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Montgomery County vs Prince George's County, MD Permit Fees (2026)

A side-by-side comparison of building permit fees in the two largest Maryland suburbs of Washington. Both verified against official county fee schedules. Montgomery County (DPS) prices most construction per square foot; Prince George's County (DPIE) stacks flat components and adds a 10% technology fee.

Read This First - The Two Schedules Are Not Structured the Same Way

Montgomery County (DPS): Per-square-foot pricing for new construction, additions, and alterations, plus flat fees for decks, pools, fences, and solar. A filing fee (50% of the permit fee, with a stated minimum) applies to construction projects. No percentage levy. Source schedule carries a printed FY2022 effective date.

Prince George's County (DPIE): A stacked total - administrative fee, building permit fee, grading, use and occupancy, and an M-NCPPC review fee - then a 10% technology fee on top. Source schedule effective March 2, 2025 (read from an Internet Archive snapshot).

Both exclude large new-construction surcharges. Montgomery's development impact taxes and school facility payments, and Prince George's School Facility and Public Safety surcharges, are set separately and are NOT in the building-permit figures below. For a new house, those surcharges usually exceed the permit fee in both counties. Comparisons below are building-permit only and use shared assumptions.

Key Takeaways
  • Neither county has a state percentage levy - Maryland sets none. Prince George's adds its own 10% DPIE technology fee instead.
  • Retaining wall: $194.67 (Montgomery) vs $268.40 (Prince George's). Montgomery is lower by $73.73.
  • New 2,500 sq ft house, building permit only: $2,879.49 (Montgomery) vs $3,477.10 (Prince George's).
  • The two schedules use different bases (per square foot vs stacked flat components), so the cheaper county depends on the exact project.
  • For new construction, the decisive cost is each county's separate impact/school surcharges, not the building permit fee compared here.
Use the Fee Calculator Maryland Hub

Fee Structure Side by Side

Feature Montgomery County (DPS) Prince George's County (DPIE)
Core method Per square foot (construction); flat fees (deck/pool/fence/solar) Stacked flat components + 10% technology fee
State levy None None (but 10% DPIE tech fee)
Administrative fee None separate (filing fee on construction) $66 per permit
New detached house $0.767865 / sq ft (first 5,000) + filing fee $1.17 / sq ft + components + 10% tech
Deck (≤500 sq ft) $194.67 flat Priced under general building permit rules - confirm with DPIE
Retaining wall $194.67 $268.40 all-in
Fee schedule date Printed effective FY2022 (verify current) Effective March 2, 2025 (archive snapshot)
Big new-construction surcharges (excluded above) Development impact taxes + school facility payments School Facility + Public Safety & Behavioral Health surcharges

Worked Example 1: Residential Retaining Wall

Same project, both counties: one residential retaining wall over 2 feet. Building permit only.

Fee Component Montgomery County Prince George's County
Building permit fee $194.67 (flat) $120.00
Administrative fee - $66.00
Grading fee - $53.00
M-NCPPC review fee - $5.00
10% technology fee - $24.40
Total $194.67 $268.40

Result: Montgomery County is lower by $73.73 on a retaining wall. Sources: Montgomery County DPS AllFees.pdf (FY2022); Prince George's County DPIE Fee Schedule effective March 2, 2025 (archive snapshot).

Worked Example 2: New 2,500 sq ft Detached House (building permit only)

Same assumption: a new 2,500-square-foot detached single-family home. Building permit fee only - the large impact and school surcharges in both counties are excluded and disclosed below.

Fee Component Montgomery County Prince George's County
Building permit fee 2,500 × $0.767865 = $1,919.66 2,500 × $1.17 = $2,925.00
Filing fee / components $959.83 (50% of permit) $236.00 ($66 + $53 + $112 + $5)
10% technology fee - $316.10
Building permit total $2,879.49 $3,477.10

Result: Montgomery County's building permit is about $597.61 lower on a 2,500 sq ft house. But this is building permit only. Montgomery adds development impact taxes and school facility payments; Prince George's adds a School Facility Surcharge and a Public Safety and Behavioral Health Surcharge (cited per-dwelling ranges of roughly $3,229 to $9,680 for July 2024 - June 2025). Those surcharges are location-dependent, are set separately, and typically exceed the building permit fee in both counties - confirm them with each county before budgeting.

Which County Is Cheaper?

If your project is... Generally cheaper Why
A small flat-fee project (retaining wall, deck) Montgomery County Flat fees with no administrative fee or 10% technology fee on top
A new detached house (building permit only) Montgomery County Lower effective per-sq-ft permit rate at this size, even with the 50% filing fee
A new house, total government cost Depends on location Each county's separate impact/school surcharges dominate and vary by site - compare those, not the permit
An interior alteration Confirm both Montgomery prices per sq ft; Prince George's uses $220 min or 1% of value - the cheaper one depends on size vs. value

Frequently Asked Questions

For the building permit itself on small projects, Montgomery County is usually cheaper - a retaining wall is $194.67 there versus $268.40 in Prince George's County. On a new 2,500 sq ft house the building permit is about $2,879.49 in Montgomery versus $3,477.10 in Prince George's. But for a new home, the decisive cost is each county's separate impact and school surcharges, which are location-dependent and usually exceed the building permit fee in both.
No. Maryland has no statewide percentage levy, so neither Montgomery nor Prince George's County adds a state surcharge like Virginia's mandatory 2% USBC levy. Prince George's County does apply its own 10% DPIE technology fee to county permitting fees, which raises the all-in total there.
Because they are large, location-dependent, and set separately from the building permit fee in both counties. Montgomery County's development impact taxes and school facility payments, and Prince George's School Facility and Public Safety surcharges, vary by where the home sits and would make a permit-to-permit comparison misleading. We compare building permit fees on shared assumptions and disclose the surcharges separately so the comparison stays apples-to-apples.
Montgomery County's figures come from the DPS AllFees.pdf, which carries a printed FY2022 effective date - verify current rates with DPS. Prince George's County's figures come from the DPIE Fee Schedule effective March 2, 2025, read from an Internet Archive snapshot because the live PDF was access-blocked. Re-confirm both with the county before relying on any figure. See the Montgomery County and Prince George's County pages for full detail.

Sources

Official .gov Sources
Disclaimer: All fee information on PermitPrice is for informational purposes only and is not an official permit quotation. Actual permit fees are determined by each county at the time of application. Fee schedules and surcharges change without notice. Montgomery County figures use an FY2022-dated schedule and Prince George's County figures come from an archived snapshot of the March 2025 schedule; confirm current rates with each county. Impact taxes, school facility payments, and trade permits are excluded from the building-permit figures compared here.

Written by: Munib Ur Rehman

Data verified against official fee schedule documents.