Miles City building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Miles City, Montana.
Last verified 2026-07-03 · Source
Building department
- Address
- 17 S. 8th St., Miles City, MT 59301
- Phone
- (406) 874-8611
- Office hours
- Monday-Friday 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM (Building Inspector); City Hall general hours Mon-Fri 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
- Website
- Official site
Codes adopted
Montana adopts a single statewide building code by rule and, by default, enforces it directly — local governments only gain enforcement authority once the state certifies them. Under the Montana Building Codes Act (Mont. Code Ann. Title 50, Chapter 60), the Department of Labor & Industry's Building Codes Bureau adopts one state building code applicable everywhere (§ 50-60-203, codified further at Administrative Rules of Montana Title 24, Chapter 301) — currently the 2021 editions of the IBC, IRC, IMC, IFGC, IECC, IEBC, ISPSC, and UPC, with the 2020 NEC for electrical (effective statewide since 6/11/2022 per the Bureau's own Current Codes page). A city, county, or town may adopt and enforce its own building-code program under § 50-60-301, but its adopted code "may include only codes adopted by the Building Codes Bureau" — a local edition can never diverge from or be less stringent than the state's. Critically, under § 50-60-302, a local government cannot enforce ANY building code — even one it has formally adopted — until the Bureau certifies its program (requiring an approved code, a published fee schedule, an enforcement plan, and properly licensed or nationally certified inspectors); certification is granted per TRADE, not as one blanket designation. The Bureau's own "Certified City, County and Town Programs" list uses the key B=Building, P=Plumbing, E=Electrical, M=Mechanical, SP=Pool, W=Wildland-Urban-Interface — a jurisdiction can be certified for Building only while Electrical/Plumbing/Mechanical remain directly state-enforced within the same city limits (e.g., Havre, Anaconda-Deer Lodge), or certified across all trades (e.g., Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell). Non-certified jurisdictions — most of Montana's unincorporated county land, since very few counties appear on the certified list — fall under direct enforcement by the state Building Codes Bureau (§ 50-60-304). Montana also exempts private homes and buildings of four or fewer dwelling units not serving transient guests from the state building-permit requirement entirely, though electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permits remain separately required regardless. Always confirm with the specific jurisdiction which trades it is certified for versus which remain directly state-enforced.
Permit types & fees
Building Permit (New Construction / Addition / Remodel / Repair)
Required for construction of new one- and two-family dwellings, additions, alterations, and repairs within Miles City. Issued by the City of Miles City Building Department under its DLI-certified local Building program (2021 IRC/IBC as adopted via City Code § 5-2). Applications are submitted through the city's Cloud Permit online portal or on a paper form.
Addition / Alteration Permit
Required for additions and alterations to existing one- and two-family dwellings in Miles City, using the same Building Permit Application as new construction. Reviewed under the 2021 IRC as adopted via City Code § 5-46.
Residential Electrical Permit
Required for residential electrical installation, alteration, or repair work within Miles City city limits. Miles City is DLI-certified for residential Electrical only, so this permit is issued by the City of Miles City Building Department under the 2020 NEC (City Code § 5-76), using the same Building Department application as Building and Roofing permits. Commercial electrical work in Miles City is NOT covered by this local certification and is instead issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau.
Plumbing Permit (State-Administered)
Required for plumbing work anywhere in Miles City and Custer County, including new water heater installation/replacement. Because Miles City holds no DLI Plumbing certification, this permit is issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau (Helena) under the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code, not the city.
Mechanical / HVAC Permit (State-Administered)
Required for mechanical/HVAC work anywhere in Miles City and Custer County, including furnaces, gas piping, ventilation, and cooling equipment. Because Miles City holds no DLI Mechanical certification, this permit is issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau (Helena) under the 2021 International Mechanical Code, not the city.
Roofing Permit
Required for roof repair or replacement within Miles City, issued by the City of Miles City Building Department under the same application used for Building and Residential Electrical permits (2021 IRC/IBC as adopted via City Code § 5-2/§ 5-46).
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Permit
Residential solar PV installations in Miles City are permitted through the City of Miles City Building Department: a Building Permit for the structural roof- or ground-mount work, plus a Residential Electrical Permit for the interconnection/panel work, since Miles City is DLI-certified for residential Electrical. No solar-specific ordinance, application, or fee schedule is separately codified.
Demolition Permit
Required for demolition of a structure within Miles City. There is no demolition-specific ordinance, bond, or standalone application; demolition is applied for on the general Building Permit Application (Class of Work 'Other', with a written scope description), governed by the same City Code § 5-4 fee schedule.
Fence and Retaining Wall Permit
Required for construction or replacement of a fence or retaining wall within Miles City. Uses a dedicated one-page Fence Permit application (separate from the Cloud Permit Building Department process) with a flat $100 fee, covering both fences and retaining walls on the same form.
New residential construction activity
New privately-owned residential construction onlyHousing units authorized by building permits for new privately-owned residential construction — this is not total permit volume (no commercial permits or remodels).
- Latest month (2026-05)
- No data reported
- Trailing 12 months
- No data reported
- Year to date (2026 YTD)
- No data reported
- Full year 2025
- 4units
2 buildings · $530,000 valuation
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS), 2026-05 vintage. Census survey data — separate from the permit-requirements verification above. All Montana building activity
Tips & gotchas
- Miles City has a split DLI-certification model: the city is certified for Building (B), Swimming Pool (SP), and Electrical — residential only. Plumbing, Mechanical, and commercial Electrical are all issued and inspected directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau in Helena, not the city. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified City, County and Town Programs list.
- Miles City's own building-code text (City Code § 5-2) does not contain independently amended IBC/IRC provisions — it simply adopts by reference whatever edition the state DLI Building Codes Bureau currently has in force for local-government jurisdictions, the same pattern used by Havre. The city's residential Electrical certification (NEC 2020, § 5-76) was only adopted March 11, 2025 (Ord. No. 1392) — a fairly recent addition to the program.
- Building, Residential Electrical, and Roofing permits are all filed through ONE application: the City's Cloud Permit online portal (us.cloudpermit.com) or a single paper 'Application for City Building/Residential Electrical/Roofing Permit' form. Fences and retaining walls use a separate, simpler one-page form with a flat $100 fee.
- City Code § 5-4 (Ord. No. 1378, 5-28-24) confirms the city has adopted its own building-permit fee schedule (distinct from the state's ARM 24.301.138 valuation table) and applies a 30% plan-review surcharge on projects valued at $50,000 or more — but the specific dollar-valuation fee table itself could not be located as an independently published document despite an exhaustive search of the city website, Municode ordinance text, the city's Resolutions archive, the Cloud Permit portal, and web search. Applicants should confirm current fee amounts directly with the Building Inspector (406-874-8611 or gmartinsen@milescity-mt.org).
- Miles City itself publishes no permit-issuance SLA on its website (reconfirmed 2026-07-03). However, the governing review timeline for its Building-program permit types is statutory: because Miles City is DLI-certified for Building under MCA 50-60-302, MCA 50-60-106(2)(c) requires it to issue the building permit or a written notice of plan disapproval within 10 working days of a single-family-dwelling submission that has the department's SFD checklist attached — this governs the Building, Addition/Alteration, Roofing, Solar (structural), and Demolition permit types (all filed on the SFD Building Permit Application). State-administered Plumbing and Mechanical permits are governed instead by the DLI Building Codes Bureau's published plan-review turnaround ('a few hours to several weeks'). No numeric turnaround governs a standalone Residential Electrical permit (locally certified, not an SFD building-plan submission) or the separate-form Fence/Retaining Wall permit (case-by-case, corner-lot site visits) — for those, confirm with the Building Inspector at (406) 874-8611. The IBC Section 105.3.2 180-day application-abandonment rule printed on the Building Permit Application is an abandonment deadline, not a review SLA.
- Miles City contracts a portion of its building-official/plan-review workload to SAFEbuilt (a third-party municipal building-department services provider) per city resolution records, though the primary public-facing contact remains the city's own Building Inspector, Gabe Martinsen.
- Miles City has a codified Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance (City Code § 24-65) — one ADU per lot in the RA/RB/RC/SR residential districts, ≤2 bedrooms, ground floor area ≤50% of the principal dwelling's, plus a Tiny Home provision (320-600 sq ft, IRC Appendix Q, RVIA-certified structures deemed compliant, up to 2 per RA-zoned lot). ADUs are permitted through the standard Building Permit Application plus zoning compliance — there is no separate ADU-specific permit form.
- No demolition-specific bond or ordinance (unlike Billings' $10,000 demolition bond) was found for Miles City — demolition is filed on the general Building Permit Application under 'Other' with a written scope description.
- No solar-PV-specific ordinance or fee schedule is codified; solar is handled as a Building Permit (mounting structure) plus a Residential Electrical Permit (interconnection), both through the same Building Department application.