Commercial Compliance Hub
Check requirements

Oakland County

Oakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services Unit

In short

Oakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services Unit issues 11 permits we publish for Oakland County, last verified 2026-09-28. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Mobile Food Establishment LicenseOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services Unit$131.20–$181.80 a year per unit, by truck type: cold truck/pushcart $131.20, steam table truck $156.50, hot truck $181.80annual, on the same April 30 license-year cycle as fixed establishments2026-09-28
Public Swimming Pool Inspection (state license, county-performed inspection)only if it applies to youOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services Unit$86 a year per pool, spa, spray pad or therapy pool — OCHD's local inspection fee only, separate from the state license feethe underlying license is issued by the State of Michigan (EGLE, Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division), is annual on a calendar-year basis, and must be posted at the facility and renewed each calendar year; OCHD's inspection fee recurs alongside that state cycle, and failing to pay it or complete the inspection risks forfeiture of the state license for the following year2026-09-28
Food Service License (fixed establishment, annual)Oakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services Unit$338.20–$457.80 a year, by seat tier, effective October 1, 2025: 0-24 seats $338.20, 25-99 seats $398.00, 100+ seats $457.80; commissaries $338.20; a 3.5% surcharge applies to card payments and $2.50 to e-checksannual; the license year runs through April 30, with renewal due by that date to avoid late fees2026-09-28
Body Art Practitioner Permit (conditional — salon, tattooing/piercing/branding only)only if it applies to youOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services Unit$75–$100 standard practitioner permit $100.00; temporary permit (up to 14 days) $75.00, with a minimum 45-day wait between temporary permitspermits expire December 31 each year effective January 1, 2026; a transition rule keeps a permit issued on or after October 1 valid through December 31 of the following year2026-09-28
Special Transitory Food Unit (STFU) LicenseOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services UnitOakland County's own posted fee for the STFU license is $171.65 (annual license) plus a separate paid STFU inspection fee of $103.50; effective July 1, 2025, two paid inspections are required per license year, at least one month apart. A state statute addressing the same license category, MCL 289.3119, states that a local health department 'shall impose a fee of $150.00, which includes the additional state license fee' for Special Transitory Food Unit licensing, and a companion statute, MCL 289.4111, lists a fee escalator table of $150.00 for 2016, $153.00 for 2017, and $156.00 for any subsequent year. MDARD's own published fee schedule states a third figure, $135.00, describing it as the STFU license fee 'whether obtained from a local health department or MDARD.' All three figures are recorded here exactly as each issuing source currently publishes them.annual; two paid inspections required per license year, at least one month apart, effective July 1, 20252026-09-28
Certified Food Manager (CFM) RequirementOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services UnitNo feeongoing while the food establishment operates; recertification is required every 5 years, with an allergen-awareness component required since January 14, 2017, and a 90-day grace period to replace a lost or departed certified manager2026-09-28
Body Art Facility License (conditional — salon, tattooing/piercing/branding only)only if it applies to youOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services UnitStandard facility license $150.00; temporary facility license (up to 14 days) $50.00; plan review $75.00; inspection fee $55.00 — priced consistently on Oakland County's own Body Art page on two independent reads.the facility license requires a bi-annual OCHD inspection; a temporary facility license covers up to 14 days2026-09-28
On-Site Sewage Disposal (Septic) Permitonly if it applies to youOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services UnitNew residential system $325; residential system repair/replacement $221; commercial system, 1-1,999 gallons/day, $468; commercial system, 2,000-10,000 gallons/day, $936 (larger commercial flows escalate to state review); re-inspection beyond the first $55; permit modification $90; engineered plan review $100; alternative system review $360; annual operation review $50. Separately, it is unlawful to install, construct, alter or repair an on-site sewage disposal system in Oakland County without an OCHD-issued installer license: licensing requires an OCHD class and exam with a passing score of at least 70%, a one-time $50 registration/exam fee, and a $100 annual license fee.per project, for new construction, repair/replacement or alteration of an on-site sewage disposal system; the installer license itself renews annually2026-09-28
Water Well Permitonly if it applies to youOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services UnitNew well (private/Type III, vacant land) $260; replacement well $238; augmentation well $313; irrigation well $250; well abandonment $0; additional wells at the same site $41; geothermal well $250; Type II water-supply plan review (non-community) $250.per well, for the specific construction, replacement, augmentation, irrigation, geothermal or abandonment project applied for2026-09-28
Child Care / Adult Foster Care Facility Inspection (state license, county-performed inspection)Oakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services UnitPartial inspection $125; full inspection $213; plan review (includes opening inspection) $300; re-inspections after 90 days are charged the same amount.per inspection cycle set by the state licensing agency (MDHHS/LARA, depending on facility type) that requests it; the county's part is the inspection, with the license term set by the state2026-09-28
Temporary Food Establishment (TFE) LicenseOakland County Health Division (OCHD), Environmental Health Services Unit$78–$106.75 per event, by advance notice given: at least 2 working days' notice $78.00, less than 2 working days' notice $91.80, fee collected in the field/at the event $106.75one-time, per event2026-09-28

Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.

About each permit

Mobile Food Establishment License

A food truck, cart or trailer operating on an ongoing route anywhere in Oakland County needs its own annual Mobile Food Establishment License from OCHD, priced by unit type: $131.20 for a cold truck or pushcart with no cooking, $156.50 for a steam table truck, and $181.80 for a hot truck with active cooking equipment. This covers a unit operating on a route rather than at one semi-fixed location or a one-off event — the Special Transitory Food Unit (STFU) License and the Temporary Food Establishment License, both recorded separately, cover those two other operating patterns instead, and a mobile unit's commissary must also be verified before licensing. The license runs on the same annual cycle, through April 30, as fixed food service establishments.

Public Swimming Pool Inspection (state license, county-performed inspection)

A fitness studio or gym operating a public swimming pool, spa, spray pad or therapy pool needs a state-issued public swimming pool license. That license is issued by the State of Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division — it is not an Oakland County license, even though OCHD's own Environmental Health overview page sometimes describes the county's role loosely as 'licensing' pools. OCHD's actual role is performing the required inspection and charging its own local fee for that inspection, separate from the state license fee: $86.00 a year per pool, spa, spray pad or therapy pool. The state license is annual on a calendar year, must be posted at the facility, and is at risk of forfeiture the following year if OCHD's inspection fee isn't paid and the inspection isn't completed. A fitness studio with no pool, spa or spray pad has no obligation under this record.

Food Service License (fixed establishment, annual)

Any fixed food service establishment operating anywhere in Oakland County — restaurants, cafeterias, coffee shops, sandwich shops, bars, catering kitchens and food concessions — needs an annual Food Service License from OCHD Environmental Health before opening, with no city carve-out anywhere in the county. The fee, effective October 1, 2025, runs from $338.20 for a 0-24 seat establishment, to $398.00 for 25-99 seats, to $457.80 for 100 or more seats; commissaries are billed at the 0-24 seat rate of $338.20. Payment by card adds a 3.5% surcharge and payment by e-check adds $2.50. The license year runs through April 30, and renewal is due by that date to avoid a late fee. Applications go through the county's Accela Citizen Access online portal or the legacy EHLT0005 system for existing accounts. A retail store that only sells prepackaged, non-potentially-hazardous food is not covered by this license at all; a store selling perishable or potentially-hazardous packaged food instead needs a state MDARD retail food establishment license, not this one.

Body Art Practitioner Permit (conditional — salon, tattooing/piercing/branding only)

Each individual who tattoos, pierces or brands at a licensed Body Art Facility in Oakland County needs a Body Art Practitioner Permit of their own, separate from the facility's own license. A standard permit is $100.00 and a temporary permit (up to 14 days) is $75.00, with at least a 45-day wait required between temporary permits for the same practitioner. Effective January 1, 2026, practitioner permits expire December 31 each year; a transition rule keeps a permit issued on or after October 1 valid through December 31 of the following year rather than expiring within weeks of issuance. OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030, applies as a training-adjacent safety standard to practitioners but is not itself the licensing authority for this permit.

Special Transitory Food Unit (STFU) License

A Special Transitory Food Unit (STFU) — a food unit operating at a single semi-fixed location, distinct from a full mobile route — must be licensed either through OCHD or through MDARD directly, an applicant's choice under state law. Two figures exist in the source material for what this license actually costs: Oakland County's own Food Safety fee page prices the license at $171.65 a year plus a separate $103.50 paid STFU inspection fee (with two paid inspections required per license year, at least one month apart, effective July 1, 2025), while MCL 289.3119 states that a local health department 'shall impose a fee of $150.00, which includes the additional state license fee' for this same license category, and MDARD's own published fee schedule states the fee is $135.00 'whether obtained from a local health department or MDARD.' A companion statute, MCL 289.4111, lists a fee escalator reaching $156.00 for any year after 2017. An applicant should confirm the amount actually being charged with OCHD, 248-424-7191 or OCHDPlanReview@oaklandcountymi.gov, before paying. This license category is distinct from the Mobile Food Establishment License, which covers a unit on a moving route, and the Temporary Food Establishment License, which covers a one-off event.

Certified Food Manager (CFM) Requirement

Michigan's Food Law requires a food establishment required to have a certified manager under MCL 289.2129 to continually employ at least one certified full-time manager, with recertification every five years, an allergen-awareness training component required since January 14, 2017, and a 90-day grace period to replace a manager who leaves or is lost. This is a state statutory mandate that OCHD's own food-safety materials restate rather than a rule Oakland County wrote itself, and it applies identically to restaurants, coffee shops and food trucks with a required manager. No fee applies at the county level: unlike some Michigan county health departments, Oakland County's own food-safety page does not list a county-run certified-manager training class or exam fee of its own — the ANSI-accredited certification course and exam are obtained through an outside accredited provider, at that provider's own separately set cost, not billed by OCHD.

Body Art Facility License (conditional — salon, tattooing/piercing/branding only)

A salon that performs tattooing (including scarification), body piercing (other than pre-sterilized single-use stud-and-clasp ear piercing) or branding needs a Body Art Facility License, co-issued with the State of Michigan and administered by OCHD, which also performs a bi-annual inspection. The standard facility license is $150.00 a year; a temporary facility license covering up to 14 days is $50.00; plan review before opening or remodeling is $75.00; and the inspection fee is $55.00. These figures come from Oakland County's own Body Art page and match the county's 2026 Environmental Health Fee Schedule. A hair, nail or skin salon without any of these services is outside this record; this is a conditional requirement, not a blanket salon-industry rule.

On-Site Sewage Disposal (Septic) Permit

A business built where no municipal sewer is available needs an on-site sewage (septic) permit from OCHD before installing a new system or repairing an existing one, under the county's own Sanitary Code, Article XI, a genuine Oakland County ordinance rather than a state pass-through. A new residential system is $325 and a repair or replacement is $221; a commercial system flowing 1-1,999 gallons a day is $468 and 2,000-10,000 gallons a day is $936, with larger commercial flows escalating to state review; a re-inspection beyond the first is $55, a permit modification is $90, an engineered plan review is $100, an alternative system review is $360, and an annual operation review is $50. Separately, installing, constructing, altering or repairing an on-site sewage disposal system in Oakland County without an OCHD-issued installer license is unlawful: a contractor becomes licensed by passing an OCHD class and exam with a score of at least 70%, paying a one-time $50 registration/exam fee, then a $100 annual license fee. This applies to any of the ten covered industries whose building lacks municipal sewer, not only to the installer performing the work.

Water Well Permit

A business built where public water is not available needs a well permit from OCHD before drilling, under the county's own Sanitary Code, Article II and Article X — a genuine Oakland County ordinance, most recently revised effective December 1, 2025 and retitled the 'Well and Borehole Construction and Aquifer Protection Program.' A new private or Type III well on vacant land is $260, a replacement well is $238, an augmentation well is $313, an irrigation well is $250, a geothermal well is $250, and an additional well at an already-permitted site is $41; well abandonment carries no fee. A Type II water-supply plan review for a non-community system is $250. This applies to any of the ten covered industries whose building lacks public water, not only to a contractor drilling the well.

Child Care / Adult Foster Care Facility Inspection (state license, county-performed inspection)

Oakland County's own Environmental Health page lists daycare centers, foster homes and group homes among the facilities the county inspects, separately from the programs it licenses or permits. A child day care facility, child caring institution, or children's or adult foster care home is licensed by the State of Michigan — MDHHS or LARA, depending on the facility type — and OCHD Environmental Health inspects these facilities as part of that state licensing process, under a Comprehensive Planning, Budgeting and Contracting agreement with MDHHS. The 2026 Environmental Health Fee Schedule linked from that page prices a Child/Adult Care Facility Inspection at $125 for a partial inspection and $213 for a full inspection, and a plan review (including the opening inspection) at $300; re-inspections after 90 days are charged the same amount. A childcare business's actual operating license remains a state matter throughout.

Temporary Food Establishment (TFE) License

A food unit vending at a one-off event — a festival, fair or similar temporary gathering, rather than an ongoing route or a semi-fixed single location — needs a Temporary Food Establishment (TFE) permit from OCHD for that specific event. The fee depends on how much notice is given before the event: $78.00 for an application filed at least two working days in advance, $91.80 for less than two working days' notice, and $106.75 if the fee is instead collected in the field at the event itself. This permit is distinct from the Special Transitory Food Unit license, which covers a semi-fixed single location rather than a one-off event, and from the Mobile Food Establishment License, which covers a unit operating on an ongoing route.

Contact

Jurisdiction
Oakland County
Phone
248-424-7191

Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.

Sources

Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

  1. Body Art — facility license, temporary license, plan review, inspection and practitioner permit feesOakland County Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  2. Body Art Safety (Health A-Z)Oakland County Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  3. Environmental Health program overviewOakland County Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  4. Food Safety — fee schedule for the Food Service License (fixed, by seat tier), Mobile Food Establishment License (by truck type), STFU license and inspection fee, and Temporary Food Establishment LicenseOakland County Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  5. MCL 289.1101, Michigan Food Law, 2000 PA 92Michigan Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
  6. MCL 289.2129, Michigan Food Law — certified food safety manager requirementMichigan Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
  7. MCL 289.3119, Michigan Food Law — states a local health department 'shall impose a fee of $150.00, which includes the additional state license fee' for Special Transitory Food Unit licensingMichigan Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  8. MCL 289.4111, Michigan Food Law — STFU license fee escalator table: $150.00 for 2016, $153.00 for 2017, $156.00 for any subsequent yearMichigan Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  9. MCL 325.1001, Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act, 1976 PA 399Michigan Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
  10. MCL 333.12527, Michigan Public Health Code Part 125 — public swimming pool licensingMichigan Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
  11. MCL 333.13101, Michigan Public Health Code Part 131 — Body Art FacilitiesMichigan Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
  12. Michigan MDARD — food establishment license fees and scheduleMichigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
  13. On-Site Sewage Disposal System (Septic) — permit fees and installer licensing under Sanitary Code Article XIOakland County Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  14. Swimming Pools — OCHD's local inspection fee, separate from the State of Michigan (EGLE) pool licenseOakland County Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  15. Well and Water Services — water well permit fees under Sanitary Code Articles II and XOakland County Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29

Other offices serving Oakland County

The full permit list for this jurisdiction

Industry permit lists that include this agency

Michigan jurisdictions

Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.