Leon County Development Support & Environmental Management, Building Plans Review and Inspection Division

Commercial Building Permit (Unincorporated Leon County)

Leon County Code Sec. 5-1.05 requires any owner or agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to install or alter a regulated electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, to apply to the building official and obtain a permit first. Sec. 5-1.09(a) places all building permit fees in the DSEM fee schedule adopted by resolution of the Board of County Commissioners. The figures in this record are from the DSEM fee schedule titled "REVISED JUNE 1, 2022" (effective dates as printed: Development Services & Environmental Services, October 1, 2008; Building Plans Review & Inspection, 6/1/22; page footers "Rev 7/1/16"), which the county's Building Plans Review and Inspection page links as "View current fee schedule". The schedule charges commercial work per square foot under roof in four occupancy tiers, each with separate plan review and inspection rates for building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and gas; the tier follows the occupancy group of the building as the schedule names it. Its footnotes set a $135.00 minimum for a single-trade permit and a $90.00 minimum base fee per trade on a multi-trade project when the square-foot fee falls short, and it adds a 3% technology fee on plans review and inspection fees, $90.00 for a temporary certificate of occupancy and $90.00 for an additional inspection. Work started without a permit is charged double the plan review and inspection fees, and Code Sec. 5-1.09(d)(1) likewise sets "two times the established permit fees". Under F.S. 125.56(1) the county enforces the Florida Building Code within its territory outside the corporate limits of any municipality, so these permits apply in unincorporated Leon County; a site inside the City of Tallahassee is permitted by the City. Building Plans Review and Inspection Division, Renaissance Center, 435 N. Macomb St., 2nd Floor, Tallahassee (850-606-1300).