Fallon building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Fallon, Nevada.
Last verified 2026-07-23 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- 55 West Williams Avenue, Fallon, Nevada 89406
- Phone
- (775) 423-9862 / (775) 423-5107
- Office hours
- City Building Department, 55 W. Williams Avenue, Fallon, NV 89406 (fax (775) 423-8874). The Building Department is organizationally part of the City's Engineering and Public Works Department, which is responsible for 'Airport Oversight, Building Inspections, Building Permit Issuance.' Applications may be submitted in person, or (for roofing/siding-type minor work per the permit form) scanned and emailed to the office; the City Engineer reviews and issues construction permits per City Code Chapter 17.08.
- Website
- Official site
Inspection guide
See how inspections work in Fallon — sequence, scheduling & re-inspection fees.
Codes adopted
Nevada does not mandate a single statewide building code edition. Under NRS 278.580, the governing body of each city or county may adopt its own building code, specifying design, soundness, and materials of structures, together with rules and ordinances for enforcement — a home-rule framework in which each jurisdiction selects and amends its code independently. There is no state-mandated IBC or IRC edition. The one statewide floor is for energy: under NRS 701.220, the Governor's Office of Energy (GOE) is required to adopt the most recently published edition of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) on a triennial basis. Upon adoption by GOE, local governments must incorporate that edition as the minimum energy standard and may adopt higher or more stringent requirements. GOE adopted the 2024 IECC, effective August 18, 2024, pursuant to NAC 701.185. Because building code editions, local amendments, and energy code effective dates vary by jurisdiction across Nevada, always confirm the current adopted edition and any local amendments with your specific city or county before submitting plans.
- The City of Fallon self-administers its own building permitting program within city limits — it is NOT routed to Churchill County. The City Building Department (55 W. Williams Avenue) issues permits and performs inspections directly; Churchill County's separate Building Department (270 S. Maine Street, Suite A, Fallon, NV) has its own, distinct jurisdiction limited to unincorporated Churchill County. Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances Chapter 17.04 and 17.08 (city engineer/building department issues permits); City of Fallon Departments page (Engineering and Public Works: 'Airport Oversight, Building Inspections, Building Permit Issuance'); Churchill County Building Department page (separate department/address for unincorporated county).
- Nevada has no single mandatory statewide building code edition for all jurisdictions (unlike Montana) — Nevada is a home-rule state for building codes, with the principal statewide requirement being an energy-code floor under NRS 701.220 (local governments must adopt a code at least as stringent as the most recent published IECC edition, currently the 2024 IECC per the Nevada Governor's Office of Energy). Each city/county separately adopts its own building code editions and amendments. City of Fallon's actual adopted editions are documented below from its own Code of Ordinances — not assumed from any statewide default.
- 2024 International Building Code (IBC), with Appendices C, E, H, and I, adopted by the City of Fallon with local additions/deletions (Section 113 deleted; Section 312.1 amended; Section 1612.3 amended to insert 'Churchill County and Incorporated Areas' and 'April 5, 2021' effective flood-hazard date). Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(A)
- 2024 International Residential Code (IRC), with Appendices AB, BF, CA, CB, CD, and CE, adopted by the City of Fallon (Section R112 deleted). Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(B)
- 2024 International Existing Building Code (IEBC), with Appendices A and B, adopted by the City of Fallon (Section 112 deleted). Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(C)
- 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), with Appendices A, B, and C, adopted by the City of Fallon (Section 112 deleted). Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(D)
- 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC), adopted by the City of Fallon (Sections 112 and 113 deleted). Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(E)
- 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), adopted by the City of Fallon (Section 112 deleted). Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(F)
- 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC), with Appendices A, B, and D, adopted by the City of Fallon (Table 104.5 replaced with the City's own Table B) — Nevada jurisdictions may adopt either the UPC or the IPC; Fallon adopted the UPC. Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(G)
- 2024 Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC), with Appendices A, B, and C, adopted by the City of Fallon (Table 104.5 replaced with the City's own Table C) — adopted alongside (in addition to) the IMC. Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(H)
- 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), adopted by the City of Fallon (Section 109 deleted) — satisfies the NRS 701.220 statewide energy-code floor. Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(I); NRS 701.220
- 2023 National Electrical Code (NEC), adopted by the City of Fallon. Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(J)
- 2024 Northern Nevada Amendments (NNA), published by the Northern Nevada Chapter of the International Code Council on February 20, 2025, adopted by the City of Fallon, amending IBC Table 1608.2.1 (ground snow load table) to replace 'Lyon County' with 'City of Fallon and Lyon County.' Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020(K)
- All codes adopted 'by reference,' together with the noted supplements, amendments, and additions/deletions, per Ordinance No. 747 (adopted March 4, 2014) as most recently amended by Ordinance No. 788 (adopted December 2, 2025). 'Jurisdiction' and similar terms in the adopted codes mean the City of Fallon. Source: City of Fallon Code of Ordinances §§ 17.04.010, 17.04.020, 17.04.030
Permit types & fees
Residential Building Permit (New Construction)
Required for construction of new single-family homes and other buildings within Fallon city limits. Reviewed by the City Engineer/Building Department against the 2024 IRC, 2024 IBC (as applicable), and 2024 IECC as adopted by the City of Fallon, plus City of Fallon zoning (Title 21) dimensional standards. Application is made to the City Building Department at 55 W. Williams Avenue.
Residential Addition / Remodel / Alteration Permit
Required for additions, remodels, structural alterations, and accessory buildings (garages, carports, ramadas, cabanas) to existing dwellings within Fallon city limits, reviewed against the 2024 IRC and City of Fallon zoning (Title 21) dimensional standards. Applications are made to the City Building Department.
Electrical Permit
Required for installation, alteration, or repair of electrical systems within Fallon city limits, governed by the 2023 National Electrical Code (NEC) as adopted by the City of Fallon. The City of Fallon Permit Application form includes a dedicated 'Minor Electrical & Plumbing' section covering electrical service changes and new circuits.
Plumbing Permit
Required for installation, alteration, or repair of plumbing systems, water heaters, and water/sewer service lines within Fallon city limits, governed by the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) as adopted by the City of Fallon.
Mechanical / HVAC Permit
Required for installation, change-out, or repair of heating, cooling, and ventilation equipment within Fallon city limits, governed by the 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC) and 2024 Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC) as adopted by the City of Fallon.
Re-Roofing / Siding Permit
Required for re-roofing and siding work within Fallon city limits, governed by the 2024 IRC/IBC roofing provisions as adopted by the City of Fallon, with local snow-load amendments via the 2024 Northern Nevada Amendments.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Permit
Required for installation of rooftop or ground-mounted solar photovoltaic systems within Fallon city limits. Falls under the City's general construction-permit requirement, governed by the 2024 IRC/IBC (structural/mounting) and the 2023 NEC (Article 705 interconnection requirements) as adopted by the City of Fallon.
Demolition Permit
Required for demolition of any building or structure within Fallon city limits. There is no separate 'Demolition' chapter in the City of Fallon Code of Ordinances distinct from the general construction-permit requirement; demolition is permitted work under City Code § 17.08.010 and the demolition provisions of the adopted 2024 IBC (Chapter 33, Site Work, Demolition and Construction). Chapter 17.28 (Moving Buildings) is a separate, distinct permit for relocating a structure rather than demolishing one.
Fence Permit
Fences within Fallon city limits are regulated by height, location (front/side/rear yard, corner-lot clear-vision zones), and by whether they enclose a swimming pool, under City of Fallon Zoning Code Chapter 21.28. A revocable permit from the city engineer is separately required for any fence located in a public right-of-way or easement.
EV Charger / Electric Vehicle Charging Station Permit
The City of Fallon has no dedicated EV charger permit, application, or fee schedule. Installation of an electric vehicle charging station (Level 1/2 EVSE) is electrical work and falls under the City's standard Electrical Permit process (2023 NEC as adopted by Ordinance No. 788), using the Permit Application's 'Minor Electrical & Plumbing' section (new electric circuit) or, for a panel/service upgrade, the amperage-change field — the same mechanism documented in the electrical-permit entry. No EV-specific line item was found in the Municode-hosted ordinance text or on the City website. Re-chased exhaustively 2026-07-20: directly downloaded and text-extracted the City's Building Permit Application PDF (no fee table present, only a 'Minor Electrical & Plumbing' checkbox section), and re-checked the Business Licenses & Building Permits page and a fresh web search for any City of Fallon fee-schedule resolution PDF -- none found. This confirms the same gap independently, not merely an unrechased carryover.
Sign Permit
The City of Fallon has no dedicated sign ordinance, sign-permit application, or sign fee schedule. Title 21 Zoning (Chapters 21.04 through 21.80, reviewed in full) contains only a definition of 'sign' (§ 21.08.270) and no standalone sign-standards chapter (area/height/setback table) or sign-permit-application section. Signs requiring construction, structural support, or electrical connection are instead permitted under the City's general construction-permit requirement (City Code § 17.08.010) and reviewed against the 2024 International Building Code Appendix H (Signs), which the City of Fallon adopted alongside the base 2024 IBC (City Code § 17.04.020(A): 'IBC... with Appendices C, E, H, and I'). Illuminated signs are additionally subject to the 2023 NEC as adopted (City Code § 17.04.020(J)).
Fire Sprinkler & Fire Alarm System Permit
Fire protection systems (automatic sprinkler systems and fire alarm/detection systems) within Fallon city limits are governed by the 2024 International Fire Code (IFC), with Appendices B, C, D, and F, adopted by the City of Fallon under Title 16 (Fire Prevention and Protection), Chapter 16.04 (Fire Codes), separately from the Title 17 building-code family that governs the City's other permit types. Fire protection systems are administered by the City of Fallon/Churchill Volunteer Fire Department's Fire Marshal — not the City Engineer/Building Department — whose statutory duties include plan review and code enforcement (City Code § 2.16.070).
Change of Use / Certificate of Occupancy Review
The City of Fallon has no standalone 'Certificate of Occupancy' or 'Change of Use' permit, application, or fee distinct from two other real, documented mechanisms. For new construction, occupancy is confirmed through the 2024 IBC Chapter 1 Certificate of Occupancy provisions (IBC § 111), which the City of Fallon adopted unmodified (Fallon's local IBC amendments touch only §§ 113, 312.1, and 1612.3), as part of the standard Building Permit's final-inspection sign-off under City Code § 17.08.070. For a new business occupying existing commercial space — the more common real-world 'change of use' trigger — Fallon's functional gate is the City of Fallon Business License Approval Form, which requires the applicant to independently obtain sign-off from the Building Department, the Consumer Health Division (if the business is 'consumable'), and the City of Fallon/Churchill County Fire Department before the City Clerk's Office will issue a business license — consistent with the Fire Marshal's statutory duty to review 'business licenses' (City Code § 2.16.070(A)(1)).
Commercial Building Permit (New Construction & Tenant Improvement)
Required for construction, alteration, enlargement, or remodeling of commercial buildings within Fallon city limits. The City of Fallon does NOT operate a separate commercial permit track: commercial and residential work run through the same Chapter 17.08 construction-permit process, the same City Engineer/Building Department review, and the same single Permit Application form — the form's Job Information section simply has 'Residential' and 'Commercial' checkboxes next to the Valuation field, and opens with a 'Tenant Name' field for tenant-occupied commercial jobs. Commercial plans are reviewed against the 2024 IBC (Appendices C, E, H, I), 2024 IEBC (for work in existing buildings/tenant improvements), 2024 IECC, 2023 NEC, 2024 UPC/UMC/IMC/IFGC, and the 2024 Northern Nevada Amendments, all as adopted by Ordinance No. 788 (December 2, 2025). Tenant improvement is NOT a distinct permit type, fee, or timeline in Fallon — see tips.
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)
- 0units
0 buildings · $0 valuation
- Trailing 12 months
- 19units
11 of 12 months reported · #18 in Nevada coverage by units
- Year to date (2026 YTD through 2026-05)
- 8units
8 buildings · $2.8M valuation
5 month(s) reported to Census
- Full year 2025
- 15units
13 buildings · $3.9M valuation
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS), 2026-05 vintage. Census survey data — separate from the permit-requirements verification above. All Nevada building activity
Tips & gotchas
- The City of Fallon self-administers building permitting within city limits through its own Building Department (part of Engineering and Public Works) — it does NOT route to Churchill County. Churchill County's Building Department is a separate agency with its own, distinct jurisdiction over unincorporated county land only. Confirm which department has jurisdiction over your specific parcel before applying.
- Nevada has no single statewide-mandatory building code edition (unlike Montana) — each Nevada city/county adopts its own code editions. Always confirm the current adopted edition with the specific jurisdiction rather than assuming a 'Nevada standard.' The only statewide floor is the energy code requirement under NRS 701.220 (must be at least as stringent as the most recent published IECC).
- City of Fallon's currently adopted code family (per Code of Ordinances § 17.04.020, Ordinance No. 788, adopted December 2, 2025): 2024 IBC, 2024 IRC, 2024 IEBC, 2024 IFGC, 2024 IMC, 2024 ISPSC, 2024 UPC, 2024 UMC, 2024 IECC, 2023 NEC, plus the 2024 Northern Nevada Amendments (which extend the 'Lyon County' snow-load entry in IBC Table 1608.2.1 to also cover the City of Fallon).
- Fallon adopted BOTH the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) and, separately from most Nevada cities, the Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC) alongside the IMC — each with its own standard fee table (UPC/UMC Table 104.5) replaced by City-specific tables ('Table B' and 'Table C' respectively). Those substituted fee tables were not found published anywhere online as of this review.
- No valuation-based (or any other) building permit fee schedule is published on the City of Fallon website, in the Municode-hosted Code of Ordinances, or in the City Council agenda packets reviewed for this research. City Code § 17.08.080 confirms fees are 'established by the city council' rather than fixed in the ordinance text itself. Applicants must call the Building Department at (775) 423-5107 / (775) 423-9862 for current fee amounts.
- No published plan-review or permit-processing timeline (in business days or otherwise) exists for the City of Fallon, and this was chased to the governing code section rather than merely 'not found': the City's own pages defer the 'application review period' to a phone call to (775) 423-5107; neither permit-application PDF states a review timeframe; Nevada is home-rule with no statewide statutory review clock for local building departments (NRS Ch. 278 imposes none); and the City's controlling provision, Code of Ordinances § 17.08.070 ('Duty to issue permit'), directs the city engineer to grant the permit once plans are found compliant but sets NO number-of-days deadline. There is therefore no real figure to publish — call (775) 423-5107 for the current review period.
- GENUINELY UNPUBLISHED (escalated per the grounded-extraction policy, not invented): (1) building/electrical/plumbing/mechanical/roofing/demolition/fence permit FEE AMOUNTS — avenues exhausted: City website full-text scan (business-licenses page, homeowner-permits page), both Building Department PDF forms (permit application, fee-related form) extracted via pypdf, Municode-hosted Code of Ordinances Chapters 17.04/17.08/2.12/21.28/21.32, a 124-page City Council agenda packet full-text-searched for 'fee schedule,' Wayback Machine CDX listing of fallonnevada.gov (5,000 URLs scanned for 'fee'), and general web search for a master/consolidated fee schedule; (2) a published plan-review/permit TURNAROUND TIMELINE — same avenues exhausted, with the City's own pages explicitly deferring this to a phone call rather than publishing a figure.
- No dedicated Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance or permit type was found — Fallon's R-1 zoning provisions allow 'additional single-family dwellings' on a lot (subject to per-unit minimum lot area and 25-foot separation) but do not use ADU terminology or set out a distinct ADU permitting pathway.
- Fences around swimming pools must be at least 8 feet high in Fallon (City Code § 21.28.082) — taller than the general 6-foot yard maximum and taller than many neighboring jurisdictions' pool-fence minimums; don't assume a standard 4-5 foot pool fence height here.
- Moving a building into or within Fallon (Chapter 17.28) is a distinct, more involved process than demolition or ordinary construction permitting — it requires a City Council public hearing with notice mailed to owners within 300 feet, not just a Building Department permit.
- The City's Building Permit Application form allows roofing, siding, and certain other minor permits to be submitted by scan/email in addition to in-person submittal at the counter (per the more recent 'City-of-Fallon-Building-Department-Permit-Application' PDF version, which lists email/fax submittal to a named staff contact).