Kansas City
City Planning and Development Department, Permits Division
In short
City Planning and Development Department, Permits Division issues 3 permits we publish for Kansas City, last verified 2026-09-06. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Occupancy | City Planning and Development Department, Permits Division | No fee | issued once per qualifying occupancy | 2026-09-06 |
| Contractor License | City Planning and Development Department, Permits Division | Certificate of Qualification (individual): $60 nonrefundable application fee, no charge for issuance in the first 4 years, $181 renewal every 4 years thereafter. Contractor License (company): $60 nonrefundable application fee plus a $181 license fee, renewed at $181 every 4 years. | 4 years | 2026-09-06 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City Planning and Development Department, Permits Division | Valuation-based, for any building other than a one- or two-family dwelling: $52 up to $500; $93 for $501–$2,000; $93 for the first $2,000 plus $14 for each further $1,000 (or fraction) up to $200,000; $2,774 for the first $200,000 plus $9 per further $1,000 up to $1,000,000; $9,965 for the first $1,000,000 plus $3.90 per further $1,000. Construction-document (plan) review is half the permit fee, paid at submittal and credited at issuance. A resubmittal to fix uncorrected deficiencies costs one-eighth of the permit fee, capped at $295 ($75 for a certified-checklist omission); a minor change to reviewed plans is $54 and a major one half the original review fee; scheduled express review is $75; the minimum partial-permit fee is $83; a fast-track permit adds $80. Building, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, elevator and fire protection permits are each priced separately on this same table. | one-time, per project | 2026-09-06 |
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
Certificate of Occupancy
Quoted directly: 'there is no charge for initial issuance of an occupant load certificate related to a building permit.' A certificate issued after August 6, 2018 is retrievable free via CompassKC; a copy of an older, pre-CompassKC certificate costs $36.
Contractor License
The City licenses contractors under chapter 18, article XII, division 3 of its Code of Ordinances, with section 18-327 setting the license classes, cash deposits and indemnity insurance. Fire protection (classes I and II) and plumbing contractors must keep a $500 cash deposit with the city's finance director, and certain excavation permits can require a plumbing contractor to post a further restoration deposit of up to $50,000; demolition, fire protection (classes I and II), plumbing, residential building and sign contractors must carry liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, with the city added as an additional insured. The licensing article requires no surety bond of any contractor class. The city's own licensing bulletin (IB118) still prints a $55 application fee for the company license, but the code section sets it at $60; the code also lets the city manager adjust these fees each year for inflation, by notice filed with the city clerk.
Commercial Building Permit
The city's own fee-schedule page states that the development fee schedule 'can be found in its entirety' in section 18-20 of the Building and Rehabilitation Code, and the figures above are that section's. The code lets the city manager adjust the section's other fees each year for inflation, by notice filed with the city clerk, but not the two permit-fee tables themselves. Work begun before the permit is issued pays triple the fee. There is no distinct, separately-published Kansas City Fire Department permit fee — fire protection permits are priced on this same valuation table.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Kansas City
- Phone
- (816) 513-1500
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.
- City of Kansas City — Building and Development Fee Schedule page, naming section 18-20 of the Building Code as the fee schedule in its entiretyCity Planning and Development Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
- City of Kansas City — Contractor Licensing and Certification RequirementsCity Planning and Development Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-06
- City of Kansas City — Occupant Load Certificate RequirementsCity Planning and Development Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-06
- City of Kansas City — Records Requests, Certificate of Occupancy copiesCity Planning and Development Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Code of Ordinances of Kansas City, Missouri, section 18-20, Fees (Ord. No. 200418, 2020, as amended by Ord. No. 220612, 2022) — Supplement 139, codified through Ord. No. 260342 of 16 April 2026City of Kansas City, Missouri · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Code of Ordinances of Kansas City, Missouri, section 18-327 — contractor licence classes, cash deposits and indemnity insuranceCity of Kansas City, Missouri · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
Other offices serving Kansas City
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Missouri jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.