Sandy has no basement packet. Here is what replaces it
Unlike Highland, Draper or South Jordan, Sandy did not publish a basement-finish checklist as of September 2026. The Building Permits page is the official reference, and it is a general one. The working method is a call to the permit tech before drawing anything: confirm what the plan set must show for a finish, ask how the fee will be set, and ask which inspections the city will require for the stages you are planning. Write the answers down with the date and the name. A finish planned against a phone conversation and a dated note is a finish that does not get bounced at review.
The codes Sandy states plainly
Sandy is the clearest of the seven cities about editions. Its building pages list the 2021 International Residential Code, the 2023 National Electrical Code and the 2024 International Building Code. That matters for two items in every basement plan: the 7-foot ceiling for habitable rooms under the IRC, and the electrical rough-in, which a licensed electrician designs to the 2023 NEC. Sandy also adopts the codes by reference to the state, so the amendments Utah makes apply on top.
What Sandy does not exempt
The Building Permits page carries a short list of projects that do not need a permit and says in the same breath that it is not a comprehensive listing: fences not over 7 feet, one-story detached accessory structures not greater than 200 square feet, and similar. Painting is not named on it, and Sandy does not copy Highland's published no-permit list. So for repainting an already-finished room, replacing an interior door like for like, or patching drywall, the honest answer in Sandy is to ask the permit tech rather than assume, and we ask for you when it comes up on a scope.
Egress and the walkout question
Sandy lists Residential Basement Egress, with walkout basement door in parentheses, as its own permit type. That is a signal about scope. Cutting a walkout into a foundation wall is not finishing work: it is structural work that we refer to a licensed general contractor, and in most cases so is cutting a new window well opening for a bedroom egress. If your basement plan needs new egress to make a bedroom legal, that portion goes to a licensed general contractor before we finish the room around it, and we say so on the first visit rather than after the drywall is up.
Fees: quoted for the address, not published
Sandy does not print a basement-finish fee. The permit tech sets it from the project valuation when the application is reviewed. Ask for the number when you call, budget it as a line the written scope carries at cost, and expect the 1 percent state surcharge Utah cities collect on building permits to sit on top.
The basement someone finished before you
Sandy's housing stock is older than Lehi's or South Jordan's, with a large share of homes from the 1970s through the 1990s, and it is common to buy one with a basement that a previous owner finished without a permit. If that is your house, tell the city before you plan changes. A retroactive permit and inspection is a conversation, not a penalty, and it protects the sale later; unpermitted finished space is the thing that comes up on Utah home inspections and in the disclosure forms.
Who files it when we do the work
When we finish a Sandy basement we apply under our Utah R101 license, take the fee the permit tech quotes and pass it through at cost, schedule the inspections, and write all of it on the quote. Electrical and plumbing stay with licensed trades and their own permits.
Bottom line
Sandy runs on a phone call, not a packet: confirm the plan set and the fee with the permit tech, build to the 2021 IRC and 2023 NEC the city publishes, and treat any new egress cut as a separate, licensed job.
Questions
Where is Sandy's basement finish checklist?
Sandy had not published one as of September 2026. The Building Permits page is the reference, and the Building and Safety permit tech at 801-568-7251 answers what the plan set must show for a finish.
Which code editions does Sandy use?
The 2021 International Residential Code, the 2023 National Electrical Code and the 2024 International Building Code, per the city's building pages.
Do I need a permit to repaint a finished room in Sandy?
Sandy's published no-permit list does not name painting and says it is not comprehensive. Ask the permit tech for your address rather than assuming the answer from another city's list.
