Tigard, OR Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Tigard Municipal Code § 14.04.040 requires the city to provide a program of building code administration, including plan review, permit issuing and inspection for structural, electrical, mechanical and plumbing work. The program is run by the building official, who works under the supervision of the community development director, and it operates under the state specialty codes listed in § 14.04.030 plus the rest of Chapter 14.04. Section 14.04.030 explains the state link: acting under ORS 455.150, the City of Tigard administers the Structural, Mechanical, Plumbing, Electrical and Residential Specialty Codes, along with manufactured dwelling park, temporary park, installation and tiedown requirements. The city also adopts Appendix Chapter J of the International Building Code on excavation, and under § 14.04.040(B) the building official and the city engineer enforce that appendix; wherever the appendix says "building official" it means either of them.

Chapter 14.04 does not restate a dollar or square-foot trigger for when a structural permit is needed. It points to the adopted specialty codes, so the threshold question is answered there, not in the city's own text. What the city text does fix is the process around the permit. Fees for permits and related services are set by resolution of the City Council, not by ordinance. Under § 14.04.070, an applicant for a building permit for new construction can be required, at the discretion of the building official and the community development director, to execute, notarize and deliver a recordable occupancy restriction. The building official records it in the Washington County deed records, the applicant pays the recording fees, and the occupancy certificate is issued only after the conditions are satisfied and the restriction is released. Under § 14.16.420, all construction work for which a permit is required is subject to inspection by the building official.