This page is the City of Sacramento only. Unincorporated Sacramento County has its own rules (Sacramento County plumbing permit), and Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, Folsom and Rancho Cordova run their own permit offices.
What the City issues online
The Building Division's Online Minor Permits page (read 24 October 2026) lists under "What permits can be issued online?":
- Residential and commercial water heaters
- Residential plumbing: "sewer repair and replacement, re-plumbing of supply and drainage piping, fixture replacement"
- Residential HVAC, residential and commercial re-roofs, and residential electrical work
The City's Fees by Project index also has separate pages for a residential re-pipe (whole house or partial), sewer service replacement or repair, water service replacement or repair, and installation of a new gas line. Bathroom and kitchen remodels have their own fee pages too.
Who can file
| Applicant | Route |
|---|---|
| California-licensed contractor | "If you are a California licensed contractor it is now possible to acquire and pay for minor permits" online, after registering on the Public Permit Portal |
| Homeowner | "Temporarily, all of the minor permits listed above are also available to homeowners", by emailed forms to EZPermit |
California's plumbing license is the C-36 classification (CSLB Licensing Classifications); check a number with the steps in how to check a contractor's license in California. In our file 88% of plumbing permits name a contractor.
What it costs
The City's water heater fee page lists what every residential or commercial water heater permit pays:
| Fee | When |
|---|---|
| Building permit fee | Always |
| General plan fee | Always |
| Green building fee | Always |
| Technology fee | Always |
| City operations tax | "Only charged if a California licensed contractor is the permit holder" |
The page links each fee's details rather than printing one total, so the Portal invoice is the figure to use. For scale, the usual plumbing permit was filed at a $5,225 job value (middle half $2,797 to $13,500).
How to apply
- Contractors register on the Public Permit Portal and apply for the minor permit; homeowners email the EZPermit form.
- Pay the invoiced fees in the Portal.
- Schedule the inspection. For gas work, the online permits page notes that SMUD and PG&E safety inspections can be scheduled by homeowners.
- The permit shows Finaled when the inspection passes; an unfinished permit eventually shows Expired.
What 8,247 Sacramento plumbing permits show
| Measure | City of Sacramento plumbing, October 2024 to September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Permits issued | 8,247 (20% of all permits) |
| October 2024 to September 2025 / October 2025 to September 2026 | 3,978 / 4,269 (+7%) |
| Finished / expired, permits issued October 2024 to September 2025 | 77.6% / 21.1% |
| Usual filed value (middle half) | $5,225 ($2,797–$13,500) |
| Filed as Residential Web-Minor | 5,958 (72%) |
| Busiest / quietest month (index, 100 = average) | December (112) / August (90) |
| ZIPs with the most | 95822 (1,022), 95831 (888), 95818 (751), 95820 (662), 95835 (607) |
Seven in ten plumbing permits are online Web-Minor permits. Filing is close to flat across the year, with December (112) and October (109) a little busier and August the quietest. One in five of the first year's plumbing permits expired instead of being finaled, the clearest warning in this data: if your plumber pulled a permit, ask for the final inspection before the last payment. ZIPs 95822, 95831 and 95818 lead, with 32% of permits between them. Monthly counts are on Sacramento plumbing permits, all categories on Sacramento permit statistics, and rows on Sacramento permits.
Related
Look up earlier permits on the house with the Sacramento building permit search. Rules elsewhere: do I need a permit for plumbing repairs, a water heater and a sewer line; prices in plumbing labor cost and water heater replacement cost.
What this does not tell you
The City's file gives each permit's current status but not the date it finaled, so we show no time to final. Most home permits are filed under one online type; we sort them into plumbing from the permit's own wording. Filed values are the applicant's figure.
How we know this
The online permit list and who may file are quoted from the City of Sacramento Building Division's Online Minor Permits page, and the fee parts from its Fees by Project pages, read 24 October 2026; the C-36 class from CSLB. Our counts are the City's BldgPermitIssued layers, read 18 October 2026: plumbing permits issued October 2024 to September 2026, with withdrawn, void and revoked permits left out.
Numbers come from public permit records in 57 cities, data through October 18, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.
Questions
- Do I need a permit to replace a water heater in Sacramento?
Yes. The City of Sacramento lists residential and commercial water heaters among the minor permits it issues online, and its fees-by-project page lists a building permit fee, general plan fee, green building fee and technology fee on every water heater permit.
- Can a homeowner get a plumbing permit in Sacramento?
Yes. The Building Division's online permits page says that 'Temporarily, all of the minor permits listed above are also available to homeowners', through forms emailed to EZPermit. A California-licensed contractor files online in the Public Permit Portal instead.
- How much is a plumbing permit in the City of Sacramento?
The City publishes the parts rather than one price: building permit fee, general plan fee, green building fee and technology fee on every water heater permit, plus a city operations tax only when a California-licensed contractor is the permit holder. The usual plumbing permit in our file was filed at a $5,225 job value.
- How many plumbing permits does Sacramento issue?
8,247 from October 2024 to September 2026, 20% of all City of Sacramento permits: 3,978 in the first year and 4,269 in the second (+7%).
- Do Sacramento plumbing permits get finaled?
77.6% of plumbing permits issued October 2024 to September 2025 were finaled by our 18 October 2026 snapshot, and 21.1% had expired, a higher expiry rate than for HVAC (15.3%).
Build your own list
Pick your city and the kind of work. Every firm with a permit on record, sorted by what you value.
Related guides
- Albuquerque building permit search: how to look up permits on an address
- Building a casita in Albuquerque: the 750 sq ft limit, rear-yard rule, parking, free plans, and who builds them
- Do I need a permit to build a house in Albuquerque? GB-2 or homeowner, the plan set and the fee
- Do I need a solar permit in Albuquerque? Building and electrical permits, the engineer triggers and the fee
- Online Minor Permits — City of Sacramento Building Division (2026-10-24)
- Fees by Project: Water Heater (Residential or Commercial) — City of Sacramento (2026-10-24)
- Fees by Project — City of Sacramento (2026-10-24)
- Sacramento Public Permit Portal (Accela Citizen Access) (2026-10-24)
- CSLB Licensing Classifications (2026-10-22)
- BldgPermitIssued_Archive — City of Sacramento (ArcGIS) (2026-10-18)