Job value

Job value is the declared cost of the work, stated on the permit application. Most fee schedules are built on it, so it is the number that determines what the permit costs.

What it should include

Generally the full cost of the work: labor and materials, at fair market value, including work the owner performs themselves. Departments are explicit that owner-performed labor is valued at market rate rather than at zero, precisely because the alternative would let anyone halve their fee.

Land, professional design fees, and furnishings are normally excluded, but the definition is local and worth confirming.

Why it matters beyond the fee

• Substantial improvement. In a flood zone, the ratio of job value to the structure's market value decides whether the whole building must be brought into floodplain compliance. This is the highest-stakes consequence.
• Review path. Some jurisdictions route projects to different review tracks by value.
• Documentation. Above a threshold, departments often ask for a signed contract or a cost breakdown to substantiate the figure.

Understating it

Departments compare declared values against the scope and against their own cost tables, and a value that is implausible for the work described draws a challenge at intake. Beyond the fee shortfall, an understated value that keeps a flood zone project under the substantial improvement threshold is a serious problem rather than an accounting one.

Where the value changes materially during the project, most departments expect the permit to be updated and the fee difference paid.