Builders pulling permits in North Carolina have two fee changes to track: a new rule that makes towns and counties put development fees in writing up front, and a state add-on charge that lands on building permits starting Jan. 1, 2027. Waynesville's development services staff laid out both in a presentation for the Town Council's Nov. 10 meeting (via Town of Waynesville).
The fee-transparency piece comes from S.L. 2026-59, the state's 2026 regulatory reform law, which created G.S. 160D-402.1 and took effect Aug. 11, 2026. Under it, a city or county has 10 business days after an application is complete to give the applicant its current fee schedule and a written estimate of what the project will owe, and it has to do that before issuing the approval.
That estimate works as a ceiling. Waynesville's presentation says the estimate can come in higher than the final bill but not lower, and the local government must issue a final fee statement when the approval is granted. A September analysis by Kara Millonzi of the UNC School of Government, which the town's slides cite, adds that fees can't be required before the estimate goes out, that a material change to the project triggers a revised estimate within 10 business days, and that the final total generally can't exceed the most recent estimate unless the governing board adopts a new fee schedule by ordinance. An applicant can go to superior court to force compliance.
The rule reaches well beyond building permits. Waynesville's slides list zoning permits, site plans, special use permits, variances, certificates of appropriateness, subdivision and plat approvals, development agreements and review fees. Millonzi's post notes that water and sewer system development fees charged by a city or county, and impact fees authorized by local act, are covered too.
Local governments also have to post their fee schedules online along with the data and methodology behind each fee, and file an annual report with the Local Government Commission. Waynesville staff offered examples of what a methodology might look like: a per-lot charge, staff hours times an average hourly rate, or a per-square-foot rate. Staff noted the statute doesn't say how much detail is required, and the deadline and format for the commission report are still unclear.
The second change is a new State Building Code Regulatory Fee, created in the 2026 budget law (S.L. 2026-41, Senate Bill 257). It's collected on top of local permit fees, not in place of them: $100 for buildings and structures under the NC Building Code, $25 for those under the NC Residential Code, and $10 for other work under the State Building Code. Local governments send the money to the N.C. Department of Labor quarterly, and the General Assembly's bill summary says it must go to support the department's Building Codes and Interpretations Bureau.
Other jurisdictions are already adjusting. Dare County commissioners updated their planning fee schedule on Nov. 2 to account for the new charges, Island Free Press reported, describing the $10 tier as covering permits such as mechanical, plumbing and electrical. Waynesville staff said they're still waiting on Labor Department guidance about the quarterly reporting, and the town plans to bring an updated departmental fee schedule to the council on Dec. 8.
The same Nov. 10 agenda carried two public hearings tied to the state's push toward objective development standards. One ordinance, O-55-26, would strip leftover quasi-judicial language from the town's review of major site plans and preliminary plats for major subdivisions, including references to findings of fact, a Planning Board finding on plan consistency, discretionary conditions and a formal written order. Staff said the change doesn't add or remove any approval steps. The other, O-56-26, would write the state's new ground-floor glazing cap into town rules as a backstop: 35% of the facade for commercial and mixed-use buildings and 20% for listed non-storefront uses. Staff said Waynesville's current window requirement already falls well under that limit. The Planning Board recommended both on Oct. 19. The town had not posted results from the meeting when this story was written Tuesday evening.
Why it matters for Contractors
The estimate rule gives small builders something they haven't always had: a number in writing, early, that the jurisdiction generally can't go over. If it doesn't show up within 10 business days of a complete application, ask for it. Keep it in the job file and check the final fee statement against it, and expect a revised estimate if the scope changes.
The new state fee is small on any one permit, but it stacks up across the trade permits on a single job and starts Jan. 1. Update your bid templates now and ask your permit office how it will show up on invoices. In Waynesville, the Dec. 8 fee schedule is the one to watch.