Muncie, IN Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Sec. 152.30 states plainly that a permit shall be obtained before beginning construction, alteration, or repair of any building or structure, using forms the building director furnishes, and that all fees due under the chapter are paid to the city. Sec. 152.31 backs that up on the paperwork side: no permit issues unless the application includes a plat or sketch of the proposed location and plans and specifications showing the work, and for projects under the State Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission's authority, the local building commissioner cannot issue a permit until a copy of the state's release for construction arrives.

Sec. 152.35 sets the fee schedule the permit depends on, starting with a $25.00 plan review fee for residential work and $75.00 for commercial, then permit fees ranging from $200.00 minimum for new one- and two-family dwelling construction to a minimum of $200.00 plus $0.15 per square foot for larger residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial buildings, with separate fees for additions, moving, demolition, pools, and temporary structures. Sec. 152.34 requires the resulting placard to be posted visibly from the street, and failing to display it draws a minimum $50.00 fine under Sec.

152.999. Starting work before a permit issues triggers its own escalating penalty under Sec. 152.35(A)(2)(k): $100.00 for a first offense, $200.00 for a second, and referral to the Sec. 152.999 general building penalty for a third. That general penalty fines any Chapter 152 violation not less than $1.00 nor more than $1,000.00, with each day of continued violation a separate offense. An owner denied a permit can appeal the building commissioner's order first to the Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, then to the State Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, under Sec. 152.26.