Do I Need a Permit for a Commercial Tenant Improvement in Wyoming?

Wyoming-specific rules

Wyoming has no statewide building code, but ELECTRICAL WORK IS THE EXCEPTION and it is enforced statewide by the State Fire Marshal's Office. An electrical wiring permit must be obtained before beginning new construction or remodeling of any building or premises where the work requires a public utility to connect, or to disconnect and restore, electrical power — which covers most commercial tenant improvements. Electrical contractors are licensed by the state and must employ a Wyoming licensed master electrician full-time as the master of record, and a master of record may not be the master of record for — or employed by — any other electrical contractor (W.S. 35-9-125, as read on 8 September 2026), so the question to ask is not only whether they hold the role elsewhere but where else they work. So in a state where the building permit may not exist, the electrical permit usually still does.

Electrical is not the only statewide hook for a commercial fit-out. W.S. 35-9-108(a) requires that, before beginning “any new construction, the remodeling of existing buildings” or installing aboveground flammable or combustible fuel storage tanks, the owner submit plans to the STATE FIRE MARSHAL for review against applicable fire and electrical safety standards — for public buildings over five thousand square feet of total floor area including basement, for ANY multistory public building, and for “public bars, public lounges, restaurants, night clubs, lodge halls, theaters, churches or public meeting places regardless of size”. A restaurant or bar fit-out is caught by that last clause at any size at all. So “no statewide building code” is accurate and still leaves a statewide plan review that most commercial tenant improvements have to clear before work starts. (W.S. 35-9-108, as read on 8 September 2026.)

Sources: Wyoming State Fire Marshal — Electrical licensing, Wyoming State Fire Marshal — Wiring permits