Grand Forks, ND Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 19-0101 amends the adopted International Building Code with dozens of numbered local changes, and item (18) adds language directly to 109.4: "A penalty fee shall be paid if work is commenced without first obtaining a permit and the following apply: a) the project is valued at $2,000 or more, or b) any project in which a formal complaint has been made to Municipal Court. This penalty fee shall be equal to the fee of the building permit." That penalty stacks on top of the ordinary fee, and "both the penalty and regular permit fee must be paid before work is restarted," so starting early on a $2,000-plus job effectively doubles the fee owed.

Section 19-0103(1) separately conditions any permitted erect, construct, enlarge, alter, demolish, repair, improve, or convert activity on the contractor first holding "a contractor's license from the city and the state" and filing "a performance bond in the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00)" approved by the city auditor. That bond is not released for a full year after a certificate of occupancy issues for work begun in the bond's calendar year. Section 19-0103(2) exempts governmental entities already excused from the § 19-0102 permit fee, and "any individual working on said individual's own residence," from the license-and-bond step, though the standard permit fee set by council resolution under item (17) 109.2 still applies to that homeowner's own project.