021. The handouts page has residential guides for decks, basements, egress windows, garages and solar, some of them in Spanish, plus commercial plan-review submittal lists.