Rochester building department

Rochester’s Department of Building and Licensing Services is at 33 Wakefield Street. It issues building, trade, sign, and demolition permits, and it also handles City licenses such as food, taxi, and special-event licenses. Building applications go through the City’s OpenGov portal at rochesternh.portal.opengov.com. Rochester sorts building work into three permit tiers, and the tier sets both the fee and how the project gets inspected.

Express, minor, and major permits

Permit	Covers	How it works
Express Building Permit	Fences, re-shingling only, sheds of 200 sq ft or less, siding, windows	Flat $10 fee. For the inspection, you attach photos of the finished job in the portal, then request the inspection.
Building Permit (Minor)	Residential additions, renovations, decks, garages, pools, solar, accessory and in-law apartments	Priced by construction cost (see below). Portal handouts cover decks, additions, and ADUs.
Major Building Permit	New homes, apartment buildings, condos, and manufactured homes; adding dwelling units; all commercial construction	Priced by construction cost. Commercial work needs special inspections by an approved agency that the owner hires, not the contractor.

Electrical, plumbing, and mechanical work each need a separate permit. Mechanical permits cover heating, cooling, ventilation, gas lines and piping, and oil and propane tanks. Demolition permits require a third-party hazardous materials report, either with an abatement plan or showing that none are present. Sign permits follow Article 29 of the Zoning Ordinance. Sprinkler, fire alarm, hood suppression, tank removal, blasting, and hot work permits are filed in the portal’s Fire Protection section.

Fees

Building permits cost $9 per $1,000 of construction cost, with any partial $1,000 rounded up, plus a $10 application fee. The City’s example: a $4,300 job is 5 × $9 + $10 = $55. Work costing under $1,000 is a flat $20 permit. The application fee is due when you apply, and online payments add a processing charge of 2.99% plus $0.99. Keep the permit or a copy on site until the certificate of occupancy is issued.

Code editions in transition

Rochester’s portal notes that New Hampshire adopted the 2024 ICC codes effective July 1, 2026. A six-month grace period runs until January 1, 2027, and during it applicants may design to either the 2021 or the 2024 codes. Electrical work has followed the 2023 NEC since July 1, 2025.

Local rules to check before you apply

Wells. Since November 1, 2023, the City’s Board of Health has required new homes not on City water to test their wells for arsenic and radon, in addition to the E. coli and coliform bacteria tests already required. Manufactured homes in a park are excluded.

Sheds. A one-story shed of 200 sq ft or less, not on a permanent foundation, and serving a building with four or fewer dwelling units needs only 10-foot side and rear setbacks. It must still meet the district’s front setback. Larger sheds need a minor permit and the regular setbacks. Sheds of 600 sq ft or more need a frost wall or an engineered slab. Every shed application needs a site plan. In mobile home parks, each lot may have one shed, no larger than 12 × 14 feet with 10-foot walls.

Fences. Every fence needs a permit from the Director of Building and Licensing Services under Chapter 275. Fences can be up to 6 feet high in residential districts and 8 feet in nonresidential districts, or taller by special exception. Razor wire is banned everywhere. A fence that stays entirely on your property doesn’t have to meet setbacks, but the finished side must face outward and the fence must keep corner-lot sight triangles and driveway sight lines clear.

Solar. For available property-tax exemptions on solar projects, call the Assessing office at (603) 332-5109.

Lead. Projects that create rental units in older buildings fall under New Hampshire’s lead-safe law, RSA 130-A:5-d, and the department posts a lead acknowledgement form with its building applications.

Contacts

Need	Contact
Building and Licensing Services	(603) 332-3508, fax (603) 330-0023
Solar tax exemptions (Assessing)	(603) 332-5109
Applications, payments, photo inspections	Rochester OpenGov portal