The $100 that starts the clock
Draper's basement checklist, revised November 2023 and still the live document, sets the order of events. You submit, and within 24 to 48 hours the city invoices a $100 application fee. Plan review does not start until that invoice is paid, so a basement finish in Draper begins with a payment, not with a drawing being read. The remaining permit fees are invoiced at issuance and, in the city's words, will vary based on the project. Draper publishes no single basement-finish total, and we do not estimate one; the written scope carries the city's fee at cost once it is issued.
Draper's checklist, line by line
The checklist asks for unlocked PDF plans, which trips up homeowners who export from a design app with security on. It wants a floor plan with each room's use and dimensions, egress window sizes for any sleeping room, and the electrical, plumbing and mechanical notes an inspector needs. Two rules on the document decide a lot of plans. Habitable rooms need a minimum height of 7 feet, and the checklist adds that surface-mounted lighting or other projections cannot encroach into that 7 feet, so a flush fixture under a duct can fail a room. A bathroom must be vented outside, or have a window with at least 1.5 square feet of openable area. The document says every project is designed to the currently adopted IRC, IBC and NEC; it does not print an edition year, so we confirm the edition with the plan reviewer rather than guess.
Scheduling inspections in Draper
Draper does not enumerate a numbered inspection sequence on the basement checklist. Inspections are requested through the city's schedule-an-inspection page. The stages themselves follow the usual order for a finish, the four-way with framing, electrical, plumbing and mechanical rough-ins together, then insulation where required, then sheetrock before tape, then the final, and the inspector confirms the exact list when the permit is issued. The practical difference from Lehi is that Draper's request is online; the practical similarity is that the job only moves as fast as the requests get made.
A second kitchen is a different permit
Draper's accessory-dwelling page is explicit that basement finishes, remodeling and adding a second kitchen all need a building permit. It is also explicit that an accessory dwelling unit is a separate planning permit on top of that. If the plan for the basement is a rentable apartment with its own kitchen and entrance, the building permit for the finish is only half the paperwork, and the planning side comes first. We finish the rooms; the ADU permit is the homeowner's application with the city, and we say so before the scope is written.
What we need from a Draper homeowner before we file
The unlocked PDF plan, the room uses, the window sizes, and a decision on whether the space is a family room, a bedroom or an apartment, because that decision changes which permit the city wants. A geotechnical report is on Draper's list for new homes and multi-family buildings, not for finishing an existing house, so do not let anyone sell you one for a basement finish.
Who files it when we do the work
On a Draper finish we submit the application under our Utah R101 license, pay the $100 invoice and pass it through at cost, request every inspection, and put all of it on the quote. Electrical and plumbing go to licensed trades with their own permits where the city requires them.
Bottom line
Draper starts with a $100 invoice that has to be paid before review, holds basements to a 7-foot clear height with no fixtures intruding, and treats a second kitchen or an apartment as a different permit. Read the checklist before the plan is drawn.
Questions
What does a Draper basement finish permit cost?
A $100 application fee is invoiced within 24 to 48 hours of submittal and must be paid before plan review starts. The remaining permit fees are invoiced when the permit is issued and vary with the project; Draper publishes no single basement-finish total.
Does Draper accept my design app's PDF?
Only if it is unlocked. The checklist asks for unlocked PDF plans; a file exported with security settings on is bounced back.
Can I add a kitchen to my Draper basement on the same permit?
A second kitchen needs a building permit, and if the space is to be an accessory dwelling unit, Draper requires a separate planning permit as well. The finish and the ADU are two applications.
