Commercial Building Permit (State-Issued) in Forsyth, Montana

Forsyth requires a commercial building permit (state-issued) for: Submit a Building Permit/Plan Review Application together with complete construction plans to the Building Codes Bureau; Plan review fee is generally 1%-2% of building valuation, calculated by the Bureau after initial screening; A state building permit must be obtained before construction begins; starting construction beforehand may result in an investigation fee and required corrective construction; Building permits must be issued before related Plumbing, Mechanical, or Electrical permits can be issued or that work can begin; Apply in accordance with Title 50, Chapter 60, MCA and ARM Title 24, Chapter 301. If your project isn't listed, confirm with City of Forsyth Building Department — city-certified for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY per the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's certified-jurisdiction roster (certified official on file: Gabe Martinsen). Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Forsyth city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. Rosebud County itself performs NO building or electrical permitting function for the city or the unincorporated county — confirmed directly on the Rosebud County Planner page. at (406) 346-2521 before starting work.

In Forsyth, the published Building Permit/Plan Review Fee is: Generally 1%-2% of building valuation, calculated by the Building Codes Bureau after screening. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Forsyth's published plan-review target for a commercial building permit (state-issued) is 14–21 business days.

You'll need: Building Permit/Plan Review Application; Construction Plans. See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Forsyth requires 1 inspection(s) for a commercial building permit (state-issued), in order: State Inspections. Schedule each through City of Forsyth Building Department — city-certified for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY per the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's certified-jurisdiction roster (certified official on file: Gabe Martinsen). Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Forsyth city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. Rosebud County itself performs NO building or electrical permitting function for the city or the unincorporated county — confirmed directly on the Rosebud County Planner page. ((406) 346-2521).

Apply through City of Forsyth Building Department — city-certified for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY per the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's certified-jurisdiction roster (certified official on file: Gabe Martinsen). Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Forsyth city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. Rosebud County itself performs NO building or electrical permitting function for the city or the unincorporated county — confirmed directly on the Rosebud County Planner page. at City Hall, 247 N 9th Ave, Forsyth, MT 59327. Phone: (406) 346-2521, email: Not published; contact City Hall at (406) 346-2521. Office hours: City Hall, 247 N 9th Ave, Forsyth, MT 59327, Monday-Friday (hours not published online as of this review). City Hall main line (406) 346-2521. The City of Forsyth's own website (forsythmt.info) is a Wix-hosted site whose 'Permit Application' and 'Code Information Consultation' pages are generic Wix Bookings service-page templates with no published fee schedule, application form, or department-specific contact beyond the main city phone number; no dedicated Building Department staff directory, direct-dial extension, or department email was found published anywhere on the site as of this review.. Official information: https://www.forsythmt.info/.

Forsyth, 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).; Forsyth is a Montana DLI-certified jurisdiction for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, within city limits; certified official on file with DLI: Gabe Martinsen, 406-346-2521. Verified directly against the DLI Building Codes Bureau's 'Montana Certified Local Government Program' roster PDF, updated 04/22/2026 (fetched and text-extracted directly from the source PDF): 'Forsyth | B (residential only) | Gabe Martinsen | 406-346-2521 | City Limits'. Note: Gabe Martinsen is ALSO the certified official listed for Miles City, MT (B, M, SP, E (residential only)) on the same roster — a single official serving two separate certified programs is plausible (shared regional building inspector) but was not independently confirmed beyond the roster entry itself. Source: https://bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/building-codes-permits/certified-city.pdf; Colstrip, MT — also within Rosebud County — holds its OWN INDEPENDENT Montana DLI certification for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, with a DIFFERENT certified official (Russell Murphy, 853-5084) and a different city-limits jurisdiction line on the same roster: 'Colstrip | B (residential only) | Russell Murphy | 853-5084 | City Limits'. This confirms Forsyth and Colstrip run INDEPENDENT city-level certified Building programs — they do NOT share a single county-level program, despite both being located in Rosebud County. Rosebud County itself does not appear on the DLI roster as a certified jurisdiction in its own right. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified Local Government Program roster PDF (updated 04/22/2026); Rosebud County's own Planning & Permitting department (County Planner page, rosebudcountymt.gov) explicitly states: 'Building and electrical permits are not required through Rosebud County, but may be required by the State of Montana.' The County Planner's office assists the City of Forsyth, City of Colstrip, unincorporated communities, and independent boards within Rosebud County with subdivision, flood plain, zoning, and septic permitting only — NOT building or electrical permitting, which is consistent with Forsyth and Colstrip each running their own independent city-level DLI-certified Building programs rather than a county-administered one. Source: https://rosebudcountymt.gov/departments/county-planner/; Forsyth, MT Code of Ordinances, Title 11 Building Regulations, Chapter 1 Building Code, Section 11-1-1 'Building Codes Adopted' (current through Ord. 2024-11, passed 12-16-2024; section itself amended by Ord. 01-2014 1-12-2015, amd. Ord. 2020-01 6-8-2020, Res. 2021-R04 4-12-2021) adopts by reference: International Building Code 2012 edition (per ARM 24.301.131, including Appendix Chapter C group U agricultural buildings, and ARM 24.301.146); Residential Building Code 2018 edition; International Energy Conservation Code 2018 edition (per ARM 24.301.161); International Existing Building Code 2012 edition (per ARM 24.301.171); National Electric Code 2014 edition (NFPA 70, per ARM 24.301.401); International Mechanical Code 2012 edition (per ARM 24.301.172); International Fuel Gas Code 2012 edition (per ARM 24.301.173); Uniform Plumbing Code 2012 edition (per ARM 24.301.301); Building Accessibility Rules per ARM 24.301.901-905; and Optional Appendix Chapters B (Board of Appeals) and H (Signs) per ARM 24.301.134. Section 11-1-1(B) states these codes 'are applicable to all buildings within the building code enforcement area of Forsyth as provided by section 50-60-102, Montana Code Annotated.' Note the adopted code editions (2012 IBC/IMC/IFGC/UPC/IEBC, 2014 NEC, 2018 IRC/IECC) are OLDER than the state's current statewide-effective editions (2021 IBC/IRC/IEBC/IMC/IFGC/IECC/ISPSC/UPC, 2020 NEC per the DLI Building Codes Bureau's Current Codes page effective June 11, 2022) — Forsyth's local ordinance text has not been updated to match the state's most recent code-adoption cycle, though the state-enforced trades (Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical) in Forsyth are governed by whatever edition the state DLI Building Codes Bureau currently applies statewide, not this local ordinance text. Source: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/forsythmt/latest/forsyth_mt/0-0-0-1929; Per the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's Current Codes page (statewide effective date June 11, 2022, applicable to all state-enforced trades and jurisdictions, including Forsyth's state-routed commercial building and its Electrical/Plumbing/Mechanical permits): 2021 IBC, 2021 IRC, 2021 IEBC, 2021 IMC, 2021 IFGC, 2021 IECC, 2021 ISPSC, 2021 UPC, 2020 NEC, 2017 ICC A117.1 Accessibility. Source: bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits/current-codes. Local amendments apply — see the Forsyth overview page for the full list.

The Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau issues commercial building permits for Forsyth — the city's own Building certification covers residential work only. Plan review averages two to three weeks if plans are complete, and the fee is generally 1%-2% of building valuation.