Tulsa
City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center
In short
City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center issues 7 permits we publish for Tulsa, last verified 2026-09-09. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Building Permit | City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center | Two components. (1) Building permit application fee, due at submittal and credited toward the final fee (Title 49 §301): $50.00 for declared valuation $0–$15,000; $80.00 for $15,000.01–$100,000; $0.80 per $1,000 of value above $100,000. (2) Building permit fee itself (§302): $110.00 for estimated valuation $0–$5,000; $180.00 for $5,000.01–$40,000; 0.525% of the estimated valuation for $40,000.01–$150,000; and — as the ordinance's own text states it, verbatim — 0.265% of the estimated valuation above $150,000 for valuations exceeding $150,000. A $65.00 minimum permit fee (§107) and a $4.00 permit-system-maintenance fee (§103) apply to every permit, plus a $4.50 Uniform Building Code Commission fee (§100) and a 7%-plus-$5.00 system-development fee (§117). | one-time, per project | 2026-09-09 |
| Sign Permit | City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center | Minimum sign fee $65.00, with a $65.00 application fee counted toward that total. Business sign zoning-clearance-and-plan-review fee: $160.00. Outdoor advertising sign zoning-clearance-and-plan-review fee: $400.00. Interior electrical sign: $160.00. Border neon sign: $160.00. Inflatable non-rigid or tethered balloon: $105.00. A promotional business sign, a remove-and-rehang-in-same-location, or a temporary sign each carry only the flat $65.00 fee with no separate application/minimum fee. | one-time, per sign; permit validity/renewal cycle for temporary and promotional sign categories is not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-09 |
| Fire Suppression / Fire Alarm / Commercial Hood Suppression System Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center | Fire suppression (sprinkler) system: $50.00 application fee, plus a permit fee from $85.00 (1-5 heads) up to $620.00 (601-750 heads), plus $0.85 per additional head above 750 (§307-308). Fire suppression HOOD permit — the fee most relevant to a restaurant or coffee shop's commercial-kitchen exhaust hood — is a flat $65.00 per hood (§309). Fire alarm system: $50.00 application fee, plus a permit fee from $85.00 (1-5 devices) up to $1,235.00 (601-750 devices), plus $1.65 per additional device above 750 (§310-311). A surety bond of $2,500.00 is required on file with the City before a fire suppression system permit is issued. | one-time, per system installation, remodel or renovation | 2026-09-09 |
| Repair Garages and Motor Fuel-Dispensing Facilities Operational Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center | $65 per operational permit | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-09 |
| Certificate of Occupancy | City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center | Certificate of occupancy for a new building with an associated building permit: $55.00 (§303A). Certificate of occupancy for an existing building or change of use only (the 'COO Only' path most applicable to a business moving into existing space): $330.00 (§303C). Temporary or Partial Certificate of Occupancy: $315.00 (§303D). Certificate of Occupancy Update: $70.00 (§303E). A $4.00 permit-system-maintenance fee, a $4.50 Uniform Building Code Commission fee, and a 7%-plus-$5.00 system-development fee apply on top of each of these. | Standard COO: one-time, no expiration. Temporary/Partial COO: temporary, pending final inspections. | 2026-09-09 |
| Contractor Registration (by Trade) | City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center | The City registers only trade contractors, each already required to hold a State of Oklahoma license first — there is no 'Building Contractor' category of any kind, residential or commercial. Electrical Contractor: $150.00 per year (§405). Mechanical Contractor: $150.00 per year, with a companion Boiler Repair Contractor registration also $150.00 per year but waived if the contractor is already registered as a Mechanical Contractor (§502). Plumbing Contractor: $150.00 per year (§803). Fire Protection System Installation contractor license (installers of fire alarm/detection and automatic fire-extinguishing systems): $150.00 per year (§1450). Stationary Engineer certificate of competency, tested locally: $50.00 (§502), with a $10.00-per-month penalty for renewal more than 30 days late. | annual — each registration expires on the last day of the contractor's birth month | 2026-09-09 |
| Zoning Clearance Permit | City of Tulsa Development Services Department, Permit Center | $75 one-time, per permit — commercial construction or any commercial site with or without improvements | one-time, per permit | 2026-09-09 |
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
Commercial Building Permit
Issued by the Development Services Permit Center. A related Code Compliance Development pre-submittal meeting is available (not required) for $350.00, credited toward the eventual permit fee if a permit application follows within one year. No separate City of Tulsa registration is required for a general commercial building contractor to pull this permit — see the Contractor Registration record below for which trades ARE required to register.
Sign Permit
Issued by the Development Services Permit Center. Permits generally expire if work does not commence within 180 days of issuance or is suspended for 180 days. All electrical, plumbing and mechanical work associated with a sign installation must be performed by a licensed contractor in that trade — see the Contractor Registration record below.
Fire Suppression / Fire Alarm / Commercial Hood Suppression System Permit
Issued by the Development Services Permit Center's code official after Fire Marshal plan approval; a permit for 5 or fewer sprinkler heads or fire alarm devices may be approved by telephone with no application fee or plans review. Commercial-kitchen hood suppression is the most common trigger for a restaurant or coffee shop; a fire alarm or sprinkler system is a common trigger across most of the other industries covered here.
Repair Garages and Motor Fuel-Dispensing Facilities Operational Permit
Unlike Oklahoma City, which has no fire-code line item for auto-repair shops at all, Tulsa's Fire Prevention Code fee schedule does price an operational permit specifically for 'operation of repair garages and automotive, marine and fleet motor fuel-dispensing facilities,' at a flat $65.00 — but the ordinance's own text conditions it on 'special circumstances as determined by the Fire Code Official,' so it is not automatically triggered for every auto-repair shop. Confirm applicability with the Development Services Permit Center (918-596-9456) for a specific facility.
Certificate of Occupancy
Issued by the Development Services Permit Center; a Certificate of Occupancy Only (no construction, change of use) is a four-step process — application, architectural and zoning code-compliance review, five same-day inspections (building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire), and processing — confirmed directly from the City's own 'Certificate of Occupancy Only Application Process Guide.' That guide states the final invoiced fee 'ranges between $450-$500,' which lines up closely with summing the §303C existing-building COO fee ($330.00), the separate §303F Zoning Clearance fee ($75.00, recorded as its own record below since Tulsa's own combined permit application bundles the two), and the standard administrative surcharges above (roughly $447 total) — the guide's range is the City's own published figure for the total.
Contractor Registration (by Trade)
The City's own 'Doing Business in Tulsa' guide states plainly: 'The State of Oklahoma licenses trade contractors (electrical, fire, mechanical, and plumbing) who must then register with the City of Tulsa' — narrower even than Oklahoma City's residential-only 'Building Contractor' registration, since Tulsa has no building-contractor category at all. Under that published structure, a contractor pulling Tulsa's Commercial Building Permit holds no city 'contractor license' merely to act as general contractor, but any of the enumerated TRADE contractors above must still register in that trade regardless of whether the site is residential or commercial. The City no longer registers journeymen, apprentices, or sign/electrical sign contractors specifically, per the same guide.
Zoning Clearance Permit
Priced as a distinct line item from the Certificate of Occupancy fee above, even though the City's own 'Commercial Building, Zoning Clearance, & Certificate of Occupancy' permit application form bundles both into one application — Tulsa's food-license checklist itself refers to 'Updated Certificate of Use and Occupancy (Zoning Clearance Permit)' as effectively one combined step. This same application form enforces a 300-foot linear spacing rule between 'family child care homes,' confirmed directly from the form, relevant to a childcare business considering a site near an existing one. Residential zoning clearance is a separate, lower $60.00 fee that applies to residential work, not to the commercial premises of the ten industries covered here.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Tulsa
- Phone
- (918) 596-9456
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.
- Certificate of Occupancy Only Application Process GuideCity of Tulsa, Development Services Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Guide to Doing Business in TulsaCity of Tulsa, Mayor's Office of Economic Development · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Title 49, Tulsa Revised Ordinances — Administrative, Permit, and License FeesCity of Tulsa · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
Other offices serving Tulsa
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Oklahoma jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.