Permits & licensing in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts builds to one code. The Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR, is promulgated by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards inside the Division of Occupational Licensure's Office of Public Safety and Inspections. The Tenth Edition took effect on October 11, 2024 and has stood alone since the Ninth Edition expired on June 30, 2025; it adopts the 2021 International Codes with Massachusetts amendments in two volumes — the Residential volume for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less, and the Base volume for everything else. Accessibility runs on a separate regulation, 521 CMR, written by the Architectural Access Board in the same office.

Enforcement is municipal. Chapter 143, Section 3 directs the chief administrative officer of each city and town to employ an inspector of buildings or building commissioner as the administrative chief for the code, and the BBRS certifies the people who hold those posts. The statute's only county role is an agreement two or more towns may make with their county commissioners for a shared inspector; cities run their own departments. Decisions of a local building official go to the Division of Occupational Licensure's Building Code Appeals Board, and state-owned buildings are permitted by the BBRS and the state building inspectors rather than by the city.

Energy and licensure sit beside the code. The base energy provisions are in 780 CMR; the Department of Energy Resources writes the Stretch Code and the Municipal Opt-in Specialized Code in 225 CMR 22.00 and 23.00, and each applies only where a municipality has adopted it. The BBRS licenses construction supervisors under 780 CMR 110.R5, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation registers home improvement contractors under Chapter 142A, and the Board of State Examiners of Electricians and the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters license the trades. Massachusetts does not recognize out-of-state contractor licenses.