City of Detroit

Wayne County, Michigan

Last verified September 17, 2026

City of Detroit is a jurisdiction in Wayne County, Michigan, with an online portal for searching and pulling active or historical building permits. Use the contact information below to reach the local building department, or the mailing address if the jurisdiction needs to be listed as a certificate holder on a contractor's insurance documentation.

Contact

Phone: (313) 224-2733
Department Site: Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) (opens in a new tab)

Source: detroitmi.gov (opens in a new tab)

Permit Search

Detroit Accela/eLAPS Permit Portal (opens in a new tab)

Certificate Holder Mailing Address

Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED)
Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 4th Floor, Suite 434, 2 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226

Use this address when the jurisdiction needs to be listed as a certificate holder on a contractor's insurance documentation.

Additional Notes

Confirmed on the City's own official site, detroitmi.gov. BSEED main number found as (313) 224-2733 (fax (313) 224-1467) per detroitmi.gov contact directory; a permit-application help line of (313) 224-3179 was also cited in one source but not independently re-verified. Construction-specific inbox seen referenced as BSEED-Construction@detroitmi.gov and a demolition-reporting inbox as BSEDDemo@detroitmi.gov, but a single general BSEED contact email could not be confirmed with certainty, so email is left null rather than guessed. Online permitting is through Detroit's Accela-based eLAPS/ePlans system.

What You Need Before Applying for a Permit

Most building departments ask for the same core package before they'll issue a permit: a completed application naming the property owner and contractor, the contractor's state license number and proof of insurance (general liability, and workers' comp if employees are on the job), a notice of commencement or equivalent recorded filing for larger jobs where the state requires one, and scaled plans or a site plan for anything beyond minor repairs. Roofing, fence, pool, and solar permits typically have their own simplified checklists — City of Detroit's department (above) can confirm exactly what applies to your project.

Why this matters for insurance: permit history is one of the first things an underwriter or adjuster checks. Unpermitted work — a finished basement, an added bedroom, a rebuilt roof — can complicate a claim or even void coverage for that portion of the loss, and it routinely surfaces during a home inspection. Pulling the right permit up front, and keeping the closed-permit record on file, protects both the property's value and its insurability at resale.

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