Elizabeth, NJ Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Section 15.04.050.D of Elizabeth's Uniform Construction Code chapter adopts by reference the 'National Standard Plumbing Code/1975,' along with all subsequent state revisions and amendments, as the city's plumbing subcode, and requires four copies of the code to be kept on file with the city clerk, the construction official, the director of health, welfare and housing, and the director of construction. Six sections of the prior 1975 code, including a provision on toilet seats in public buildings now codified at Section 15.04.090, are specifically retained even though the balance of the prior plumbing chapter was repealed.

Every plumbing installation requires a permit reviewed by a dedicated subcode plumbing official, who under Section 15.04.010.D makes 'all plumbing inspections and provide[s] such written reports and recommendations as the construction official may require in reviewing applications for plumbing permits.' The construction permit fee schedule at Section 15.04.040.C prices plumbing work by fixture: water closets, bidets, lavatories, dishwashers, hose bibbs, water heaters and gas or fuel-oil piping each cost $15.00; steam and hot water boilers, sewer pumps, grease traps, interceptors and backflow preventers cost $70.00; and sewer or water service connections cost $75.00 each, with a $65.00 minimum fee applied to any plumbing permit regardless of scope. A permit application also triggers the plan-review fee under Section 15.04.040.A, set at twenty percent of the construction permit charge and credited toward the final permit cost once issued.