Grand Forks
City of Grand Forks Department of Building Safety
In short
City of Grand Forks Department of Building Safety issues 4 permits we publish for Grand Forks, last verified 2026-09-14. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sign Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Grand Forks Department of Building Safety | Charged on the sign's valuation: a regular sign is $21.00 per $1,000 of valuation and a neon sign is $40.00 per $1,000 of valuation. Portable signs carry no fee because they are not permitted at all. | one-time per sign | 2026-09-14 |
| General Contractor License (city threshold is $2,000, lower than the state's $4,000) | City of Grand Forks Department of Building Safety | City licenses on the 2026 schedule: a building contractor is $65.00 and requires a $5,000 license and permit bond; an electrical contractor is $170.00; an excavator is $120.00 and requires a $500.00 deposit; a master mechanical installer is $170.00 and a journeyman $55.00; a master plumber is $170.00; a sign hanger is $120.00, or $125.00 for neon; a house mover is $170.00 and requires a $1,000 bond; and a sidewalk builder is $80.00. Mechanical test fees are $35.00 for a journeyman and $50.00 for a master. Electrical permits are set by the State. The separate North Dakota Secretary of State contractor license is priced by job size: Class A over $500,000 at $450.00, Class B up to $500,000 at $300.00, Class C up to $300,000 at $225.00 and Class D up to $100,000 at $100.00. | annual, expiring December 31 under Code 21-0106 unless otherwise stated | 2026-09-14 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City of Grand Forks Department of Building Safety | Commercial construction is priced from valuation on a table effective January 1, 2019 and still the City's live current schedule: nothing is charged from $1 to $1,000; $77.00 covers $1,001 to $2,000; and each additional $1,000 is charged at $15.00 from $2,001 to $25,000, $11.00 from $25,001 to $50,000, $7.00 from $50,001 to $100,000, $6.00 from $100,001 to $500,000, $5.00 from $500,001 to $1,000,000, and $4.00 from $1,000,001 to $25,000,000. Above $25,000,001 the rate steps down to $3.50 per additional $1,000, on a base of $101,947.00. Residential work runs a separate lower table beginning at $36.00 for $501 to $1,000. Related permits: demolition $50.00 with a $1,500.00 cleanup deposit, temporary buildings $50.00, a moving permit at $150.00 application plus a $35.00 initial inspection, plumbing at a $35.00 issuance fee covering the first four fixtures with $9.00 for each additional, and mechanical at a $35.00 issuance fee plus per-appliance charges. | one-time, per project | 2026-09-14 |
| Certificate of Occupancy — Fee Not Published (Grand Forks) | City of Grand Forks Department of Building Safety | No fee | one-time — issued once inspection confirms compliance | 2026-09-14 |
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
Sign Permit
This is the one fee where the Code and the current schedule agree exactly — Code 18-1103 and the 2026 fee list both give $21.00 per $1,000 of valuation, and the City's Commercial Project Guide confirms it a third time along with the neon rate. Two practical points. Portable signs are prohibited outright: the Commercial Project Guide states that 'Portable signs are no longer allowed in the City of Grand Forks' jurisdiction,' so a business planning a temporary A-frame or trailer sign has no permit route at all. And the work must be done by a bonded sign hanger — Code 21-0505(1) requires a bond in the penal sum of $5,000.00, and the sign hanger license is $120.00, or $125.00 for neon, on the current schedule.
General Contractor License (city threshold is $2,000, lower than the state's $4,000)
This threshold is a genuine trap for a contractor working across the state. Code 21-2902(1) sets the city threshold at less than half the state's: 'A person may not engage in the business nor act in the capacity of a contractor within the city when the cost, value, or price per job exceeds the sum of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) without first having received a license as provided in this article.' North Dakota's own threshold is $4,000, so a $3,000 job in Grand Forks requires a city license while requiring no state one. The two are nonetheless sequenced: 21-2906 provides that 'No contractor's license shall be issued by the city until such time as the applicant shall have demonstrated receipt of a contractor's license issued by the state,' so a contractor taking a $3,000 job may in practice need the state license in order to obtain the city one. Homeowners are exempt under 21-2902(2): 'No general contractor's license shall be required for any individual working on said individual's own residence.' The city license carries a $5,000 license and permit bond under 19-0103(1).
Commercial Building Permit
The 2026 fee list's $4.00 per additional $1,000 above $1,000,001 and the cumulative permit fee table's $3.50 apply to different brackets: the table, linked from the City's own Permits & Applications page, shows $4.00 governs from $1,000,001 up to $25,000,000, and a fifth, separate bracket above $25,000,001 drops to $3.50 on a $101,947.00 base. Every bracket below $1,000,001 is identical in both documents. Starting work without a permit is expensive and the Code sets the rule at 19-0101(18): a penalty fee applies where the project is valued at $2,000 or more, or where a formal complaint has been made to Municipal Court, and 'This penalty fee shall be equal to the fee of the building permit' — in effect doubling it. The City exempts itself under 19-0102: 'The City of Grand Forks shall be exempted from the paying of any fee for any building permit.' Electrical permits are not a city charge; the fee list marks them 'Set by State,' reflecting North Dakota State Electrical Board jurisdiction.
Certificate of Occupancy — Fee Not Published (Grand Forks)
The certificate is required, and no fee for it is published in any of the five City documents described here. The Commercial Project Guide's own 'Miscellaneous Fees' section — which separately prices a Board of Adjustments fee at $95.00, a Board of Appeals fee at $55.00, a parabolic antenna permit at $55.00 and a storm water pollution permit at $55.00 — has no certificate-of-occupancy line, and none of that guide's step-by-step processes for additions, new construction, remodels or repairs mentions issuing one. The full seven-page 2026 City Budget Supplemental List of Fees has none either. The Building Permit Fees, Commercial Properties table effective January 1, 2019 — still the City's current document — is a pure valuation schedule with no occupancy line. And the Building Safety FAQ and the dedicated Rental Inspections Program page describe the certificate of occupancy process for rental housing in detail — inspection triggers, egress and heating requirements, the municipal court enforcement path — without stating a fee anywhere, for either the rental or the commercial context. Code 18-0507 requires the application, and §111 of the adopted International Building Code is retained rather than deleted by the City's amendments, so the close-out step exists; a related residential provision at 19-0116 shows the concept is used actively in Grand Forks — 'No dwelling house, apartment or other premises of similar nature shall be occupied… by a renter unless or until a certificate of occupancy has been issued by the city building inspector and approved by the city health officer.' None of these documents states that the certificate is free, so no amount, including zero, is shown here. A business owner should confirm with Building Safety, (701) 746-2631, at final inspection.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Grand Forks
- Phone
- (701) 746-2631
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.
- Building Permit Fees, Commercial Properties, effective January 1, 2019 — still the live document linked today as 'Building Permit Fee List - Commercial/Multi-Family Property' from the City's own current Permits & Applications page, so the valuation table has not been re-issued since 2019. It carries a fifth valuation bracket: '$25,000,001 and up - $101,947.00 + $3.50 for each additional $1,000,' above the $1,000,001–$25,000,000 bracket at $4.00 per $1,000. No certificate of occupancy line appears anywhere in the document.City of Grand Forks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- City of Grand Forks 2026 List of Fees, published January 7, 2026 (internally titled 'Proposed 2026 Fee List for budget book') — the consolidated license and permit schedule carrying food establishment, mobile food, contractor, sign, zoning, fire, pool, body art and alcohol fees in prior-year and 2026 columnsCity of Grand Forks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Contractor Licenses — the Department of Building Safety's own current page listing the city contractor, electrical, excavator, mechanical, plumbing, sign hanger, house mover and sidewalk builder licenses and their bondsCity of Grand Forks Department of Building Safety · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Contractor licensing — the North Dakota Secretary of State's own page setting the $4,000 job threshold under N.D.C.C. ch. 43-07 and the Class A to Class D license feesNorth Dakota Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Grand Forks City Code, codified through Ordinance No. 4934, adopted December 15, 2025 (Supp. No. 34) — Chapter XXI Article 7 (food and drink establishments), Article 29 (general contractors, including the $2,000 threshold at 21-2902), Article 5 (outdoor advertising and sign permits), 21-0106 (fees set by resolution, one-year term expiring December 31) and 18-0507 (certificate of occupancy)City of Grand Forks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
Other offices serving Grand Forks
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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