16 permits · verified 2026-09-11
What permits do you need to open a contractor or trade in Honolulu County?
In short
A contractor or trade in Honolulu County, HI has 1 permit that applies to every business of this type, plus 15 more that depend on your premises, signage or how you are set up. City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting charges $600 one-time — $200 non-refundable Initial Review fee plus a $400 Processing fee for the conditional use permit (minor) — general. 4 of the 16 are charged as a range or formula rather than a flat fee. Verified 2026-09-11 against the issuing agencies’ published fee schedules.
Permits particular to a contractor or trade in Honolulu County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conditional Use Permit (Minor) — Generalonly if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | $600 one-time — $200 non-refundable Initial Review fee plus a $400 Processing fee | one-time, per application | 2026-09-11 |
| Conditional Use Permit (Major)only if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | $400 non-refundable Initial Review fee, plus a Processing fee of $800 plus $300 per acre (or major fraction, .5 or greater) of the project site, capped at $15,000, per the Department's own current Conditional Use Permit (Major) application instructions. | one-time, per application | 2026-09-11 |
| County Contractor License (not found beyond the building permit process)only if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Individual Electrician or Plumber Licenseonly if it applies to you | Hawaii DCCA, Professional and Vocational Licensing Division | $40 application fee, plus a $95 examination fee | 3 years | 2026-09-04 |
| Contractor Licenseonly if it applies to you | Hawaii DCCA, Professional and Vocational Licensing Division | $338 biennial renewal for an entity or sole proprietor; a responsible managing employee license is $208 | biennial — every license renews by 30 September of even-numbered years | 2026-09-04 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
Local permits that apply to every type of business in Honolulu County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Business License — City and County of Honolulu positiononly if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Customer Services, Business License Section | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Building Plan Review Feeonly if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | Varies — formula on the Honolulu County page | one-time, per project | 2026-09-11 |
| Fire Plans Review Feeonly if it applies to you | Honolulu Fire Department, Fire Prevention Bureau | Varies — formula on the Honolulu County page | one-time, per project | 2026-09-11 |
| Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | Varies — formula on the Honolulu County page | one-time, per project | 2026-09-11 |
| Special Management Area (SMA) Permit Determinationonly if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | $150 one-time, per tax map key (TMK) parcel | one-time, per property | 2026-09-11 |
| Zoning Verificationonly if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | No fee | one-time, per request | 2026-09-11 |
| Zoning Varianceonly if it applies to you | City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting | $2,400 one-time — $400 non-refundable Initial Review fee plus a $2,000 Processing fee | one-time, per application | 2026-09-11 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
HI registrations that apply to every type of business
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Business License — Hawaii positiononly if it applies to you | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-04 |
| Articles of Organization (LLC)only if it applies to you | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division | $51 one-time filing, including the $1 state archives fee | perpetual, but an annual report is due every year | 2026-09-04 |
| Articles of Incorporationonly if it applies to you | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division | $51 one-time filing, including the $1 state archives fee | perpetual, but an annual report is due every year | 2026-09-04 |
| Annual Reportonly if it applies to you | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division | $15 a year on paper; a $10 late fee applies per year delinquent | annual — due at the end of the calendar quarter containing the entity's own original registration date | 2026-09-04 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
How much does it actually cost to permit a contractor or trade in Honolulu County?
There is no single figure, and any site quoting one is rounding away the part that matters. Of the 16 records listed for a contractor or trade in Honolulu County, HI, 1 apply to every business of this type and 15 are conditional. Adding every fee on the page together would overstate what most operators pay, because it would include permits they never need.
4 of the 16 are charged as a range or a formula set by the issuing agency, and 4 have no fee published at all. The ones particular to this business that vary:
Conditional Use Permit (Major): $400 non-refundable Initial Review fee, plus a Processing fee of $800 plus $300 per acre (or major fraction, .5 or greater) of the project site, capped at $15,000, per the Department's own current Conditional Use Permit (Major) application instructions.
The other 3 variable fees belong to permits that apply to every type of business here; their formulas are set out on the Honolulu County permits page and the HI state page.
Which offices issue these permits in Honolulu County?
Permits for a contractor or trade in Honolulu County, HI come from 5 separate offices: City and County of Honolulu, Department of Customer Services, Business License Section, City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting, Honolulu Fire Department, Fire Prevention Bureau, Hawaii DCCA, Professional and Vocational Licensing Division, Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division. No single office issues them all, which is why an opening means filing in several places rather than one.
- City and County of Honolulu, Department of Customer Services, Business License SectionIssues 1 permit on this page: General Business License — City and County of Honolulu positionKapalama Driver Licensing Center, Window #17, 925 Dillingham Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96817 · (808) 768-9700www.honolulu.gov/csd/business-license
- City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and PermittingIssues 8 permits on this page, including Building Plan Review Fee, Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy, Conditional Use Permit (Minor) — General650 South King Street, 7th Floor, Honolulu, HI 96813 · (808) 768-8000www.honolulu.gov/dpp
- Honolulu Fire Department, Fire Prevention BureauIssues 1 permit on this page: Fire Plans Review Fee636 South Street, Honolulu, HI 96813 · (808) 723-7139fire.honolulu.gov/fire-code/permits
- Hawaii DCCA, Professional and Vocational Licensing DivisionIssues 2 permits on this page: Individual Electrician or Plumber License, Contractor License335 Merchant Street, Room 301, Honolulu, HI 96813 · (808) 586-3000cca.hawaii.gov/pvl
- Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration DivisionIssues 4 permits on this page: General Business License — Hawaii position, Articles of Organization (LLC), Articles of Incorporation, Annual Report335 Merchant Street, Room 201, Honolulu, HI 96813 · (808) 586-2727cca.hawaii.gov/breg
What does a contractor or trade need in Honolulu County that other businesses do not?
3 of the 5 permits particular to a contractor or trade here apply to no other business type we cover in Honolulu County: County Contractor License (not found beyond the building permit process), Individual Electrician or Plumber License and Contractor License.
Conditional Use Permit (Minor) — General
Required only when a proposed use is not permitted outright in its zoning district but qualifies for Minor Conditional Use approval under the Land Use Ordinance's own Master Use Table; whether a specific business needs it depends on the exact use and zoning district in the Master Use Table. Doubled if the applicant is cited for taking action without first obtaining approval. This is the general packet covering every Minor CUP use except Communication Towers, Small Meeting Facilities, Child or Adult Daycare, PreK-12 Schools, and certain BMX-3 hotels, which instead follow the separate, differently priced packet recorded below.
County Contractor License (not found beyond the building permit process)
No fee applies. The Department's own current Building Permits FAQ discusses Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 444 (the state Contractors License Board, recorded at the state layer) and the owner-builder exemption directly, with no mention anywhere of a separate county contractor registration or credential. DPP verifies an applicant's state contractor licensing status as part of ordinary permit review rather than issuing an additional credential of its own. A Honolulu contractor's local obligations are otherwise the same Commercial Building Permit, Plan Review, and Fire Plans Review fees recorded elsewhere in this file.
Individual Electrician or Plumber License
This is Hawaii's second, genuinely separate layer for these two trades. Where the contractor license above covers the business that contracts for electrical or plumbing work, this license covers the individual doing the hands-on work, issued by an entirely different board on a three-year cycle rather than the contractor board's two-year one. A business needs the first; the qualifying tradesperson it employs needs the second — holding one does not substitute for the other.
Contractor License
A license is required once a project's combined cost of labour, materials and taxes exceeds $1,000 — a strikingly low threshold compared with most states — unless the work needs no building permit and stands alone rather than as part of a larger project. General engineering, general building and specialty work each fall under this same board and this same fee, $338 to renew an entity or sole proprietor license and $208 for a responsible managing employee, on a shared biennial cycle ending 30 September of even years regardless of when the license first issued. Electrical and plumbing contracting sit inside this same system as specialty classifications rather than under a separate contractor board — but the individual electrician or plumber doing the work needs a further, separate license from an entirely different board; see that record.
Shared with other businesses in Honolulu County
- Conditional Use Permit (Major) — City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting, $400 non-refundable Initial Review fee, plus a Processing fee of $800 plus $300 per acre (or major fraction, .5 or greater) of the project site, capped at $15,000, per the Department's own current Conditional Use Permit (Major) application instructions., one-time, per application. Also required for retail stores and fitness studios; what it involves is set out on the fitness studios page.
The other 7 local permits in the tables apply to every type of business in Honolulu County, HI; what each one involves is set out on the Honolulu County permits page. The 4 state-level registrations apply to every type of business across HI and are covered on the HI state page.
How does a contractor or trade compare with other businesses in Honolulu County?
The closest match is a retail store, which shares 2 of these permits. A contractor or trade also needs County Contractor License (not found beyond the building permit process), Individual Electrician or Plumber License and Contractor License. A retail store needs Fire Prevention Permit — Places of Assembly and Sign Permit, which a contractor or trade does not.
| Business | Its own permits | Shared with a contractor or trade | Only a contractor or trade needs | Only it needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail stores | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Fitness studios | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Auto repair shops | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Salons and barbers | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Veterinary clinics | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Childcare centres | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| Coffee shops | 4 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
| Food trucks | 3 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Restaurants | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Sources
Every figure for the permits explained on this page was read from one of these government pages on the date shown. Sources for the permits shared with other businesses are listed with their explanations on the fitness studios page. Sources for the permits that apply to every type of business are listed on the Honolulu County permits page and the HI state page. Confirmed by Editorial Team.
- Conditional Use Permit (Minor), Application Instructions (for all Minor CUP uses except Communication Towers, Small Meeting Facilities, Child or Adult Daycare, PreK-12 Schools, and BMX-3 hotels) — $200 non-refundable Initial Review fee plus $400 Processing feeCity and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Zoning Permits — the Department's own current page listing Zoning Verification, Conditional Use Permit (Minor and Major), Zoning Variance, and Zoning Adjustment, with ordinance cross-references and links to each product's current instruction packetCity and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Building Permits Frequently Asked Questions — discusses Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 444 (state contractor licensing) and the owner-builder exemption directly, with no mention of any separate county contractor credentialCity and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Hawaii Board of Electricians and Plumbers — individual trade licensing, separate from contractor licensingHawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Hawaii Contractors License Board — license fees and the biennial renewal cycleHawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 444 — contractor licensing, classifications and the $1,000 exemptionState of Hawaii · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
Related
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.