13 published records
Business licenses and permits in Bismarck, North Dakota
The City's New Business Licenses and Permits page states: 'The City of Bismarck does not presently have a general business license, however certain occupations may require a license or permit, specific to that use, to operate.' The City Code's chapter lists are consistent with that statement — the chapter lists of Title 5 (Business Regulations) and Title 8 (Health) name no chapter for childcare, cosmetology, veterinary practice, auto repair or fitness, and the Community Development Department's Licenses page states that it issues licenses for mechanical/HVAC installers, sign installers and mobile home parks. Food is the real local layer: North Dakota HHS delegates food licensing and inspection to Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health by Memorandum of Understanding, and unlike Fargo, Bismarck publishes its schedule. Food licenses are tiered by risk level then banded by floor area — Level 1 from $165.00 to $220.00, Level 2 from $275.00 to $330.00, and Level 3, which is where a full restaurant sits, from $385.00 under 5,000 square feet to $550.00 above 20,000 — with the license year running April 1 to March 31, mobile food units at $85.00 (risk level 1) or $165.00 (risk level 2), a temporary food permit at $85.00, childcare and school kitchens at $165.00 as Institutions Type 1, tattoo and body art at $165.00 and tanning at $110.00 or $165.00 by bed count. Building permits run a seven-bracket valuation table from $40.00, with a twenty percent plan review surcharge added to all commercial permits; electrical permits are a flat $25.00, home occupation $25.00, temporary use $50.00 and demolition $75.00. There is no separate sign permit fee — Title 14 routes signs to the building permit valuation table instead. Planning fees under the January 2026 schedule include a $750.00 special use permit, a $550.00 variance, a $250.00 appeal and a $100.00 zoning verification letter. Fire charges $50.00 for a day care centre or group home inspection and $75.00 for permits not otherwise listed. General contractors are licensed by the North Dakota Secretary of State above a $4,000 job threshold; the City licenses only mechanical/HVAC contractors, at $125.00 for Class A and $75.00 for Class B.
What are you opening in Bismarck?
- RestaurantsFull-service restaurants carry the densest permit load of any small business: food, fire, occupancy, waste, and usually alcohol.See the full permit list
- Coffee shopsCafés are permitted as food service establishments even where no cooking happens, and the plan review step catches most operators by surprise.See the full permit list
- Retail storesRetail is the lightest common permit load, but the sales tax permit and the certificate of occupancy are non-negotiable in every jurisdiction.See the full permit list
- Salons and barbersPersonal care is licensed at state board level as well as locally, so the shop license and the practitioner licenses are separate obligations.See the full permit list
- Food trucksMobile food is the one category with no certificate of occupancy — but it gains a commissary agreement, and the unit itself is inspected rather than the premises.See the full permit list
- Fitness studiosPrepaid memberships trigger state registration and often a surety bond, which catches operators who budgeted only for the fit-out.See the full permit list
- Childcare centresThe heaviest permit load of any small business: state agency licensing, per-person background checks, and a stricter fire standard than ordinary commercial use.See the full permit list
- Contractors and tradesLicensed at state board level rather than locally, and the only common category with no premises permits at all — the bond is usually the long pole.See the full permit list
- Auto repair shopsOrdinary commercial permitting plus an environmental layer: waste oil, solvents and stormwater are each registered separately.See the full permit list
- Veterinary clinicsA state facility permit, controlled substances registration at both state and federal level, and a medical waste manifest — none of which a general business license covers.See the full permit list
Permits that apply to every type of business in Bismarck
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special Use Permit / Zoning Varianceonly if it applies to you | City of Bismarck Community Development Department, Planning Division | From the January 2026 Planning Fee Schedule: a special use permit is $750.00, a variance $550.00, an appeal $250.00 and a zoning verification letter $100.00. Site plan review is $1,050.00 for a major plan, $900.00 for a major plan outside city limits, $500.00 for a minor plan and $100.00 for an amendment. A zoning map amendment is $1,350.00 under three acres, $1,450.00 from three to ten acres and $1,550.00 above ten. A planned unit development addition is $150.00 and an amendment $1,100.00. Major subdivision preliminary plats run $950.00, $1,150.00 and $1,350.00 by the same acreage bands with a $1,650.00 final plat; minor plats are $1,700.00, $1,800.00 and $1,900.00. Annexation is $0.00. | one-time per application; fees are due at application or resubmittal and are not refundable | 2026-09-14 |
| General Business License — City of Bismarck positiononly if it applies to you | City of Bismarck Administration Department (City Auditor as License Officer) | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City of Bismarck Community Development Department, Building Inspections | An eight-bracket valuation table: $40.00 from $0.00 to $500.00; $40.00 for the first $500.00 plus $1.85 for each additional $100.00 to $2,000.00; $67.75 for the first $2,000.00 plus $8.40 per $1,000.00 to $25,000.00; $260.95 for the first $25,000.00 plus $6.10 per $1,000.00 to $50,000.00; $413.45 for the first $50,000.00 plus $4.20 per $1,000.00 to $100,000.00; $623.45 for the first $100,000.00 plus $3.40 per $1,000.00 to $500,000.00; $1,983.45 for the first $500,000.00 plus $2.85 per $1,000.00 to $1,000,000.00; and $3,408.45 for the first $1,000,000.00 plus $2.20 for each additional $1,000.00. A plan review fee of twenty percent of the permit fee is added to all commercial building permits. Plumbing and mechanical work is priced on its own lower table starting at $40.00 up to $2,000.00 of valuation. Electrical permits are a flat $25.00, a home occupation permit $25.00, a temporary use permit $50.00 and a demolition permit $75.00. | one-time, per project; expiration not separately stated in the published schedule | 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.
What do these permits involve in Bismarck?
Special Use Permit / Zoning Variance
Read from the City's own January 2026 Planning Fee Schedule, which states on its face that 'All fees are due at time of application or resubmittal and are not refundable.' The City's August 2025 preliminary budget appendix lists lower plat and site plan figures than this schedule; the January 2026 figures are the ones given here because that schedule is both later and purpose-specific. The special use permit is the application most likely to reach a restaurant, retail, childcare, fitness, auto repair, veterinary or salon business where its use is conditional in its district. At $750.00 it is materially more expensive than the equivalent conditional use permit in Fargo, which is $185.00 — a real difference between the two cities rather than an extraction artefact, since both were read from their respective cities' own current schedules.
General Business License — City of Bismarck position
The City's New Business Licenses and Permits page states: 'The City of Bismarck does not presently have a general business license, however certain occupations may require a license or permit, specific to that use, to operate.' Because the City's own page names no general license, no city fee applies to a business merely for operating in Bismarck. The City Code's chapter lists are consistent with that page. Title 5 covers alcohol, advertising, amusements, auctions, taxicabs, pawnbrokers, junk and secondhand dealers, door-to-door sales, ambulances, the license officer and fees, Sunday closing, tobacco and smoking. Title 8 covers frozen desserts, food handling, lodging, animal processing, pesticides, solid waste, construction sites, rodents, smoking, noise, body art, sewage and tanning. Neither title's chapter list names a childcare, cosmetology, veterinary, auto repair or fitness chapter, and Title 4's chapter list names Chapter 4-10, Mechanical Contractor Licensing, as its only chapter titled for licensing, with §4-02-09 governing electricians annotated 'Repealed January 23, 2018.' The Community Development Department's Licenses page states: 'The Community Development Department issues licenses for the following: Mechanical / HVAC Installers; Sign Installers; Mobile Home Parks.' Occupation-specific licenses priced on the City's 2026 Fees and Charges schedule include a pawnbroker at $100.00, junk dealer at $75.00, second-hand dealer at $50.00, door-to-door sales at $225.00 plus $50.00 per salesperson, and taxi licensing at $125.00 plus $25.00 per vehicle. Tobacco carries no separate city fee — §5-11-03 grants authority to holders of a North Dakota State Tobacco Dealers License under N.D.C.C. ch. 57-36 instead.
Commercial Building Permit
The valuation table is read from the City's own published commercial permit fee PDF, whose header records a last revision of January 10, 2018 with the department page giving effect from January 1, 2020 — it remains the current published table. Two figures on that older PDF are stale against the City's 2026 fee column, and the 2026 values are the ones given here: the moving permit, now $50.00 with a $250 or $500 liability requirement and a $500.00 performance bond rather than the PDF's $25.00, and drainfield or percolation permits, now $150.00 per installation rather than the PDF's $75.00 septic and drainfield line. A separate administrative or non-structural permit is $125.00. Certificates of occupancy issue under the adopted building code — §4-02-08 refers to one, providing that a placard 'shall remain posted until the certificate of occupancy has been issued' — but a standalone certificate of occupancy fee is not published in the Community Development fee appendix or in the City's commercial permit fee PDF, so none is asserted.
Sources
Every figure in the table above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- 2026 Planning Fee Schedule, last revised January 5, 2026 — special use permits, variances, appeals, zoning map amendments, site plan review, plats and zoning verification letters, with the note that all fees are due at application or resubmittal and are not refundableCity of Bismarck Community Development Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- New Business Licenses and Permits — the City's own current page stating that Bismarck has no general business license and that only certain occupations require a use-specific license or permitCity of Bismarck · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Building Inspections — the department's own current page, listing the licenses Community Development issues (mechanical/HVAC installers, sign installers, mobile home parks)City of Bismarck Community Development Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Commercial Building Permit Fees — the eight-bracket valuation table and the twenty percent plan review surcharge applied to all commercial building permitsCity of Bismarck Community Development Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
Who issues business permits in Bismarck?
Permitting in Bismarck is split across 5 agencies we hold records for, with tax registration handled at state level. No single office issues everything, which is why an opening usually means filing in several places rather than one.
Bismarck issuing agencies
- City of Bismarck Administration Department (City Auditor as License Officer)Alcoholic beverage licenses and event permits · Pawnbroker, junk dealer and second-hand dealer licenses · Door-to-door sales and taxicab licensing · Gaming site authorisations4 permits
- Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health, Environmental Health DivisionFood establishment, mobile food and temporary food licensing and inspection · Lodging, pools and spas · Tattoo, body art and tanning facility licensing3 permits
- City of Bismarck Community Development Department, Building InspectionsBuilding, plumbing, mechanical and electrical permits · Mechanical/HVAC installer, sign installer and mobile home park licenses · Certificates of occupancy under the adopted building code3 permits
- Bismarck Fire DepartmentDay care centre and group home inspections · Fire alarm, sprinkler and hood suppression system permitting · Fire site plan review, open burning and tank permits2 permits
- City of Bismarck Community Development Department, Planning DivisionSpecial use permits, variances and appeals · Zoning map amendments and planned unit developments · Site plan review, plats and subdivisions · Zoning verification letters1 permit
Other North Dakota jurisdictions we cover
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.