Ephraim building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Ephraim, Utah.
Last verified 2026-07-19 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- Ephraim City Community Development: 5 South Main Street, Ephraim, UT 84627. Sanpete County Building Department: 160 North Main, Suite 201, Manti, UT 84642.
- Phone
- 435-283-4631 (Ephraim City Hall); 435-835-2113 (Sanpete County Building Department)
- Office hours
- Ephraim City Hall: Monday-Thursday 8:00 AM-5:30 PM, Friday 8:00 AM-12:00 PM (per ephraim.gov/277/Contact-Us). Sanpete County Building Department: Monday-Thursday 7:00 AM-6:00 PM, closed Fridays (per sanpetecountyutah.gov/building-dept.html).
- Website
- Official site
- Permit portal
- Apply online at Ephraim's portal
Inspection guide
See how inspections work in Ephraim — sequence, scheduling & re-inspection fees.
Codes adopted
Utah adopts construction codes statewide under Utah Code Title 15A (State Construction and Fire Codes Act), enforced by every jurisdiction. Chapter 4 of Title 15A codifies Legislature-enacted amendments for specific named jurisdictions (e.g., Park City, Salt Lake City, Sandy City) as part of the state construction code. Through June 30, 2026, the editions in force under Utah Code § 15A-2-103 are the 2021 IBC (with Appendices C and J), 2021 IRC, 2021 IPC, 2021 IMC, 2021 IFGC, 2021 IECC, 2021 IEBC, and 2021 ISPSC (residential provisions), together with the 2023 NEC. Effective July 1, 2026, § 15A-2-103 adopts the 2024 editions of the IBC, IPC, IMC, IFGC, IECC, IEBC, and ISPSC; the IRC remains the 2021 edition and the NEC remains the 2023 edition. Note: residential energy requirements are modified by statewide amendments, and several Utah jurisdictions document their residential energy provisions at the 2015 IECC level rather than the adopted IECC year — confirm the applicable residential energy code with your local jurisdiction. Always confirm the edition in force with your local jurisdiction.
- No separately adopted local building code was found for Ephraim City or Sanpete County; both apply Utah's statewide State Construction Code under Utah Code Title 15A. Per Utah Code § 15A-2-103 (version effective 7/1/2026, current as of 2026-07-19): 2024 International Building Code (including Appendices C and J), 2021 International Residential Code (including Appendix AQ), 2024 International Plumbing Code, 2024 International Mechanical Code, 2024 International Fuel Gas Code, 2023 National Electrical Code, 2024 International Energy Conservation Code, 2024 International Existing Building Code, the HUD Code and 2005 NFPA 225 for manufactured homes, and the residential provisions of the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code.
- Utah Code § 15A-2-103(2) separately authorizes a local compliance agency to adopt the 2006 Utah Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Code by local ordinance. Sanpete County's Building Department page links a WUI page and county WUI maps and requires an onsite inspection before a WUI plan is approved (per the county's Residential Building Plans Requirement Checklist), indicating the WUI code is applied in practice, but no formal county or city WUI-adoption ordinance was located to confirm the exact edition/amendments.
- DISCREPANCY FLAGGED: Sanpete County's own 'Residential Building Plans Requirement Checklist' (sanpetecountyutah.gov/DocumentCenter/View/722/Building-Plans-Checklist) still labels its general construction plan section 'GENERAL CONSTRUCTION PLAN AS PER 2009 IRC' and cites '603 IMC 2012' for duct sizing — both several code cycles behind the current statewide-adopted 2021 IRC / 2024 IMC. This checklist document itself does not carry a visible revision date. Applicants should confirm the currently enforced code edition directly with the Building Official rather than relying on the checklist's code-year references.
Permit types & fees
Single-Family Residential Building Permit
Required for new single-family home construction, additions, and structural remodels in Ephraim. Ephraim City must first approve a Land Use (Zoning) Permit; the structural building permit itself is then submitted to, reviewed, and issued by the Sanpete County Building Department, which performs plan review and inspections for all Sanpete County cities including Ephraim. Ephraim building permits are processed through the Sanpete County Building Department, whose official page states that 'most construction work including new homes, additions, remodels, structural changes, accessory structures, and work involving electrical, plumbing, or mechanical systems requires a building permit' — no distinct EV charger/EVSE permit or fee category was published on sanpetecountyutah.gov/building-dept.html as of 2026-07-19, so EV charger installation would be handled as standard electrical work under this same building permit.
Multi-Family Development Building Permit
Required for apartment/multi-family residential development in Ephraim. Follows the same two-step process as single-family (Ephraim zoning approval, then Sanpete County structural building permit), with additional density, parking, and site-improvement standards reviewed against Ephraim's Land Use Ordinance.
Commercial Building Permit
Required for new commercial construction in Ephraim, via the same two-step zoning-then-county-permit process as residential construction.
Accessory Building Permit
Covers garages, carports, sheds, shipping containers, and similar accessory structures (Ephraim Land Use Ordinance § 10-08-010 definition). A written building permit is required only if the structure exceeds 200 square feet; smaller accessory buildings must still meet all setback, height, and coverage standards even though no written permit is required.
Sign Permit
Required for permanent and temporary signage in Ephraim, issued directly by Ephraim City (not routed through Sanpete County). Governed by the City's sign size regulations (Land Use Ordinance § 10.20.040, Table C) and general sign regulations (§ 10.12.050).
Commercial Tenant Improvement / Tenant Finish Permit
Ephraim does not publish a separate tenant-improvement fee schedule or application track distinct from new commercial construction. Ephraim City's own 'Checklist for Commercial Development' (updated 2/06/2024) is used for all commercial projects and begins with a 'New Construction □ Yes □ No' toggle -- meaning tenant-improvement/interior-remodel projects that answer 'No' go through the identical zoning-compliance checklist, City Land Use/Conditional Use Permit step, and Sanpete County structural building-permit process used for new commercial construction. Sanpete County's own Building Department page states generally that most construction work 'including new homes, additions, remodels, structural changes...requires a building permit,' processed through the same online portal (sanpete.cityinspect.com) used for all other building permits, with no separate commercial-remodel or tenant-improvement application form published.
Solar Panel (PV) Permit
Ephraim City runs its own multi-step Net Metering / interconnection process for rooftop solar (residential, commercial, and industrial), separate from and prerequisite to the structural building permit that Sanpete County issues. Applicants must complete Ephraim City Power's Bi-Directional Net-Meter License Application, pay a non-refundable $250 review fee to the City, obtain a City zoning permit and an educational course, and only then apply for the actual structural building permit with Sanpete County -- installation cannot begin until the County building permit is issued.
EV Charger / EVSE Permit
Ephraim building permits, including electrical work, are issued and inspected by the Sanpete County Building Department under the countywide arrangement that serves every city in the county. The county's official Building Department page states that construction work involving electrical, plumbing, or mechanical systems requires a building permit, but publishes no distinct EV-charger/EVSE permit type or fee category. EV charger installation is therefore handled as standard electrical work under the countywide, ICC-valuation-based building permit fee; no EV-specific dollar figure is asserted here since none is published.
Fire Sprinkler System Permit
Ephraim City and Sanpete County publish no distinct fire sprinkler system permit, application form, or fee. Fire sprinkler installation or alteration is regulated as part of the same building permit that Sanpete County Building Department issues and inspects for all Ephraim construction (new construction, additions, remodels, and tenant improvements), reviewed against the statewide-adopted 2024 International Building Code and NFPA standards incorporated by reference under Utah Code § 15A-2-103. Ephraim City's own Consolidated Fee Schedule Ordinance (ECO 23-06, fetched directly and read in full across all 22 lettered sections A through V, effective June 21, 2023) contains no 'Fire Sprinkler' fee line anywhere in its Business License Fees, Fire Safety Inspection Fee, Planning and Zoning Fees, or Impact Fees sections. Ephraim's two fire-labeled charges that do exist -- the 'Fire Protection Services' monthly utility surcharge on every electric meter (Section R) and the 'Fire Safety Inspection Fee' tied to business licensing (Section H) -- are unrelated to installing or altering a sprinkler system.
Fire Alarm System Permit
Ephraim City and Sanpete County publish no distinct fire alarm system permit, application form, or fee, mirroring the fire sprinkler situation. Fire alarm installation or alteration is regulated as electrical/fire-protection work under the same building permit that Sanpete County Building Department issues and inspects for Ephraim construction, reviewed against the statewide-adopted 2023 National Electrical Code and NFPA 72 provisions incorporated via Utah Code § 15A-2-103. Ephraim's Consolidated Fee Schedule Ordinance (ECO 23-06, read in full across all 22 lettered sections A through V) contains no 'Fire Alarm' fee line anywhere -- the only fire-labeled charges are the unrelated 'Fire Protection Services' electric-meter surcharge (Section R) and the business-license-tied 'Fire Safety Inspection Fee' (Section H).
Change of Use / Change of Occupancy
Ephraim City has no standalone Change of Use, Change of Occupancy, or existing-building Certificate of Occupancy re-issuance permit or fee. Ephraim's Consolidated Fee Schedule Ordinance (ECO 23-06, read in full across all 22 lettered sections) lists Zoning Permits (Accessory Building, Commercial, House, Multi-Unit Residential, Remodel, Sign Permit) and a separate Applications table (3rd Party Technical Review, Annexation, Appeal to Appeal Authority, Conditional Use Permit, Home Occupation, Subdivision, Variance, Zone Change) in its Planning and Zoning Fees section (L) -- neither table contains a 'Change of Use,' 'Change of Occupancy,' or 'Certificate of Occupancy' line. Instead, occupancy/use screening for an existing building happens through Ephraim's Business License process: per the City's Business License Division FAQ, an applicant must first 'confirm your business may be conducted in your type of Zone,' and 'in some cases, a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) may be required,' per Ephraim City Code Section 3.04. If the new use requires interior construction to adapt the space, that work is handled through the same Commercial Building Permit / Tenant Improvement process as any other commercial remodel (see the commercial-tenant-improvement-permit entry).
Tips & gotchas
- Ephraim is NOT a self-administered building department. Ephraim City Community Development handles zoning/Land Use Permit approval only; the Sanpete County Building Department (160 North Main, Suite 201, Manti) performs plan review, issues the structural building permit, and conducts inspections for Ephraim and every other city in Sanpete County. Both steps are mandatory and sequential -- get the City's zoning sign-off before applying to the county.
- The county's structural building-permit fee is not a fixed table: it is an ICC Building Valuation Data-based schedule the County Commission adopted to auto-update roughly every six months (adopted December 5, 2023, per Commission minutes), with city-limits properties like Ephraim billed at the lowest of the county's three rate tiers (versus 1.5x for unincorporated county, 2x for recreational subdivisions). Get a live quote from the Building Department rather than budgeting off any figure found online.
- Ephraim's own Residential and Commercial Impact Fees (ephraim.gov/283 and /285) ARE static, itemized, and verbatim-citable: $14,754.79 total per residential ERU and $10,254.79 total per commercial ERU, both plus a 3% surcharge for credit card/eCheck payment. These are separate from, and in addition to, the county's structural building-permit fee.
- No Ephraim- or Sanpete-County-specific building-permit review-timeline SLA is published anywhere online; the governing figures are the statewide statutory deadlines in Utah Code § 10-20-909 -- 14 business days for a one-/two-family dwelling or townhome, 21 business days for other residential structures (e.g., multi-family) -- each following a separate 3-business-day completeness-screening period. These statutory deadlines do not apply to Ephraim's own zoning-only permits (Sign Permit, Land Use Permit, Conditional Use Permit), for which no timeline is published at all.
- Sanpete County's own Residential Building Plans Requirement Checklist still references the 2009 IRC and 2012 IMC by name, which are several code cycles behind Utah's current statewide-adopted 2021 IRC / 2024 IMC (Utah Code § 15A-2-103, version effective 7/1/2026) -- a genuine discrepancy between the county's own document and current state law; confirm the enforced edition directly with the Building Official.
- Accessory buildings 200 sq ft or smaller do not require a WRITTEN permit in Ephraim, but must still meet the same setback/height/coverage rules as larger accessory structures -- this is a common point of confusion, not a blanket exemption.