Minneapolis Building Permits: When You Need One and What to File

By PermitCove Editorial · · 5 min read
A Minneapolis stucco foursquare house with a new wooden deck and stairs being built in the backyard

If you own a house in Minneapolis and the next job is a porch, a new circuit, or a room on the back, the office that takes the building permit is Minneapolis Development Review.

It sits inside Community Planning and Economic Development, and Construction Code Services, in the same department, reviews the building code and comes out to inspect. PermitCove is an independent guide, not the City of Minneapolis, and nothing here approves your project. The city and Minnesota pages behind each rule are linked at the end. Fees and forms change, so confirm them with Development Review before you pay.

Last verified: October 4, 2026, against the City of Minneapolis and Minnesota pages linked below.

Minneapolis Construction Code Services and Development Review

A one- or two-family remodel or a new one- or two-family house is filed as a building permit with Development Review. The application form also has boxes for a commercial or mixed-use job, and for three or more units. Those are not the house path this guide is walking.

The counter address on the building-permit application, and on the Development Review contact block, is the Public Service Building, 505 Fourth Ave. S., Room 220, Minneapolis, MN 55415. The phone printed there is 612-673-3000. You can also call 311. Service center hours on that block are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Minneapolis 311 is listed at 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with city holidays off. The city pages linked here don't include a separate walk-in window for homeowners beyond those service center hours.

Inspections are a different room. Construction Code Services lists the same building and the same phone, in Room 320. The work-exempt page uses that Room 320 block. The certificate of occupancy contact block lists "Public Service Center" at 505 Fourth Ave. S., Room 320, and a different phone, 612-673-2327, with the email CertofOccupancy@minneapolismn.gov. Use the room number on the page for the thing you are asking about.

Email the completed building application to development@minneapolismn.gov. That is the address on the application form, updated December 16, 2024. The construction permits page, updated August 3, 2026, lists the same inbox as Development@minneapolismn.gov. The capital D is the only difference we saw. If a message bounces, call 311.

Minneapolis permit triggers under the Minnesota state rule

The broad rule is on a state page the city tells you to read. Minnesota Rules, part 1300.0120, says an owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to install or change a gas, mechanical, electrical, or plumbing system the code regulates, applies to the building official and gets the permit first. The city's permit-types page says you must get a building permit before you start a construction project. The city's examples page says most construction projects need a permit before you start, and that some small projects may not.

Ordinary repair is defined in that same state rule, not in a Minneapolis slogan. An application is not required for ordinary repairs. Those repairs do not include opening or removing a wall, partition, or part of one. They do not include removing or cutting a structural beam or a load-bearing support. They do not include removing or changing a required exit, or rearranging the building in a way that affects egress. They also do not include adding, altering, replacing, or relocating a standpipe, water supply, sewer, drainage, drain leader, gas, soil, waste, vent, or similar piping, electric wiring, or mechanical or other work that affects public health or general safety.

Emergency repairs are the exception both pages state the same way. If the repair has to happen in an emergency, you can do it, and you apply on the next working business day. That is the city's examples page and part 1300.0120. It is not a grace period for a porch you already decided to build.

The city's examples page is a shorter list, and it tells you to check the code because size, location, and other conditions apply. Where that page and the rule disagree, both are still sitting there. Do not pick the sentence that lets you start.

On the state rule, a building permit is not required for a one-story detached accessory structure used as a tool and storage shed, a playhouse, or a similar use, when the floor area does not exceed 200 square feet. The city's examples page says tool and storage sheds that are one-story and "less that 200 square feet" may not need a permit. That is the spelling on the page.

"Less that" reads as less than, which would leave a shed of exactly 200 square feet off the city's example. The state rule includes 200. The storage-shed fact sheet the city's own Sheds link points to, a Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry sheet revised May 2022, says one-story storage sheds of 200 square feet or less are exempt from the building permit, and it cites the same rule. If the floor is 200 square feet on the nose, call 311 and write down what they say for that address.

Playhouses are a second split. The state rule puts playhouses in the same 200-square-foot sentence as sheds. The city's examples page lists playhouses as their own line, with no size printed next to them. No city page linked here says every playhouse is exempt. Use the state rule's size, and ask if the structure is really a playhouse.

Fences are closer. The state rule says a permit is not required for a fence not over seven feet high. The examples page says fences no more than seven feet high. The city's June 2025 fence handout says fences up to 7 feet high do not need a building permit, and fences over 7 feet do, with a site plan that shows found property monuments or a survey.

That handout also says every fence needs zoning review and approval, even when the building permit is not required. A pool barrier is not in the 7-foot exemption. The same handout says a pool barrier fence of any height needs a building permit. Zoning can also stop you below 7 feet. The zoning fence sheet, updated August 11, 2025, says no fence shall exceed 8 feet, and it lists lower maximums by yard.

An open decorative fence in a front yard is 4 feet on that sheet. A fence that is 60 percent or more solid is marked N/A in the front yard. A building-permit exemption is not permission to build the tallest fence the block will tolerate.

Decks are the messy one. Three official sentences are in circulation.

The state rule says a permit is not required for decks and platforms not more than 30 inches above adjacent grade, not attached to a structure with frost footings, and not part of an accessible route. "Not more than 30 inches" includes a deck whose walking surface is exactly 30 inches, if the other two conditions are true.

The city's examples page says decks, platforms, and stoops may not need a permit when they are freestanding and less than 30 inches high, are not attached to a structure with frost footings, and do not serve the main entrance. "Less than 30" leaves exactly 30 inches out. "Main entrance" is not the same phrase as "accessible route." "Freestanding" is an extra word the state rule does not use.

The city's wood-deck handout, last updated June 2025, says a building permit is required when the deck or platform is more than 30 inches above grade, or attached to the main structure, or part of an accessible route. "More than 30 inches" would not, by itself, pull in a deck at exactly 30. "Attached to the main structure" is wider than "attached to a structure with frost footings." A ledger on the house is an attachment even if you never ask whether the house has frost footings.

If the deck is near 30 inches, or it touches the house, or someone has to walk across it to get in the door, call before you set the posts.

A few other building exemptions are on the state rule and, in shorter form, on the city examples page. Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops, and similar finish work do not need a building permit. The examples page names cabinets, countertops, floor tile, carpeting, wallpaper, and paint, and it adds carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms. Window awnings that project no more than 54 inches are on both.

Swings and other play equipment are on both. The examples page says prefabricated swimming pools that meet the size guidelines may not need a permit, and it does not list the guideline. The state rule does: entirely above ground, accessory to a dwelling built under the residential code or an R-3 occupancy, and not over both 5,000 gallons and 24 inches deep. Read the "both."

A deep pool can fail even if the gallons are small. Retaining walls not over 4 feet, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, are on the state rule unless the wall supports a surcharge or holds Class I, II, or III-A liquids. The city's examples list doesn't mention that wall. Sidewalks and walkways on private property that are not on an accessible route are on the examples page. The state rule's version is sidewalks and driveways that are not part of an accessible route.

An exemption from the permit is not an exemption from the code. Part 1300.0120 says that in so many words. The shed fact sheet says the same thing. A small shed still has to be built legally. It also says plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permits are still required for the exempt building items unless some other exemption covers that trade. Power to a shed is the electrical permit, not a free add-on.

Minneapolis homeowner permits vs. a state-licensed contractor

The applicants page says the person doing the work should prepare the application. For a building permit on a one- to four-unit dwelling, it says individuals who own and live in a unit can apply to do their own construction work, and they must show a valid photo ID. A corporation, an LLC, or a partnership cannot apply to do its own construction work. That limit is printed twice on the page, once for the building work and once for the plumbing and mechanical work.

The application form, on the page homeowners actually sign, is not the same sentence. The acknowledgment says the owner is improving the property to occupy it as a primary residence or to maintain it as a rental unit, and is not building or improving it for resale. It also says the owner is claiming a state licensing exemption because this is the only residential structure they have built or improved in the past 24 months, other than a property they maintain as a rental.

The applicants page says that if you build or improve more than one property within any 24-month period, you need a State of Minnesota Residential Building Contractor license or a Residential Remodeler license. It does not mention the rental exception. Read the form you sign, and read the web page, and if your second house is a rental you already keep, ask before you check the box.

The form says a false statement can bring criminal prosecution or civil penalties, and it says unlicensed residential contracting, remodeling, or roofing is a misdemeanor under the statute it cites, with a fine it lists as up to $10,000. It also says that if you hire an unlicensed contractor, a lawsuit is your own problem, and you cannot use the state's Contractor Recovery Fund. Questions on that license, the form says, go to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry at 651-284-5069 or 1-800-657-3944, or dli.mn.gov. The numbers are what the city form lists.

Plumbing and mechanical work have a tighter door than the building permit. The applicants page says individuals who own and live in an attached or detached single-family home can do their own plumbing or mechanical work. It says you are not allowed to work on gas-fired heating equipment. A duplex is a building permit you may be able to file yourself, under the one- to four-unit line, and it is not the single-family line for doing the plumbing or the furnace yourself.

If you hire the trades, the contractor needs the license that trade requires. For a building permit, the applicants page says a contractor shows a city residential specialty contractor license, or a state residential building contractor, residential remodeler, or residential roofer license.

Electrical work is not on that homeowner plumbing sentence. The state homeowner electrical form, revised August 2025, says the owner will physically do the wiring on a place they own and occupy, or will occupy when the work is done. It says it is illegal for that owner to install wiring in a two-family dwelling, an apartment, a condo, certain townhouses, a manufactured home in a park, or any property that is rented, leased, or occupied by others. A Minneapolis building permit for a duplex and a state electrical permit for a duplex are not the same permission. The city's inspection sheet says the state issues and schedules electrical permits. More on that below.

Applying online in Minneapolis: plans and the survey

The process page is written for a remodel of an existing one- or two-family home and for a new one- or two-family home. It starts with a wrecking permit only if you have to remove an existing structure. If you are not demolishing anything, skip that step.

You download the building permit application. It is a fillable PDF. Save it, complete it, and put your first and last name on it. Email the completed form. Property owners also send a valid ID. Do not attach the construction plans to that email. The page is explicit. After the application arrives, a development coordinator starts the permit and emails you an invitation to ProjectDox. That is where the plans go. Uploading them only in the email is not the step.

ProjectDox is the city's plan-review inbox. The city's upload sheet says every plan sheet is a PDF, one page per file, turned so it can be read, and named with the page number and the page title. The example it lists is "A1 First Floor Plan." You open the project, choose Upload Drawings or Upload Documents, upload, check the box that the required files are in, and click Submit.

If you do not click Submit, the coordinator does not have a complete task. The intake review checks that the file has what it needs. A missing piece comes back as a resubmit task in ProjectDox. The city does not send the file to the other reviewers until that intake is complete.

Plan review then goes to the departments the process page names. Construction Code Services checks the building code. Zoning Administration checks the zoning code. Public Works checks curb cuts and work tied to public infrastructure. Other departments can be added. The time estimate on that page is 15 business days for the initial plan review, and five business days each time you resubmit. You get a ProjectDox notice when a review is done. You may have to send revised plans or answer questions. Those 15 days and those five days are the sentences on the current process page. They are not a date for the dumpster.

An older room-addition checklist is still on a city file path. It tells you to bring paper plans to 250 South 4th Street, Room 300, and it says smaller residential additions can often be reviewed and issued the same day, while you wait. That address is not the Public Service Building. The current process page does not say same-day. Don't book a same-day addition just because that older PDF is still online.

A land use application is a separate filing. The process page says it is required for new construction, for an accessory dwelling unit, and for other projects zoning staff identify. If yours is one of those, zoning contacts you. A room addition is not on that short list. Do not assume it is free of zoning review. Zoning still reviews the building plans. No city page linked here says every house addition needs the separate land use application.

The current room-addition sheet, updated June 11, 2025, is a drawing guide for a single-family addition, not a full code. It asks for plans drawn to scale, and it says a quarter inch to the foot usually works. It wants a floor plan for each level, sections that show foundation, walls, floors, and roof, including what is bearing, exterior elevations that show the addition against the existing house, and a site plan with the house, the addition, other buildings, and the setbacks to property lines and other buildings.

Name the rooms. Dimension them. Show existing and proposed framing: type, size, spacing, span, bearing, and the load path. Habitable rooms, hallways, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundry rooms, and basement space used that way need a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet, measured to the lowest projection.

Habitable rooms need glazing of not less than 8 percent of the floor area, and openable area to the outdoors of not less than 4 percent of the floor area being ventilated. The sheet does not say an architect's seal is required. The fence handout says plans typically do not have to be drawn by a professional, and that they do have to be clear enough that someone else could build from them. No city page linked here says every house plan is sealed, or that no house plan ever needs a design professional. Ask when the coordinator looks at the job.

You do not start because you clicked submit. After every department approves the plans, ProjectDox tells you the plans are approved, the permit is ready to issue, and you need to pay. After payment you download and list the permit and the approved plans, post both at the site, and then begin.

The state rule the city links says the building permit or a copy stays on the site until the project is done, and that it is posted in a conspicuous place. Part 1300.0120 also says an application is treated as abandoned 180 days after filing unless it has been pursued in good faith or a permit has been issued, with extensions the building official can grant, in writing, for up to 180 days at a time if you show cause.

A permit expires if the work has not started within 180 days after issuance, again with written extensions. A permit goes invalid if the work is suspended or abandoned for more than 180 days. Those clocks are the state rule. The process page doesn't include a different Minneapolis clock.

Minneapolis permit fees

The fees overview says a building permit fee is based on the valuation of the job, including labor and materials. You pay when the city issues the permit, not when you email the application. The city takes checks, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Diners Club. The application form says checks go to the Minneapolis Finance Department, and that you do not put a credit card number in the email. Staff call the contact on the form for the card.

The building-fees page, updated February 27, 2026, says the list is updated when the City Council acts, and it shows the schedule in a viewer. We could not read dollar amounts out of that viewer. The figures below are the table listed on the building permit application, marked updated December 16, 2024, and the same brackets on a city worksheet labeled Version 6.1.2019. The two tables match. They are not a quote for your address. A detached garage uses a different schedule. The application says so, so check the city's garage sheet instead of running a garage through the table below.

The application cites Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, Title 5, Chapter 91, Article II, Section 91.220, for how construction value is counted, along with Minnesota Rules, part 1300.0160, subpart 3, and a bulletin 058. The 2019 worksheet cites the same rule and bulletin, and it cites section 91.90(b) instead of 91.220. The dollar lines we could read are these.

  • The schedule lists a residential or commercial minimum of $84.20. That minimum does not include the state surcharge.
  • From $1 to $500, the table lists $36.70, and it says the minimum fee applies. Don't pay $36.70 and ignore the $84.20 line. Read both before you write the check.
  • From $501 to $2,000: $36.70 for the first $500, plus $4.50 for each additional $100 or fraction through $2,000.
  • From $2,001 to $25,000: $104.20 for the first $2,000, plus $20.60 for each additional $1,000 or fraction through $25,000.
  • From $25,001 to $50,000: $578 for the first $25,000, plus $14.90 for each additional $1,000 or fraction through $50,000.
  • From $50,001 to $100,000: $950.50 for the first $50,000, plus $10.60 for each additional $1,000 or fraction through $100,000.
  • Higher brackets are on the form. From $100,001 to $500,000 the table uses $1,480.50 for the first $100,000, then $8.40 per additional $1,000 or fraction. The form continues past $500,000 and past $1,000,000.

Both documents say the total is the building permit fee, plus a plan review fee of 65 percent of that building permit fee, plus a Minnesota state surcharge of the value of the work times 0.0005. The 2019 worksheet adds that there is no plan review fee for simple permits, and it gives siding and roofing as examples. The application form's formula line does not repeat that exception. If the job is a reroof or new siding, ask whether the 65 percent is on the invoice. Do not subtract it yourself because the older worksheet uses those two examples.

If you start work before you have the permit, the fees page says the city may double the fees, and you may have to demolish some or all of the work so it complies or so an inspector can see whether it complies. "May" is the word on the page. It points you to Title 5, Chapter 91.

If the work will not be done, you can ask for a refund. If work has not started, the city keeps a $50 processing fee, and state surcharges and plan review fees are deducted separately. If work has started, the city keeps part of the permit fee plus the processing fee. If the city made an error, the page says you get a full refund.

A zoning application to increase the height or floor area of a detached accessory structure is a different fee. The accessory-structure handout, updated August 4, 2025, lists $240 for that administrative review. That is not the building permit fee. Checks on that form are payable to the Minneapolis Finance Department.

Minneapolis zoning review and setbacks

A building permit is not the zoning decision. Zoning Administration reviews the plans for the zoning code. The city also says every Minneapolis property sits in one of 13 built form overlay districts. The handbook for those districts is where the city sends you for height, lot size, setbacks, and impervious surface on the principal building. That handbook is a large PDF, and no single front-yard number in it applies to every house. Call 311 with the address. The porch handout says the same thing: setbacks vary by zoning, and you give them the address when you call.

What we did open is the detached accessory structure handout, for sheds, garages, and other smaller buildings when the main building is a one-, two-, or three-family dwelling, or a few similar small residential uses. It does not apply to a detached accessory dwelling unit. It says it is not a complete guide for every lot.

The handout's general limits, which it ties to ordinance sections, are these. The maximum footprint is 800 square feet or 10 percent of the lot area, whichever is greater. To go past 800 square feet you have to match the principal building's exterior materials, and you file the administrative height and floor-area application. The principal building's gross floor area has to be greater than the accessory structure's. A detached structure has to be at least 6 feet from habitable space or from an attached garage of a residential use, not counting a detached accessory dwelling unit. It cannot be closer than 10 feet to habitable space of a dwelling on the next property.

Building coverage and impervious coverage are different caps, and the handout lists both. Building coverage, principal and accessory together: 45 percent of the lot in Interior 1, Interior 2, and Parks; 60 percent in Interior 3 or Corridor 3; 70 percent in Corridor 4 or Corridor 6; 80 percent in the Transit districts; no limit in Core 50 or Production.

Impervious coverage, which the handout says includes structures, driveways, walkways, steps, decks, porches, and generally everything except grass and landscaping: 60 percent in Interior 1, Interior 2, and Parks; 75 percent in Interior 3 or Corridor 3; 85 percent in Corridor 4 or Corridor 6; 90 percent in Transit; no limit in Core 50 or Production. Do not use the impervious percentages as the building-coverage percentages. They are listed as two lists.

Height changes the paperwork. Up to 13 feet, the handout says a land use application is not required. Up to 16 feet, it is required, and the exterior materials and the roof pitch have to match the principal building. Wall height in both of those columns is a 10-foot maximum. The handout says greater setbacks apply for a garage taller than 13 feet when the pitch and materials do not match. It does not give one setback for every tall garage.

The reduced yard it does print is conditional. An interior side yard of 1 foot, and a rear yard of 1 foot, show up when the structure is in the rear 40 feet or the rear 20 percent of the lot, with the other conditions the handout lists, including 10 feet from the habitable part of the neighbor's house. If a vehicle door faces that lot line, the handout says the yard is not reduced. If the structure is not in that rear band, it says standard setbacks apply, and it does not list those standard numbers on the page. A 1-foot side yard is not a citywide shed rule.

Eaves are a conflict on that same page. Zoning, it says, does not let an eave closer than 6 inches to the lot line. The building code, it says, does not let the eave closer than 8 inches. Design to the limit the reviewer will actually apply, and ask which one that is.

The handout also says you are responsible for finding the iron markers, that they are most commonly one foot in from the edge of a paved alley, and that alley right-of-way width varies but is usually 12 or 14 feet. "Usually" is the city's word. It is not a measurement of your alley. The inspector can require a registered land surveyor. The deck handout says the same thing in plainer language: hire a surveyor, or find and expose the markers yourself, and do not measure a setback off an existing fence. Fences are rarely on the line.

Curb cuts go to Public Works, through the Development Review customer service center. The accessory handout says a boulevard tree, or a driveway near one, needs the Park Board, and it lists 612-370-4900.

Room additions in Minneapolis

An addition is construction. It is not ordinary repair. The application form has a work type for an addition, and it lists a room, a story, decks, stoops, and dormers as the examples on that line. The current drawing sheet is the one described above: floor plans, sections, elevations, a site plan with setbacks, 7-foot ceilings in habitable space, and the light and ventilation percentages.

The inspection sheet adds a radon note that is easy to miss. An addition to a house that does not already have a radon system does not need a new radon system. It does need a soil-gas membrane, a polyethylene vapor retarder or something equivalent, and that membrane is inspected before you pour. If the house already has a radon system, the same sheet says the under-slab parts of that system are inspected before the slab. Do not pour the floor and then ask.

Zoning for the addition is the built form district, not a number we are willing to invent. New construction and accessory dwelling units are the land use applications the process page names outright. An addition can still be "other projects as identified by zoning staff." If staff say you need that application, the building permit does not replace it.

The old checklist's survey rules, including a 3-foot recess exception, sat on the outdated counter instructions. The current deck handout and the current addition sheet both want the setbacks shown from real property lines. If you cannot find the pins, plan on a surveyor. The building official can require one.

Minneapolis decks and porches

A wooden deck and porch steps on a Minneapolis house

Use the three threshold sentences in the exemption section before you decide a low platform is free. The June 2025 wood-deck handout is the city's drawing guide for a basic single-story wood deck on a one- or two-family house. It says it is not the whole code, and it points you to the 2020 Minnesota Residential Code. It does not cover a multi-story deck, an elevated deck, a deck on a cantilever or a bay, a deck with a center beam holding joists on both sides, or a deck you already know will become a screened porch. It also does not cover open porches, screen porches, or pergolas. Those are a different sheet.

If the deck needs a permit, the handout's minimum submittal is a scaled site plan and construction drawings. The site plan shows the house and the other things already in the yard, the new deck, the distance to property lines, and the distance to other structures. The drawings show footing size, location, and spacing; beams and posts; joist size, spacing, and direction; the ledger; the lumber or the composite product and its manufacturer; stairs, handrails, and guards; and the hardware.

A section has to show the footing type, the depth below grade, and the width at the base. The handout says that width can be no less than 14 inches for a round footing and 12 inches for a square footing. It also wants the height from the walking surface down to grade on every side. Generic notes such as "per code" are not accepted and will slow the review. Posts, joists, beams, and decking are approved treated wood, approved naturally durable wood such as cedar, or an approved composite.

Guards, on that handout, are required at open sides of floors, stairs, ramps, and landings more than 30 inches above the floor or the grade below. The guard is not less than 36 inches high, and the openings do not let a 4-inch sphere through. Stairs with four or more risers, which the handout describes as three steps plus the top landing, need a graspable handrail. A stair needs a bottom landing. The stringer does not sit on bare ground. Patio blocks or a concrete pad are what the handout accepts when the deck is near the ground. The only height lines published are the ones already in conflict above.

Porches are not small decks. The city's porch handout, also updated June 2025, says a building permit is required for every porch, including a screen porch, a three-season porch, and an open porch. It does not apply to sunrooms, solariums, decks, room additions, balconies, patios, pergolas, or occupiable roofs. The state porch fact sheet that the city's porch page also links says building permits are required for construction of all porches. On that point the two agree. The state sheet is a statewide residential-code overview. It is not Minneapolis zoning. It tells you to ask the local zoning office about setbacks. The city handout tells you to call 311 with the address.

The city porch drawings are a site plan or a certificate of survey, with lot dimensions, existing and proposed coverage, and setbacks, plus foundation and floor plans, a cross section, and elevations. Footings, it says, go below frost depth, 42 inches below grade or to adequate bearing soil, whichever is greater. The deck handout doesn't include that 42-inch figure.

Do not borrow it for a deck unless the reviewer tells you the deck footing is the same rule. Wood joists 18 inches or closer to grade, and beams 12 inches or closer to grade, and their supports, are redwood, cedar, or an approved treated material. Guards match the deck idea: more than 30 inches above grade or the floor below, at least 36 inches high, openings that stop a 4-inch sphere.

Private stairs are at least 36 inches wide, with a maximum rise of 7 3/4 inches and a minimum tread of 10 inches measured nosing to nosing. One handrail is required when there are four or more risers. Two handrails, one on each side, are required when the stair is 30 inches or more above grade. Handrail height is 34 to 38 inches above the nosing. The deck handout does not list that two-handrail line.

The porch sheet also has egress limits that are easy to violate by accident. A bedroom emergency window can open onto a roofed open porch only if the porch abuts a street, yard, or court, the ceiling is at least 7 feet, and the longer side is at least 65 percent open. A required bedroom egress window shall not open onto a screened porch. It shall not open onto an enclosed porch. A three-season porch can change the light, ventilation, and escape rules of the rooms it is stuck onto. The sheet marks some of those screened-porch lines as department policy. We are repeating them as the handout writes them, not as a substitute for the code section.

Minneapolis sheds and accessory structures

A small backyard shed beside a Minneapolis house

Count the floor area, then notice which page you are reading. The state rule and the state's May 2022 shed sheet, which is the document the city uses as its Sheds link, exempt a one-story storage shed of 200 square feet or less from the building permit. The city's examples page says "less that 200 square feet." Exactly 200 is the disagreement. A second story is not in the exemption. The state rule's exemption is one story.

The building permit is not the zoning permit. The accessory handout still applies to a detached shed: footprint, coverage, the 6-foot and 10-foot separations, height, and the conditional 1-foot yards. A shed that is small enough to skip the building permit can still be in the wrong place. The state sheet says the residential code does not set the property-line setback, and that local zoning does.

It also says you cannot put the shed in a drainage or utility easement. Exterior walls less than 5 feet from the lot line have to be one-hour fire-resistance rated, including sheds that did not need a building permit. That fire line is the state sheet, citing the residential code. We did not reopen the code book to re-prove the table. If you are inside 5 feet, read that sheet before you order the siding.

Electrical lighting and outlets are allowed, and the state sheet says they need an electrical permit even when the building permit is not required. A rough-in is required before you cover the walls or the ceiling. A final is required when it is done. The homeowner or the licensed electrical contractor who pulled that permit calls the inspector. On a rental, or on a duplex, go back to the owner-occupancy limit on the state electrical form before you decide you can pull it yourself.

The state sheet also says a state residential contractor license is not required just to build a storage shed, and that you still confirm what the city wants. Minneapolis can want a building permit, a zoning review, or both, depending on the size and the lot. Turning the shed into a place to live is a different project. The sheet says a dwelling, a tiny house, or an accessory dwelling unit has to meet the dwelling rules, and that zoning decides whether a second dwelling is allowed. The city's accessory handout says it does not cover accessory dwelling units. The process page says an ADU needs a land use application and, separately, you still need a building permit.

Minneapolis electrical permits (state electrical inspection)

The city's "when to call for inspections" sheet, updated April 1, 2024, says electrical permits and inspections are issued and scheduled by the state. The on-site inspections page says to contact the state for an electrical inspection, and to contact the city for building, plumbing, mechanical, or final building inspections. The state's Minneapolis electrical district sheet, revised December 29, 2025, tells you to use the Ready for Inspection control on the permit. The city's own inspection page is the reason this guide sends electrical work to the state rather than to Room 220.

The homeowner form for an existing dwelling is a state form, revised August 2025. It is the form that limits owner wiring to a residence you own and occupy, and that bars owner wiring in a two-family building and in a rental. It says a final inspection is required. It says a permit whose inspection fees are $1,000 or less is void 12 months after the original filing date, finished or not, and that those fees do not carry onto a new permit. If wiring is covered before the rough-in, the person who covered it pays to uncover it.

The fees on that form are state electrical fees, not the Minneapolis building-permit table. The form says the amount you send may not be the full bill. The inspector can charge the difference. A reinspection to check corrections can be another $55. A scheduled inspection that cannot be done, for reasons beyond the inspector's control, can be another $55. The minimum fee for each separate inspection is $55.

Rough-in, if you mark it required, adds $55. A service, generator, or feeder to a separate structure is $35 per power source for 0 to 400 amps. Fewer than 15 feeders or circuits are $12 each. Fifteen to 30 are a flat $165, and the form says not to use both that flat fee and the $12 count. A circuit you only reconnect into a replacement panel, without extending it, is $2.

You then pay the greater of the inspection-trip total or the itemized total, plus a $25 permit fee the form ties to Minnesota Statutes, section 326B.37, plus a $1 surcharge it ties to section 326B.148. The state's homeowner electrical page says that once you are told about additional fees, you have 10 days to pay them in the online account. After that, an invoice is mailed. The phone on the homeowner form is 651-284-5026. The city pages linked here don't publish a Minneapolis-only electrical fee ordinance. They send the permit to the state.

Minneapolis plumbing and mechanical permits

The plumbing page says you need a plumbing permit to replace or install a fixture such as a sink, a shower, or a tub, to replace or install water piping, to replace or install a water heater, to install a non-testable backflow preventer, or to connect a gas appliance such as a stove, a dryer, or a fireplace to gas piping.

A homeowner who lives in the single-family house can do their own plumbing, on the applicants page. That page still bars the owner from gas-fired heating equipment. A gas stove connection and a gas furnace are not the same line. If the appliance is the heating plant, do not treat the plumbing page's stove example as permission to do the furnace.

The examples page lists plumbing work that may not need a permit in a one- or two-family dwelling, and only if the conditions are sanitary and not hazardous, you do not alter or replace the existing water supply line or the plumbing piping system, and the job meets all of the conditions. Under that heading it lists reconnecting an existing water supply to a similar replacement appliance; replacing clean-out plugs, dishwashers, garbage disposals, the internal working parts of existing toilets, faucets, or valves, and sink faucets and toilets; repairing a broken drain, waste, or vent pipe, a leaking fixture, or a leaking water pipe; repairing an appliance without altering it; and installing a new garbage disposal.

Repairing a broken drain pipe and "do not alter or replace the piping" are both on that page. Do not assume a cut-out drain is exempt. Check the plumbing code the page links, Minnesota Rules, chapter 4714.

Mechanical work is its own permit. The mechanical page says most heating, air conditioning, ventilation, refrigeration, and gas piping work requires a permit, and that a mechanical permit is required to legally perform HVAC work. It also says building officials must approve your construction plans before the city can issue the permit. That's the page's sequence, not as a promise that a furnace always waits on a full building-plan set.

Ask if the only work is the mechanical job. The examples page says a permit may not be required for portable clothes-drying, cooking, cooling, heating, or ventilation equipment, for evaporative coolers, for some fuel-cell appliances that are not on a fixed piping system and not tied to the power grid, for self-contained refrigeration, for replacement of a minor part that does not change the approval of the equipment, for steam, hot, or chilled water piping inside regulated heating or cooling equipment, and for capping an open gas line.

The state rule's mechanical list is similar and a bit tighter. It includes portable heating, ventilation, and cooling, minor parts that do not alter approval or make the equipment unsafe, and self-contained refrigeration of 10 pounds of refrigerant or less, or motors of one horsepower or less. A new furnace is not on either exempt list. Owner work on gas-fired heating equipment is barred on the applicants page even when a contractor could pull the mechanical permit.

The mechanical fee schedules are separate pages, one for existing residential equipment and one for new construction. They are not in this guide.

After you file in Minneapolis: review and inspections

Building plans spread on a desk next to a laptop, ready for a Minneapolis building permit application

File the building application by email, then the plans in ProjectDox, then pay when the city says the permit is ready. Post the issued permit and the stamped plans. The inspection sheet says the inspection record card and the city-approved plans have to be on site for every inspection. The person who applied, homeowner or contractor, schedules them. The inspector's contact is on the permit.

If you do not have the permit in hand, the inspections page says to contact the city for that information. Inspection fees for the required visits are included in the permit fee. There is no extra charge for a required inspection. There may be an extra charge if the work is not done when the inspector arrives, or if it fails and they have to come back. The page does not list that extra amount.

Plumbing, mechanical, and building inspections are different Minneapolis inspectors. Electrical is the state. The April 1, 2024 inspection sheet is the timing list. Footings are inspected after excavation, forms, and any required rebar are in place, and before concrete. Property corner pins have to be visible, unless you have a new survey. Foundation walls are inspected after waterproofing and before backfill.

If you use rigid foam that does not drain, the sheet wants a 6-mil polyethylene slip sheet, inspected before backfill. A slab is inspected after reinforcing and after the under-slab mechanical, plumbing, and electrical items have been inspected, and before the pour. Underground plumbing is inspected after the piping is in and before you cover it. Rough-in plumbing and mechanical happen before you cover the work, before fixtures are set, except bathtubs, and before the framing inspection.

Framing happens after the rough plumbing, heating, and electrical inspections are approved, and before the wall sheathing is covered. Roof sheathing and roofing may be on before framing. If you want siding on before the framing inspection, the sheet says you need a sheathing inspection first. Insulation and the vapor barrier are their own inspection, after they are installed and the barrier is sealed.

Final plumbing and mechanical happen after the fixtures and appliances are in, and should happen before the final building inspection. The final building inspection happens when the work on that permit is complete, after the plumbing, heating, and electrical permits are approved, with the address numbers visible from the street and the final grading done. Other items can be added for the scope you actually built.

A reroof is thinner. The same sheet says a final inspection is required, an underlayment inspection is not required, and photos of the ice barrier or the underlayment may be taken but do not have to be posted for the final. That is not a statement that a reroof never needs a permit. The application form has a work type for reroofs.

All projects have to pass a final inspection. When it passes, the inspector dates and initials the final line on the permit, and the property information search shows the work as approved. A certificate of occupancy is a further step, not the stamp on every bathroom remodel. The certificate page says one is required before a new building can be occupied, and a new one is required when the use or the occupancy classification changes.

The process page says a certificate of occupancy inspection is required before a new building is occupied or an existing building is used for a new purpose. You request that inspection when the building is ready. The building official checks for violations of the code or other laws that office enforces. The certificate stays with the building until the use changes. The phone and the email are the ones in the office section above.

A dumpster or a storage container in the street is a street use permit, on the permit-types page. Disturbing more than 5,000 square feet of soil is a soil erosion permit, on that same page. Water and sewer availability charges are listed as related fees.

The construction permits page also has express limited permits for contractors. This guide does not describe a same-day or over-the-counter path for a homeowner.

A Minneapolis pre-filing checklist

  1. Call 311 with the address before you treat a setback as obvious. The city says every lot is in one of 13 built form districts, and we did not find one setback table that covers all of them.
  2. If the deck is near 30 inches, or it touches the house, read the three official deck sentences above and call. They do not say the same thing. A porch needs a permit on the city's porch handout even when a low deck might not.
  3. A shed at exactly 200 square feet is where the city's examples page and the state rule do not match. Zoning can still apply under 200. Power to the shed is an electrical permit.
  4. A one- to four-unit building permit and a single-family plumbing or mechanical permit are different permissions. Gas-fired heat is not homeowner work on the applicants page. Owner electrical work, on the state form, is an owner-occupied residence, not a duplex and not a rental.
  5. Do not email the drawings with the application. Pay when ProjectDox says the permit is ready. Post the permit and the approved plans. Do not cover work that is still waiting on an inspection.
  6. The 15-business-day review line is the current process page. The same-day addition line is an older checklist with an old address. Do not schedule the crew from the older one.

Minneapolis historic districts and ADU review

Two more Minneapolis processes can come before the building permit: historic review if your house is in a local district, and the ADU application if you're adding a second unit.

Local historic districts: staff review or a public hearing

Minneapolis has its own local historic districts, and several are residential. The city's design-guidelines page lists, among others, Lowry Hill East Residential, Lynnhurst Residential, Milwaukee Avenue, Washburn-Fair Oaks, Stevens Square, and Tilsenbilt Homes, and it links a map you can search by address (City of Minneapolis: Historic preservation design guidelines). The city's district guidelines say the Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) and Planning staff review exterior alterations, new construction, demolition, and moving, and that approval comes before any exterior work starts (Harmon Place Historic District Design Guidelines, PDF).

There are two ways in. An administrative preservation application is reviewed by staff only. A commission preservation application goes to a public hearing (City of Minneapolis: Preservation applications). On the staff track, the city says it will email you within 15 business days of receiving an administrative application, and once the application is complete it will email the approval within 10 business days.

Anyone who disagrees with the staff decision has ten days to appeal (City of Minneapolis: Administrative review process). On the hearing track, the city sends notice to property owners within 350 feet of the project before the HPC hearing (City of Minneapolis: Public hearing review process). The Harmon Place guidelines say major alterations, such as new construction, additions, and demolition, generally take about a month because they go to the HPC's monthly hearing.

Only after the Certificate of Appropriateness or Certificate of No Change is signed do you take it, with the approved plans, to the permit side. A historic approval isn't a building permit, and a building permit doesn't replace the historic approval.

Accessory dwelling units: two filings and a code checklist

An ADU in Minneapolis takes an administrative land use application, and you also need a building permit. For an internal ADU, the city says the owner has to record a covenant of owner occupancy in the real estate records before the ADU building permit can be issued. That covenant isn't required for attached or detached ADUs (City of Minneapolis: Accessory dwelling unit application).

For a detached ADU, including one built above a detached garage, the city publishes a short list of key code points, last updated December 10, 2024 (Detached ADU key minimum code requirements, PDF). The ones that most often change a garage-apartment plan:

  • Frost footings. A building with a dwelling in it needs frost footings, and the sheet warns that existing detached garages usually aren't on them.
  • Lot-line walls. Walls and eaves within five feet of the lot line need a one-hour rating, except walls facing the alley. Eaves can't come closer than two feet to the lot line, and windows, doors, and vents aren't allowed within three feet of a shared side lot line.
  • Garage separation. The unit needs a one-hour separation from the garage with 20-minute doors, its exit can't pass through the garage unless it uses a fire-rated stair, and the ceiling between the two needs R-30 insulation.
  • Stairs and ceilings. The sheet lists a 36-inch minimum stair width, a 7¾-inch maximum rise, a 10-inch minimum tread, and 6 feet 8 inches of headroom. Habitable rooms need at least seven feet of ceiling height.
  • Water and sewer. A licensed master plumber or a registered engineer has to confirm the existing water service can carry both buildings. If that service is lead, it has to be replaced entirely before it's extended to the ADU. A new water service needs at least eight feet of cover, and connections to city sewer mains have to drain by gravity.
  • Detectors and egress. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have to be hardwired, and every sleeping room needs an egress window.

The sheet says it isn't a complete list of requirements. Use it to catch the expensive surprises early, then let plan review tell you what else applies to your lot.

Last checked: October 2026.

Selling in Minneapolis: the Truth in Sale of Housing evaluation

Plenty of Minneapolis permits get pulled in the weeks before a house is listed, and the reason is usually the city's Truth in Sale of Housing (TISH) program. Before you sell a single-family house, duplex, or townhouse, or a condominium being converted for the first time, the city requires an evaluation. You need the full report before you can show the property. The rule applies whether you sell on your own, through an agent, or by contract for deed (City of Minneapolis: Truth in Sale of Housing).

The evaluator has to be licensed by the city, but isn't a city employee and sets their own price. The report goes online, lists any required repairs, and is good for two years or one sale. You have to display a copy at showings, and a buyer's pre-inspection report doesn't count as a substitute. If the required repairs aren't done by closing, the buyer signs an acknowledgment of responsibility, files it with the city within one day of closing, and has 90 days after closing to finish the repairs (Minneapolis: TISH evaluations).

That's where TISH and permits overlap. The city's checklist says many required repairs need a permit. A missing or broken T&P relief valve on a water heater needs one, and repairs to a furnace or boiler flue, or to gas lines feeding a heating plant, can only be permitted by a licensed contractor (Minneapolis: TISH evaluation checklist). If you're dealing with older work that was never permitted, see the site's guide to selling with unpermitted work.

Official sources

Next steps for a Minneapolis project

Not sure a Minneapolis job needs a permit? do I need a building permit, in plain English and the permit checker cover the basics, and building permits by city lists other cities.

The general deck and shed rules are in our deck permit guide and shed size limits, and how much a building permit costs compares fees. In Minneapolis, follow the state rule and the city pages cited above.

PermitCove isn't Minneapolis Development Review or Construction Code Services, so this page can't issue a permit, quote your fee, or approve plans.

Edited by Ahmed Khalifa, founder of PermitCove. Sources are linked inline; see our Editorial Policy.

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Written by PermitCove Editorial

We research every guide from public city, county, and state building-department pages and model codes, then translate them into plain-English checklists. We are not a government agency and this is not legal advice. How we research · Disclaimer · Report an error

Check locally: permit rules vary by city and county. Confirm requirements with your local building department (AHJ) before starting work.

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