Gutter permits and contractor licenses in Southfield
Three answers, and one of them is that there is no answer. The city’s paperwork names gutters three times and never once says whether a gutter job on its own needs a building permit.
A referral service for Southfield homeowners. An automated assistant answers; calls are recorded.
Typical cost: Seamless aluminum replacement, $6 – $12 per foot installed; $900 – $2,400 for a typical house (three Metro Detroit contractors’ posted 2026 ranges)
- Cost to call
- Nothing
- Answered by
- Automated assistant
- Hours
- Any hour
The city names gutters three times and never states the requirement.
A $50 bond covers “roofs, gutters, siding” and similar work, and the same sheet and the fee ordinance both exclude roofs, gutters and siding from the plan review fee. the permit requirements sheet · the fee ordinance
That is evidence the work sits inside the permit system, not a statement that you need one. Ask the building department at 248-796-4100.
The permit question, in three parts
What the city does publish about gutters
Gutters are named in the bond schedule — “Residential accessory buildings, sheds, fences, generators, decks, roofs, gutters, siding, insulation, windows and similar work — $50.00” — and excluded from the residential plan review fee twice, once on the same sheet and once in the fee ordinance (the sheet (PDF) · the ordinance (PDF)).
What the city answers plainly, for the neighboring job
Re-roofing: “Yes, a building permit is required to re-roof over an existing single layer,” and the state’s code limits a roof to two layers of shingles (the city’s FAQ). If your gutters are going on with a new roof, that is the answer that applies.
What nobody publishes
Whether gutter work on its own needs a building permit. No city page says either way. The building department answers at 248-796-4100, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and takes applications online (building department).
Who has to be licensed — in the city’s own words
“If a contractor is going to be hired and the aggregate cost of labor and materials exceeds $600.00 that contractor must be licensed in the State of Michigan as Maintenance and Alteration Contractor or a licensed Builder” (the city’s FAQ).
The state is where gutters get named: its trade list includes gutters as one of the trades a maintenance and alteration license may cover, and the license itself states which trades the holder may do (the trade list).
- Ask to see which trades are on the card. The state issues a pocket card, and “licensed” on its own does not tell you gutters are on it (what the state tells homeowners).
- Check it yourself. The state license lookup takes a name or a license number.
- The $600 threshold cannot be split. The state’s own FAQ quotes the law on that (the FAQ (PDF)).
- You get three days to cancel a contract signed at home, and the state has advice on how to pay (what the state tells homeowners).
The city’s fees
As its schedule prints them, not added up. They apply if a permit is required — which is the part no page answers.
- Bond on roofs, gutters, siding and similar work
- $50
- Plan review on a residential alteration
- excludes roof, siding and gutters
- Application fee, nonrefundable, every permit
- $40
- Minimum building permit, under $1,000 of valuation
- $60
- Valuation $1,000 to $10,000
- $60 plus .016 of the valuation over $1,000
- Builder’s license registration with the city
- $25
- Re-inspection when the work is not ready
- $50
From the city’s fee ordinance, enacted May 2016 (PDF) and its building permit requirements sheet (PDF). The city publishes no total for a gutter job. Its registration schedule has a builder’s line and no line for a maintenance and alteration license. The plumbing lines, if a downspout gets buried.
Questions
Checked October 10, 2026
Can I pull the permit myself?
- The city says a homeowner may obtain permits to work on their own house and do the work themselves, but that subcontracted work must go to licensed trades pulling permits under their own license — and that the permit holder is the one responsible (the city’s FAQ). Read that last clause twice before putting your name on it.
What does the city charge a contractor to work here?
- Twenty-five dollars to register a builder’s license with the city, valid for the period on the state license (the fee ordinance (PDF)). It is a registration, not a qualification.
Is this the City of Southfield or Southfield Township?
- The City of Southfield. Southfield Township is a separate government covering Beverly Hills, Franklin and Bingham Farms, and none of the city documents on this page apply to it.
Will I be charged for the visit?
- Calling us costs nothing. Some contractors charge to come out or to get up on the roof. Ask before they come, and get the price in writing.