Mechanical / HVAC Permit (State-Issued) in Richland County (Unincorporated Areas and Towns, excluding Sidney), Montana

Richland County (Unincorporated Areas and Towns, excluding Sidney) requires a mechanical / hvac permit (state-issued) for: A state mechanical permit is required for heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and other mechanical systems in jurisdictions not certified for mechanical — Richland County is not certified for mechanical; Exemptions: farm and ranch buildings, mining buildings on mining property, residential buildings containing fewer than five dwelling units (except when serving transient guests), and private garages/storage buildings for the owner's own use; Application for Mechanical Permit (BCP-1) submitted to the Building Codes Bureau with applicable fee(s), or applied for online at aca-prod.accela.com/bcb. If your project isn't listed, confirm with Richland County Building Inspection Division — Building Inspector Kale Rasmussen (local Building-only DLI certification, county-wide EXCEPT Sidney); Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Building Codes Bureau (state — electrical, plumbing, mechanical, countywide) at (406) 433-1122 (Richland County Building Inspection Division); (406) 480-9113 (Kale Rasmussen, cell — also the phone number listed for Richland County on the DLI's own certified-jurisdiction roster); (406) 433-6886 (Richland County Planning Department / Office of the County Planner); (406) 841-2056 (State Building Codes Bureau — electrical, plumbing, mechanical) before starting work.

In Richland County (Unincorporated Areas and Towns, excluding Sidney), the published Mechanical Permit — Project value $0-$10,000 is: $48 for the first $1,000 plus $14 for each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof. Additional published fees: Mechanical Permit — Project value $10,001 to $50,000 — $166 for the first $10,000 plus $9 for each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof; Mechanical Permit — Project value $50,001 or more — $514 for the first $50,000 plus $6 for each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Richland County (Unincorporated Areas and Towns, excluding Sidney) does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact Richland County Building Inspection Division — Building Inspector Kale Rasmussen (local Building-only DLI certification, county-wide EXCEPT Sidney); Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Building Codes Bureau (state — electrical, plumbing, mechanical, countywide) at (406) 433-1122 (Richland County Building Inspection Division); (406) 480-9113 (Kale Rasmussen, cell — also the phone number listed for Richland County on the DLI's own certified-jurisdiction roster); (406) 433-6886 (Richland County Planning Department / Office of the County Planner); (406) 841-2056 (State Building Codes Bureau — electrical, plumbing, mechanical) for current turnaround.

You'll need: Application for Mechanical Permit. See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Richland County (Unincorporated Areas and Towns, excluding Sidney) requires 3 inspection(s) for a mechanical / hvac permit (state-issued), in order: Gas Piping Pressure Test, Rough-In, Final. Schedule each through Richland County Building Inspection Division — Building Inspector Kale Rasmussen (local Building-only DLI certification, county-wide EXCEPT Sidney); Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Building Codes Bureau (state — electrical, plumbing, mechanical, countywide) ((406) 433-1122 (Richland County Building Inspection Division); (406) 480-9113 (Kale Rasmussen, cell — also the phone number listed for Richland County on the DLI's own certified-jurisdiction roster); (406) 433-6886 (Richland County Planning Department / Office of the County Planner); (406) 841-2056 (State Building Codes Bureau — electrical, plumbing, mechanical)).

Apply through Richland County Building Inspection Division — Building Inspector Kale Rasmussen (local Building-only DLI certification, county-wide EXCEPT Sidney); Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Building Codes Bureau (state — electrical, plumbing, mechanical, countywide) at 1105 3rd ST NW, Sidney, MT 59270 (Richland County Building Inspection Division office — note this office's physical location is within Sidney city limits, but its certified jurisdiction is the county EXCLUDING Sidney; Sidney itself is separately certified and administered — see sidney.json); Office of the County Planner, 123 West Main Street, Sidney, MT (development/planning sign-off referenced on the county's own Building Permit Application); Building Codes Bureau, PO Box 200517, Helena, MT 59620-0517 (state electrical/plumbing/mechanical permits). Phone: (406) 433-1122 (Richland County Building Inspection Division); (406) 480-9113 (Kale Rasmussen, cell — also the phone number listed for Richland County on the DLI's own certified-jurisdiction roster); (406) 433-6886 (Richland County Planning Department / Office of the County Planner); (406) 841-2056 (State Building Codes Bureau — electrical, plumbing, mechanical), email: Not published on richland.org as of this review; contact by phone. Office hours: Not published on the Richland County Building Department's own webpage (richland.org/building.html), Building Permit page, or General Q&A page as of this review — an honest publication gap, not an invented figure. (Third-party aggregator sites such as countyoffice.org list Tuesday/Thursday 1-3 p.m. office hours for a Richland County building contact, but this was NOT found stated on the county's own official pages and is therefore NOT included here per the grounded-data policy — call (406) 433-1122 to confirm current hours before visiting in person.). Official information: https://www.richland.org/building.html.

Richland County (Unincorporated Areas and Towns, excluding Sidney), Montana has adopted: Montana has a mandatory statewide building code administered by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) Building Codes Bureau, amended by the Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) Title 24, Chapter 301. Cities, counties, and towns may become 'certified' to locally administer permitting and inspection for all or part of the code; non-certified trades fall under direct state administration by the DLI Building Codes Bureau. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified City, County and Town Programs roster (bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits).; Richland County is a Montana DLI-certified jurisdiction for BUILDING (B) ONLY — verified directly against the DLI Building Codes Bureau's own 'Montana Certified Local Government Program' roster PDF (updated 04/22/2026, fetched directly and text-extracted via pdftotext): 'Richland County | B | Kale Rasmussen | 480-9113 | County except Sidney'. Unlike several other Montana counties in this dataset (e.g. Deer Lodge/Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Hardin/Big Horn County), Richland County's Building certification is NOT flagged 'residential only' or 'commercial only' on the roster — it applies to Building generally, county-wide, EXCEPT within Sidney.; The SAME roster line item lists Sidney separately and distinctly: 'Sidney | B | Kale Rasmussen | 480-9113 | City Limits'. Sidney's certification is scoped to 'City Limits' while Richland County's is explicitly scoped 'County except Sidney' — these are two separate certified-jurisdiction entries sharing the same certified Building Inspector (Kale Rasmussen), but with mutually exclusive geographic scope. Sidney's own permitting program is documented in a companion jurisdiction file (sidney.json) and is OUT OF SCOPE for this file.; No other town within Richland County (Fairview, Lambert, Savage) appears as its own separate line on the DLI roster. Since the roster explicitly carves out only Sidney from Richland County's 'County' jurisdiction line, Fairview, Lambert, and Savage are therefore covered BY Richland County's own Building certification, not separately certified and not state-enforced for Building. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified City, County and Town Programs roster PDF (updated 04/22/2026), https://bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/building-codes-permits/certified-city.pdf; Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permitting and inspection anywhere in Richland County (outside Sidney) are NOT locally certified — these remain under DIRECT STATE ENFORCEMENT by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Building Codes Bureau. This is explicitly confirmed on the Richland County General Q&A webpage: 'There are several different types of permits based on the type of construction - structural, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical. Most home owner projects require more than 1 type of permit. Richland County can provide building permits but the others are provided by Montana.' Source: https://www.richland.org/general-qa.html; Statutory basis for the certified-local-government model: ARM Title 24, chapter 301, subchapter 2 (Local Jurisdiction Administrative Rules) and Title 50, chapter 60, MCA (Local Jurisdiction Statutes). Absent local certification for a given trade (electrical/plumbing/mechanical here), the State Building Codes Bureau retains jurisdiction under Title 50, chapter 60, MCA.; Statewide adopted codes (Administrative Rules of Montana, Title 24, chapter 301), applicable as the substantive code baseline for both Richland County's own locally-certified Building program and the state-enforced trades: 2021 International Building Code (IBC), 2021 International Residential Code (IRC), 2021 International Existing Building Code (IEBC), 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), ICC A117.1 Accessibility (2017 Edition), 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC — state-enforced here), 2021 International Mechanical Code (IMC — state-enforced here), 2021 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC — state-enforced here), 2020 National Electrical Code (NEC — state-enforced here), 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), Wildland Urban Interface Code, all effective June 11, 2022 statewide. Source: https://bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits/current-codes; Richland County's OWN 'Building Codes' webpage (richland.org/building-codes.html) is, on direct review, stale/outdated: it lists the county's LOCAL adoption as the 2012-edition International Codes (2012 IBC/IEBC/IECC/IRC) and separately lists a mix of older statewide effective dates (including a November 6, 2014 baseline, 2014 NEC, and a 2015-edition ISPSC effective January 8, 2016) rather than the CURRENT 2021-edition/June 11, 2022 statewide baseline confirmed directly on the DLI Building Codes Bureau's own Current Codes page. This is reported as an honest discrepancy between the county's own (apparently unmaintained) codes page and the state's authoritative current-codes page, not resolved by invention — the DLI's Current Codes page is treated as the governing, up-to-date source for code editions actually enforced today. Source: https://www.richland.org/building-codes.html (webFetch, 2026-07-04) vs. https://bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits/current-codes. Local amendments apply — see the Richland County (Unincorporated Areas and Towns, excluding Sidney) overview page for the full list.

The Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the county — Richland County holds no Mechanical certification. Fees are calculated from project value starting at $48 for the first $1,000 plus $14 per additional $1,000 up to $10,000.