Decatur, AL Building Safety: Electrical Permits (2026)

Sec. 7-121 of the Code of Decatur, Alabama, adopts the National Electric Code, 2008 Edition (NFPA 70-2008), under Ala. Code § 11-45-8. Annexes A through G are adopted as informative guidelines and not as part of the Code, and Annex H, Administration and Enforcement, is deleted, so permit administration comes from Chapter 7. Sec. 7-123 separately adopts the ICC Electrical Code, Administrative Provisions, 2006 Edition, with City of Decatur as the jurisdiction, permit fees tied to Sec. 7-122, and appeals governed by Article II of Chapter 7.

Sec. 7-122 sets the fees. The minimum is $25.00. Otherwise the fee is 1 percent of the first $10,000.00 of the contract amount, and for amounts over $10,000.00 the additive fee is one-quarter of 1 percent of the excess, added to $100.00. By that formula a $50,000 electrical contract costs $200. On new residential construction, and on new commercial or industrial construction, under a single permit covering all the work, the electrical portion is figured the same way and applied to the total fees due on the permit.

Sec. 7-146 requires a license before any person or firm does electrical work regulated by the adopted electrical codes, except a homeowner who qualifies under Sec. 7-40. Sec. 7-147 creates two classes, residential electricians and commercial and industrial electricians. A residential license covers lighting, fixtures, single-phase service entrance, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and motor-driven appliances in one-family, two-family, single-family attached, and qualifying multifamily dwellings, where multifamily needs fire-rated barriers between units and individual metering and short circuit and overcurrent protection per unit (Sec. 7-148). A commercial and industrial license covers all residential work plus wiring and electrical work for any other purpose (Sec. 7-149).