New Britain, CT Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 7-1(a) bars the building official, or other authorized municipal agency, from issuing a permit to begin work for new construction, alteration, removal, demolition or other building operation until the fees set out in Chapter 7 are paid, and even a later amendment to the permit that raises the estimated project cost cannot be approved until the added fee is paid too. Section 7-1(b) sets the fee schedule at thirty-five dollars per thousand dollars of value or portion of it for the first thousand, twenty-five dollars for the second thousand, and fifteen dollars per thousand or fraction above two thousand dollars in value, applying to all classes of building construction work.

A certificate of occupancy carries its own fee under section 7-1(c), and section 7-1(e) adds a twenty-five dollar certificate of approval fee for completed work that needed a permit but not a certificate of occupancy. Section 2-780 separately incorporates the Connecticut State Building Code, with any amendments from the state building inspector and codes and standards committee, as the building code the city enforces, and section 2-784 assigns the building code enforcement division of the department of licenses, permits and inspections to accept permit applications, review plans, issue the permits and certificates, and conduct the related inspections. Waiver of a building permit fee requires an affirmative vote of the common council under section 7-9.