Do you need a fence permit in Michigan?
By Mario Bailey Last checked
- Always required
- 3
- of 4 jurisdictions
- Conditional
- 1
- depends on size or scope
- Not required
- 0
- exempt outright
Fence Permit rules nationwide, beyond Michigan.
Requirements and size thresholds for fence permits vary by locality. The table below compares what each Michigan county or city requires. Always confirm with the local office before starting.
Comparing states? See fence permit rules across every locality we cover.
The application steps and inspection sequence for fence permits come from the model code rather than from Michigan law, so they read the same wherever you build. We keep that walkthrough in one place: how a fence permit application and its inspections work, start to finish. What changes between Michigan jurisdictions is below: who requires a permit, what they charge, and which office you file with.
Swipe sideways to see thresholds and confidence.
| Locality | Permit required? | Typical threshold | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ann Arbor | Yes | Any size | Confirmed on official page |
| Detroit | Conditional | fence height, for a fence outside a Special Review District | Confirmed on official page |
| Grand Rapids | Yes | Any size | Confirmed on official page |
| Sterling Heights | Yes | Any size | Confirmed on official page |
| No localities match your filter. | |||
What a fence permit costs in Michigan
4 Michigan jurisdictions we cover publish a fee figure for this work. Each line is quoted from that office's own schedule and linked to its citation. The figures are not comparable to one another: some are flat minimums, some a percentage of job value, some charged per fixture, so what you pay depends on which schedule applies and on your job's valuation.
The Planning Services Fence Guidelines handout (revised 3/3/2025) states a flat Fence Permit Fee of $75.00. The Building Permit Fees schedule (effective October 2019, revised 7/15/2025) adds the line "Fences over 7 feet tall ... building permit fee", so a fence taller than 7 feet is charged the $15 base application fee plus the estimated project cost permit fee ($100 for project cost up to $1,000; $100 plus $10 per $1,000 from $1,000 to $50,000) plus a plan examination fee of 20% of the building permit fee. Properties in a historic district also pay a $35 historic district staff review fee.
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Fence work is priced as a building permit on project cost under the BSEED Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2024, modified 7/18/2025: A: BUILDING and RESIDENTIAL PERMITS, New Buildings, Alterations, Repairs, And Additions, $2,000 or less, Flat $271.43. The same schedule carries a separate Special Permits line, "Permits because of historical district requirement (Exterior Painting of Building, fences, etc.)", Flat $106.
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FY 2027 Planning, Design and Development Fee Schedule, Planning Fees effective July 1, 2026, ZONING PERMITS: "Level I $25.00" covering "Fence, Paving". A fence over 6 feet also draws the Building Permits line "Building Permit, Base Fee $54.00 plus Zoning Permit fee" with "Building Permit, Incremental Fee $6.80" for each additional $1,000 of construction cost.
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Fence Permit Application 2026-2027 (revised 8/12/2026) fee box: WOOD $46, METAL $46, WIRE $46, PVC $46, MASONRY $134, SEPARATION $134. Payment and a plot plan are due at the time of application. No separate application fee is listed on the fence application.
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Jurisdictions not listed publish no dollar figure we could quote. Absence does not mean a permit is free.
Common questions about fence permits in Michigan
- Do I need a fence permit in Michigan?
- In most of Michigan, yes. Permits are issued locally, so the answer comes from your Michigan city or county rather than a single statewide rule. Of the 4 Michigan jurisdictions we have verified for fence work, 3 require a permit outright, 1 depends on the size or scope of the job, and 0 require none.
- Is there a fence permit exemption in Michigan?
- 1 of the 4 Michigan jurisdictions we cover sets a threshold rather than a flat rule, so the same job can be exempt in one Michigan county and permitted in the next. The table above lists each Michigan jurisdiction's published threshold in its own words, with the source and the date we verified it.
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