St. Joseph building department

St. Joseph’s Building Development Division is part of the Planning & Community Development Department. It reviews plans, issues building and trade permits, and inspects construction inside city limits. Permit clerks work in Room 106 of City Hall, 1100 Frederick Avenue, open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. The city has no public online permit portal. You download a paper application and return it by mail, fax to (816) 271-4676, or in person.

What needs a permit and what doesn’t

The city publishes both lists.

Permit required: decks and porches (including patio covers and ramps); accessory structures over 120 sq ft; fences over 30 inches tall; retaining walls over 48 inches; pools, hot tubs and sprinkler systems; driveways; roofing; additions; attached and detached garages; air conditioners, furnaces, water heaters and boilers; fireplaces of any fuel type; solar panels; gas lines; basement finishes and remodels; electrical, plumbing and structural changes; electric-to-gas conversions; and land disturbance over 1,000 sq ft.

No permit needed: sheds of 120 sq ft or less, fences under 30 inches, fence repair, retaining walls of 48 inches or less, private sidewalks, landscaping, painting, flooring, wallpaper, cabinets and countertops, replacement plumbing fixtures and light fixtures, same-size window and door replacement, and added insulation.

If your project isn’t on either list, call the Building Department at (816) 344-5117 before you start.

Over-the-counter permits

Roofs, fences and other minor repairs don’t need plan review. These permits are usually issued when you apply. Roof permits come from the Building Department. Fence permits come from Planning and Zoning, and a fence placed on a property line needs a recorded survey.

Plan review

Residential

Residential applications go through the offices in a fixed order. Planning and Zoning reviews first wherever zoning applies, such as new houses, decks and ramps. Public Works reviews next if the lot is in a floodplain. Building inspectors check the plans against the code after that. Finally, permit clerks issue the permit once every line of the residential plan review checklist is signed off.

The city posts submittal checklists for:

• accessory structures
• additions
• decks and deck roofs
• new homes
• residential solar

Commercial

Commercial projects start with the Development Review Coordinator. Staff review for:

• zoning
• building, structural and the trades
• engineering, pretreatment and floodplain
• stormwater and land disturbance
• fire and vehicle access
• health and food safety

The city asks for up to 21 business days for the first review and 14 business days for each resubmittal. You hear within three business days whether the package passed its quality-control check. Larger projects are tracked internally in Accela, but the public can’t use it.

Adopted codes

Plans submitted since March 2025 must follow these codes:

Code	Edition
International Building, Existing Building, Residential, Mechanical, Fuel Gas and Fire Codes	2024
Uniform Plumbing Code	2024
National Electrical Code	2023

St. Joseph enforces the Uniform Plumbing Code, not the International Plumbing Code. Plumbers coming from IPC cities should take note.

Fees (Chapter 7, effective July 1, 2022)

Permit fees are based on construction valuation, which the building official sets. For new one- and two-family homes:

Valuation	Fee
$1–$500	$40
$501–$50,000	$40 + $4.75 per additional $1,000
$50,001–$100,000	$275.50 + $3.15 per additional $1,000
Over $100,000	$433 + $1.50 per additional $1,000

Commercial permits start at $70 for the first $500 of valuation. A commercial plan review fee of 15% of the permit fee is due when you submit, and it is credited toward the permit. Other fees:

• Scheduled express review: $175
• Partial permit: $175
• Temporary certificate of occupancy: the first is free, each later one is $200, and $400 once a TCO has been expired five days
• Floodplain development permit: $54 residential, $105 commercial

Inspections

Request inspections from the permit clerks at (816) 271-4827 or [email protected], at least 24 hours before the date you want. Inspections on major projects follow this order:

1. Setback
2. Footing
3. Foundation
4. Structural rough
5. Plumbing, electrical and mechanical rough

Schedule the rough-ins so every inspector can be on site at once. A joint final inspection comes before the certificate of occupancy or completion. Opening a new business in an existing building, or taking over an existing business at the same address, requires a walk-through inspection application.

Trade licenses and homeowners

The city issues plumbing (by examination), master and journeyman mechanical, electrical and plant engineer trade licenses. Under Sec. 7-107, homeowners can pull electrical permits for a single-family home they own and live in, as long as they buy all the materials and do all the work themselves. They sign a homeowner acknowledgment form, and the city has a matching form for mechanical work.