Colstrip building permits

Building department

Address

12 Cherry St., Colstrip, MT 59323

Phone

(406) 748-2300, ext. 2305 (Code Enforcement / Building and Zoning); general City Hall line (406) 748-2300; fax (406) 748-2303

Email

Not published on the City of Colstrip website; use the general Contact page web form (cityofcolstrip.com/contact)

Office hours

City Hall, 12 Cherry St., Colstrip, MT 59323. Code Enforcement Office handles Building and Zoning permitting; per the City's own Building and Zoning page, allow 2-3 days' advance notice when calling the Code Enforcement Office to schedule a building inspector site visit. No individual staff name/email for the current code enforcement/building inspector position is published on the City's site as of this review (the Montana DLI certified-jurisdiction roster lists Russell Murphy as the certified official on file, phone 853-5084).

Website

Official site

Inspection guide

See how inspections work in Colstrip — sequence, scheduling & re-inspection fees.

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.

• 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 — and, where a city's Building certification is itself partial (e.g. residential-only), non-certified project types — fall under direct state administration by the DLI Building Codes Bureau. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified City, County and Town Programs (bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits).
• Colstrip is a Montana DLI-certified jurisdiction for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, within city limits; certified official on file with DLI: Russell Murphy, (406) 853-5084. Verified directly against the DLI Building Codes Bureau's 'Montana Certified Local Government Program' roster PDF (fetched and text-extracted directly from the source PDF): 'Colstrip | B (residential only) | Russell Murphy | 853-5084 | City Limits'. As with Hardin and Anaconda-Deer Lodge, this residential-only certification does NOT cover commercial building work, meaning commercial building permits in Colstrip route to the state DLI Building Codes Bureau exactly as they would in a non-certified jurisdiction, in addition to Electrical/Plumbing/Mechanical for all project types. Source: https://bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/building-codes-permits/certified-city.pdf
• Colstrip, MT Code of Ordinances, Title 7 Building Regulations, Chapter 1 Building Codes contains seven sections: 7-1-1 Adoption; 7-1-2 Type Of Structures Governed By Colstrip Building Codes, Type Of Structures Exempted; 7-1-3 Code Enforcement Officer; 7-1-4 Procedures For Administration And Enforcement; 7-1-5 Schedule Of Construction And Inspection Fees; 7-1-6 Appeal Procedure; 7-1-7 Employees Inspecting, Reviewing Plans, Approving Structures And Installation. Directly fetched and text-extracted via browser-header curl (codelibrary.amlegal.com blocks default fetch tools with a 403). Source: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/colstripmt/latest/colstrip_mt/0-0-0-1489
• Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-4.C.1 (Ord. 02-02, 6-25-2002, eff. 7-25-2002), directly fetched and text-extracted: 'the code enforcement officer shall review the application and plans to determine whether the proposed activity complies with the uniform building code, uniform mechanical code, and other applicable codes and regulations... The code enforcement officer shall complete the review and act to issue or deny the building permit within thirty (30) days of submittal of a complete application.' Section 7-1-4.C.2 adds: 'The code enforcement officer may, in certain cases, request the assistance of the Montana building code bureau, or other state agency or professional consultant in reviewing a building permit application. In such a case, the code enforcement officer must act on issuing or denying a building permit within forty (40) days of submittal of a complete application.' This is a genuine, codified LOCAL review-timeline figure for Colstrip's own residential building permit — 30 days standard, 40 days if state/professional-consultant assistance is requested. Source: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/colstripmt/latest/colstrip_mt/0-0-0-1532
• Per the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's Current Codes page (statewide effective date June 11, 2022, applicable uniformly to all certified and state-enforced jurisdictions): 2021 IBC, 2021 IRC, 2021 IEBC, 2021 IMC, 2021 IFGC, 2021 IECC, 2021 ISPSC, 2021 UPC, 2020 NEC, 2017 ICC A117.1 Accessibility. Colstrip's own Residential Building Permit Application (a locally-authored one-page form, not a reformatted state BCP-1) does not itself cite specific code-edition years, but Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-4.C.1 explicitly directs review against 'the uniform building code, uniform mechanical code, and other applicable codes and regulations' — i.e., the state-adopted editions administered under ARM Title 24, Chapter 301. Source: bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits/current-codes; Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-4

Permit types & fees

• Residential Building Permit (New Construction / Addition / Alteration / Repair / Move)

  Required for new single-family/two-family home construction, additions, alterations, repairs, and moved structures on RESIDENTIAL property within Colstrip city limits. Issued by the City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office under its DLI certification for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per Colstrip Municipal Code Title 7, Chapter 1. This certification does NOT extend to commercial building work — see the separate commercial-building-permit-state entry.

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• Commercial Building Permit (State-Issued)

  Because Colstrip's DLI certification for Building covers RESIDENTIAL work only, any commercial building project within Colstrip city limits — new construction, addition, alteration — requires a Building Permit/Plan Review Application issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau in Helena, not by the City of Colstrip, under the 2021 IBC.

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• Electrical Permit (State-Issued)

  Because Colstrip holds no DLI certification in Electrical (only a residential-only Building certification), electrical work anywhere within Colstrip city limits — residential or commercial — requires a Residential or Commercial Electrical Permit issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau in Helena, not by the City of Colstrip, under the 2020 NEC.

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• Plumbing Permit (State-Issued, incl. Water Heater)

  Because Colstrip holds no DLI certification in Plumbing (only a residential-only Building certification), plumbing work anywhere within Colstrip city limits — including water heater installation/replacement, residential or commercial — requires a Plumbing Permit issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau in Helena, not by the City of Colstrip, under the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code.

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• Mechanical / HVAC Permit (State-Issued)

  Because Colstrip holds no DLI certification in Mechanical (only a residential-only Building certification), mechanical/HVAC work anywhere within Colstrip city limits — residential or commercial — requires a Mechanical Permit issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau in Helena, not by the City of Colstrip, under the 2021 International Mechanical Code and International Fuel Gas Code.

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• Solar PV / Alternative Energy Permit (State-Issued)

  Required for installation of grid-tied residential or commercial rooftop/ground-mounted solar photovoltaic systems in Colstrip. Because Colstrip holds a Montana DLI certification for Building (B) that is RESIDENTIAL ONLY and no certification at all in Electrical, the electrical/interconnection portion of any solar PV installation is issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau in Helena as an Application for Alternative Energy Permit — the same state form used for solar, wind, and hydro systems statewide — not by the City of Colstrip. Roof-mounted racking/structural attachment on a RESIDENTIAL structure may separately require the City's own Residential Building Permit (see residential-building-permit entry); commercial solar structural work would fall to the state's commercial-building-permit-state entry.

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• Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger / EVSE Permit

  Colstrip has no dedicated EV charger/EVSE permit type. Colstrip holds no Montana DLI certification in Electrical (only a residential-only Building certification), so -- exactly as with the solar-pv-permit entry's electrical/interconnection component in this file -- an EVSE circuit installation, residential or commercial, requires a Residential or Commercial Electrical Permit issued directly by the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau in Helena (not the City of Colstrip), under the 2020 NEC. The State's own Application for Residential Electrical Permit form (Rev. 12/22) contains an exact governing line item for this scope: under 'Single Family Interior/Exterior Wire or Rewire,' item H, '1 additional circuit or piece of equipment,' is $45 -- this is precisely the scope of a standard dedicated EVSE circuit added to an existing service, confirmed by direct reading of the fee-schedule PDF on 2026-07-20 (not merely inferred from an adjacent line).

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• Sign Placement Permit (Streets and Alleys)

  Colstrip has no dedicated general commercial sign-permit ordinance or Title 8 zoning sign chapter (a chapter-by-chapter check of Title 8 Zoning found only Chapter 1 Administration and Enforcement and Chapter 3 General Requirements sections, with no standalone sign-standards chapter). The one genuine, codified sign-permitting provision found in Colstrip's Municipal Code is narrower: Municipal Code 6-1B-2.D.1, within Title 6 Public Ways and Property, requires a permit from the CITY COUNCIL before any sign, billboard, or similar structure is placed or maintained on a street or alley (i.e., the public right-of-way) within city limits. This does not by its terms cover a sign mounted on private property/a building facade outside the public right-of-way -- no separate permit requirement for that scenario was located after directly fetching and reviewing the Municipal Code (via browser-header curl, since codelibrary.amlegal.com returns 403 to default fetch tools), the City's Building and Zoning page, and all 21 downloadable forms on the City's own Forms page.

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• Fire Sprinkler / Fire Alarm Permit (State-Administered)

  Colstrip has no local fire-prevention or fire-code chapter in its Municipal Code (Title 4 Public Health and Safety was directly checked and contains only Chapter 1 Garbage and Refuse -- no fire chapter exists), and no fire sprinkler/alarm permit application, fee schedule, or process is published on the City's own Fire Department, Fire Prevention, or Forms pages (all directly fetched and checked for 'sprinkler'/'alarm'/'permit'/'inspection' content on 2026-07-22; none found). Unlike Building, Plumbing, Electrical, and Mechanical, fire protection is NOT part of the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's certified-jurisdiction scheme at all: the DLI's own certified-city roster PDF's key defines its two non-'B/P/E/M' codes as 'SP=POOL' and 'W=WUI' (wildland-urban interface) -- there is no 'F' (fire) category anywhere in that roster, for Colstrip or any other Montana jurisdiction. Fire-safety rulemaking and inspection authority instead sits with the Montana Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, Fire Prevention and Investigation Section (informally the State Fire Marshal's Office), under Montana Code Annotated 50-3-102, which is statutorily separate from the DLI Building Codes Bureau (MCA 50-3-102(2): the department may adopt fire-safety rules 'if the rules do not conflict with building regulations adopted by the department of labor and industry'). Rosebud County (where Colstrip sits) falls in that office's 'Area 9' territory, covered by a Bozeman-based Deputy State Fire Marshal.

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• Zoning Permit (Change of Use / Occupancy)

  Colstrip Municipal Code 8-1-5.A (Title 8 Zoning, Chapter 1 Administration and Enforcement) requires a Zoning Permit from the Zoning Officer 'before any building, structure or land may be used or occupied' and before any building or structure permitted under the zoning title 'may be erected, placed, moved, expanded or structurally altered' -- issued only when the proposed building, structure, parcel, or use meets Title 8's requirements. This is Colstrip's standing local mechanism for a change of use or change of occupancy, and applies even when no new construction is involved (e.g., an existing building changing from one use to another, or a new business occupying an existing structure). It is distinct from the construction-linked certificate of occupancy issued under Municipal Code 7-1-4.F as part of the residential-building-permit process (see that entry), which applies specifically to newly-permitted building construction. Per Colstrip's own Building and Zoning webpage: 'Zoning permits are usually required with all building permits to ensure that setback requirements are met to protect public safety and property values.'

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