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Residential Building Permit (New Construction / Addition / Alteration / Repair / Move) in Colstrip, Montana

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.

Verified 2026-07-04 · Source

When you need this permit

  • Complete the City of Colstrip Residential Building Permit Application: job site address, owner/contractor/architect-or-designer mailing address and phone, building setbacks (front/side/side/rear from property line), building dimensions (length/width/height), type of work, description of work, valuation of work, and total square footage
  • Select Type of Work: New, Addition, Alteration, Repair, or Move
  • Per Municipal Code 7-1-4.B: submit a scale drawing showing lot dimensions and locations of existing/proposed structures, the property owner's name and legal description of the lot, the proposed use of the land/building/structure, and any other information the code enforcement officer requires
  • Applicant acknowledges on the form that separate plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permits may also be required, and that it is the applicant's sole duty to obtain these (these route to the state DLI Building Codes Bureau — see separate entries)
  • Construction may not start until the permit is issued; the building may not be occupied until released for occupancy

Required documents

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Fee schedule

Residential building/construction and inspection permit feePer Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-5, the fee schedule for both permitted and nonpermitted construction and inspection is set by resolution of the city council (based on the building inspector's recommendation and comparison to other Eastern Montana communities), NOT fixed in the ordinance text itself. No such council-resolution fee schedule was found published on cityofcolstrip.com (Forms page or Building and Zoning page) as of this review, and the City's own downloadable application form has a blank 'Valuation of Work' field but no printed fee table. This is an honest publication gap after direct review of the ordinance and the City's own forms, not an inferred or invented figure. Applicants must contact the Code Enforcement Office at (406) 748-2300 ext. 2305 for the current fee.
Not published — contact the department

Review timeline

Plan reviewColstrip’s published plan-review target
30–40 business days

How long did your Residential Building Permit (New Construction / Addition / Alteration / Repair / Move) permit actually take in Colstrip?

Anonymous — one question, no email. Answers are combined and only shown once at least 5 people have reported.

Inspection process

  1. 1

    Pre-Construction / During-Construction Inspections

    Per Municipal Code 7-1-4.E, the code enforcement officer conducts inspections before and during construction to verify compliance; per the City's own Building and Zoning webpage, allow 2-3 days' advance notice when calling the Code Enforcement Office to schedule a site visit. Inspections are provided at no additional cost per the City's own page.

  2. 2

    Certificate of Occupancy

    Per Municipal Code 7-1-4.F, once the code enforcement officer determines completed work complies with the chapter, a certificate of occupancy is issued before the building/structure may be occupied or used, per uniform building code sections 305-307

See the full Colstrip inspection guide — scheduling & re-inspection fees →

Tips

  • Colstrip's local Building certification covers RESIDENTIAL construction only — a commercial project of any kind does not qualify for city-issued permitting and must go to the state DLI Building Codes Bureau instead; see the commercial-building-permit-state entry.
  • Colstrip's 30-day (or 40-day, if state/consultant assistance is requested) review timeline is codified directly in Municipal Code 7-1-4.C — one of the few small-Montana-town jurisdictions in this dataset with an actual local ordinance-stated turnaround figure rather than an unpublished gap.
  • No fixed fee schedule is published online — Municipal Code 7-1-5 states fees are set by city council resolution, not printed in the ordinance itself. Get a current quote from the Code Enforcement Office, (406) 748-2300 ext. 2305, before budgeting a project.
  • A building permit is valid for 180 days from issuance and expires if construction hasn't started, or if suspended/abandoned for more than 180 days once started — matching the language printed directly on the City's own application form.
  • Separate Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits are required from the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau (not the City) for any of that work — it is explicitly flagged as the applicant's sole responsibility on the City's own application form.

Frequently asked questions

Colstrip requires a residential building permit (new construction / addition / alteration / repair / move) for: Complete the City of Colstrip Residential Building Permit Application: job site address, owner/contractor/architect-or-designer mailing address and phone, building setbacks (front/side/side/rear from property line), building dimensions (length/width/height), type of work, description of work, valuation of work, and total square footage; Select Type of Work: New, Addition, Alteration, Repair, or Move; Per Municipal Code 7-1-4.B: submit a scale drawing showing lot dimensions and locations of existing/proposed structures, the property owner's name and legal description of the lot, the proposed use of the land/building/structure, and any other information the code enforcement officer requires; Applicant acknowledges on the form that separate plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permits may also be required, and that it is the applicant's sole duty to obtain these (these route to the state DLI Building Codes Bureau — see separate entries); Construction may not start until the permit is issued; the building may not be occupied until released for occupancy. If your project isn't listed, confirm with City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office / Building and Zoning Department (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) — city-certified with the Montana DLI for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per the certified official on file, Russell Murphy. Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Colstrip city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. at (406) 748-2300, ext. 2305 (Code Enforcement / Building and Zoning); general City Hall line (406) 748-2300; fax (406) 748-2303 before starting work.

Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-4.C requires the code enforcement officer to issue or deny a complete residential building permit application within 30 days — or within 40 days if the code enforcement officer requests assistance from the Montana Building Codes Bureau or another state agency/professional consultant.

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

Colstrip requires 2 inspection(s) for a residential building permit (new construction / addition / alteration / repair / move), in order: Pre-Construction / During-Construction Inspections, Certificate of Occupancy. Schedule each through City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office / Building and Zoning Department (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) — city-certified with the Montana DLI for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per the certified official on file, Russell Murphy. Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Colstrip city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. ((406) 748-2300, ext. 2305 (Code Enforcement / Building and Zoning); general City Hall line (406) 748-2300; fax (406) 748-2303).

Apply through City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office / Building and Zoning Department (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) — city-certified with the Montana DLI for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per the certified official on file, Russell Murphy. Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Colstrip city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. at 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).. Official information: https://www.cityofcolstrip.com/building-zoning.

Colstrip, 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 — 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. Local amendments apply — see the Colstrip overview page for the full list.

The City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) issues residential building permits under a Montana DLI 'Building (B), residential only' certification; the certified official on file with the state is Russell Murphy. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau certified-jurisdictions roster and City of Colstrip Building and Zoning page.

Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-5 states the fee schedule is set by city council resolution rather than fixed in the ordinance; no fee schedule is currently published online. Contact the Code Enforcement Office at (406) 748-2300 ext. 2305 for a current quote.