Permit Office (AHJ)
City of Boston Inspectional Services Department (ISD)
Boston, MA · Licensed Professional Engineering
Site engineering that clears local review — grading, drainage, and utilities designed to each jurisdiction's published standards from day one.
Boston civil design starts with a very urban drainage and access problem. Boston Water and Sewer Commission service, site-drainage, and stormwater requirements must fit within tight rights-of-way and utility congestion, while waterfront and low-lying sites require FEMA flood-zone and coastal-resilience review. We coordinate utility connections, grading, detention or water-quality measures, and construction access early; on regulated waterfront work, state Chapter 91 and wetlands approvals may be as material to the site plan as the ISD permit.
Code adoptions and local amendments change on multi-year cycles. The state source verification date is 2026-07-28; we verify the governing editions with City of Boston Inspectional Services Department (ISD) at project kickoff.
Boston ISD accepts building-permit applications and design documents through its online permitting system; commercial work is routed for zoning, building, fire, and other agency reviews as applicable. Projects in historic districts, on the waterfront, or involving public ways can also require Boston Landmarks Commission, Boston Planning & Development Agency, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, or other separate approvals.
Boston enforces the statewide 10th-edition code rather than a separate municipal building code; 780 CMR 34 supplies the existing-building provisions. Its Specialized Energy Code adoption and BERDO 2.0 emissions rules are separate but consequential overlays for new construction, major renovation, and covered existing buildings.
Eversource coordinates new electric service and distributed-generation interconnection, while the Boston Water and Sewer Commission provides local water, sewer, and storm-drain service. Electrical-service capacity, gas policy, and street-opening coordination should be resolved early in dense downtown and neighborhood retrofit work.
Boston's work is concentrated in life sciences, academic and hospital campuses, multifamily housing, and conversion or modernization of older commercial buildings. The city’s aging masonry, brownstone, and warehouse stock makes occupied renovation, utility upgrades, and existing-building-code analysis recurring engineering work, while BERDO 2.0 increases the importance of operational carbon planning for covered buildings.
Reviewed 2026-09-11. Code editions and local requirements can change; confirm the current requirements with the authority having jurisdiction before design.
With a team of licensed PEs and a multi-discipline engineering team, we're ready to take on projects of any size — and we turn quotes around fast. Send us your scope and get a clear proposal: deliverables, timeline, and fee.
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