Certificate of Business Occupancy (Change of Use / Business License) in Boulder City, Nevada

Boulder City requires a certificate of business occupancy (change of use / business license) permit for: No business may operate in an existing building or space until the Building Official has issued a Certificate of Business Occupancy (2026 Administrative Code Section 113.2); A Certificate of Business Occupancy is valid until there is a change in business use, ownership, or location; a new tenant taking over an existing certificate-holder's space (e.g. a real estate agent, hairdresser, or massage therapist moving in) still requires its own separate site inspection and is issued its own separate Certificate of Business Occupancy (Section 113.2.1); Application is made through the City's online Business License Portal; a copy of the lease for the new location must be provided; Building Official inspections for the Certificate of Business Occupancy are made only after all other agency/jurisdictional inspections (including the Fire Department) are complete, and only after the Table H fee has been paid (Section 112.7); The business must be in compliance with all of the City's adopted codes, verified by inspection, before the certificate is issued; Inspections are not performed for addresses outside Boulder City or for residential addresses, per the Business Licensing page; A separate Certificate of Occupancy (Section 113.1) — not the Certificate of Business Occupancy — governs a change in a structure's underlying building-code occupancy classification and is issued through the associated building permit process; such a change may also trigger accessibility-upgrade requirements under Section 107.10.2 (Change of Occupancy). If your project isn't listed, confirm with City of Boulder City Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division at (702) 293-9282 before starting work.

In Boulder City, the published Certificate of Business Occupancy (includes inspection and preparation of document) is: $60.00 each certificate. Additional published fees: Building Permit Fee — Table A, valuation-based (only if a building-code Certificate of Occupancy / change of occupancy classification under Section 113.1 also applies) — $27.00 minimum ($1-$500), scaling per Table A of the 2026 Administrative Code; Permit Issuance Fee (if a building permit is also required) — $40.00. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Boulder City does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact City of Boulder City Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division at (702) 293-9282 for current turnaround.

You'll need: Business License Application (new location / change of use); Copy of Lease. Depending on your project, Boulder City may also ask for: Building permit documents (technical reports, calculations, plans). See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Boulder City requires 2 inspection(s) for a certificate of business occupancy (change of use / business license) permit, in order: Building & Safety Inspection, Fire Department Inspection. Schedule each through City of Boulder City Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division ((702) 293-9282).

Apply through City of Boulder City Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division at 401 California Avenue, Boulder City, NV 89005. Phone: (702) 293-9282, email: buildingpermits@bcnv.org. Office hours: Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (excluding holidays); applications submitted after office hours are processed the next available work day. Inspection scheduling hotline: (702) 293-9327 or buildinginspections@bcnv.org; inspection requests must be received by 3:30 p.m. for next-business-day scheduling (no Friday/weekend/holiday inspections).. Official information: https://www.bcnv.org/163/Building-Permits.

Boulder City, Nevada has adopted: Nevada has no mandatory statewide building code; NRS 701.220 requires the Nevada Governor's Office of Energy (GOE) to adopt, on a triennial basis, the most recently published International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) as a statewide ENERGY floor only — local governments may not adopt an energy code less stringent than the GOE-adopted IECC edition, but building-code editions for structural/life-safety codes vary city-by-city under home rule. The 2024 IECC was adopted by the GOE effective August 18, 2024, as the current statewide energy floor. Source: NRS 701.220 (Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 701 — Energy Policy), https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-701.html; Nevada Governor's Office of Energy, Building Energy Codes / State Adoption Status, https://www.energy.nv.gov/programs/building-energy-codes/state-adoption-status/. Confirm your city's specific adopted energy-code edition — Boulder City's own adopted edition is documented separately below and is older than the current statewide floor edition (a home-rule city choice, not a floor violation, since IECC 2018 was the floor at the time of Boulder City's last code-cycle adoption).; Boulder City runs its own independent building-permit program (Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division) — it is NOT administered by Clark County. Verified via the City's official Building and Safety Division page and the City's own Administrative Code, fee schedule, and permit-submittal-checklist library, all published on bcnv.org. Source: City of Boulder City Building and Safety Division, https://www.bcnv.org/163/Building-Permits; 2018 International Building Code (IBC), with Southern Nevada Building Code Amendments — applies to buildings other than single-family residential homes and townhomes (2026 Administrative Code Section 101.5.1). Source: City of Boulder City Permit Fee Schedule and Valuation Table (eff. 8/3/2020) 'Currently Adopted Codes/Standards' list, and Residential New Construction (Custom) Permit Submittal Checklist (02/16/2021 V1) 'Applicable Codes' section; 2018 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) — governs additions/modifications to existing buildings (2026 Administrative Code Section 101.5.2); 2018 International Residential Code (IRC), with Southern Nevada Building Code Amendments — applies to single-family homes and townhomes (2026 Administrative Code Section 101.5.3); 2018 Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC), with Southern Nevada Building Code Amendments — Nevada's Southern Nevada jurisdictions use the Uniform Mechanical Code, not the International Mechanical Code; 2018 Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC), with Southern Nevada Building Code Amendments — not the International Plumbing Code; 2017 National Electrical Code (NEC), with Southern Nevada Building Code Amendments; 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), with Southern Nevada Building Code Amendments; 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), with Southern Nevada Building Code Amendments — this is Boulder City's own locally adopted energy-code edition (older than the current 2024 IECC statewide floor under NRS 701.220; confirm current status with Building and Safety before relying on this edition for new submittals); 2012 International Fire Code (IFC) per the 2020 Fee Schedule flyer; the 2026 Administrative Code Section 101.5.9 separately lists 'the currently adopted International Fire Code' generically without repeating the edition year — the 2012 edition is the last edition year found published by the City; Southern Nevada Amendments apply to all the above codes per 2026 Administrative Code Section 101.5.10 ('the provisions of the currently adopted Southern Nevada Amendments shall apply to all matters of all of the above mentioned codes'); City of Boulder City Building and Safety Division Administrative Code, 2026 edition — the local administrative/procedural code (permit application, fees, inspections, exemptions); contains substantial copyrighted material from the 2012 IBC per its title page. Source: https://www.bcnv.org/DocumentCenter/View/16731/2026-Building-and-Safety-Division-Administrative-Codepdf; All of the above code editions and amendment references are confirmed current via the City's Permit Submittal Checklists (each dated 02/16/2021 V1, and independently re-served live from bcnv.org as of this review) for Residential New Construction (Custom), Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical, Demolition, Fence and Retaining Wall, Renewable Energy System Residential PV, and Residential Accessory Building — all list the identical 2018/2018/2018/2017/2018 code-edition set with Southern Nevada Amendments, corroborating the 2020 Fee Schedule flyer. Local amendments apply — see the Boulder City overview page for the full list.

No. A change of use, change of business location, or new tenant occupying an existing space is processed as a Business License application, which triggers Building and Fire Department inspections and results in a Certificate of Business Occupancy ($60.00) once approved — there is no separate standalone 'change of use' permit product. A distinct Certificate of Occupancy under Section 113.1 applies only when the underlying building-code occupancy classification itself changes, and is handled through the building permit process. Source: 2026 Building and Safety Division Administrative Code, Sections 112.7 and 113.1-113.2; City of Boulder City Business Licensing page.