Any person or person(s) doing work regulated by this code, or causing such work shall first make application to the Building Official and obtain the required permit prior to such work. An investigation fee may be charged when a permit has not first been obtained. Any person who commences any work before obtaining the necessary permits shall be subject to a fee established by The City Council of the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, by resolution that shall be in addition to the required permit fees and investigation fees.
The fee for work performed without a permit in the past has been assessed at double the permit fee. Beginning January 1, 2016, that fee language changes to "the permit fee shall be doubled but not less than $250". This will be assessed if a permit is not issued and work has begun along with an investigation fee of $100.00 per hour which may be included. Note this fee can be assessed if work has been performed when the permit is in the review process but not issued. Please allow enough time for our department to review and issue your permit application.
Reinspection Fees
The municipal ordinance Section 33.14 states as follows for 109.5.1 and R108.4.1 RE-INSPECTION FEES:
This section is not to be interpreted as requiring re-inspection fees the first time a job is rejected for failure to comply with requirements of this code, but as controlling the practice of calling for inspections before the job is ready for such inspection or re-inspection.
Re-inspection fees in the past have been $25.00; however, after January 1st re-inspection fees shall be assessed at $50.00. The Building Services Department performed more than 25,000 inspections in 2015. With such a large volume of inspection requests, our department has to manage a very busy schedule. Unnecessary trips cost tax payers dollars and significantly impact our schedules, as well as cause delays for other customers who may be prepared for such inspections. The change in re-inspection fees helps address these issues.
These changes in our fees were lobbied for by our customers and stakeholders during the code amendment process and passed by City Council resolution on July 28, 2015.
