Your contractor says no permit is needed. Who decides that?

New York's Department of State says that in general every city, town, village and county enforces the Uniform Code and the Energy Code in its own area. It also says contractor licensing is a local matter, not a state one.

That means the permit rule at a Cicero address is not the rule at a Syracuse address. A village inside a town may keep its own code office, and then the village answers for you, not the town around it.

The practical step is the same everywhere. Before you sign, ask who files the permit, and ask the office that issues it if you want to be sure.

State regulation requires every local code program to require building permits for work that must meet the Uniform Code or Energy Code. It lets a local program exempt listed categories, among them replacement of equipment that does not change the equipment's listing or its original specifications.

The same regulation says an exemption is not permission to do work that breaks the codes. A town can skip the permit and still expect the work to meet the code.

So when a contractor says no permit is needed, ask which exemption applies in your municipality and whether it covers your job. If your new furnace or boiler changes how the vent runs, ask the office whether that counts as a like-for-like swap.

The list below is a reading of what each office publishes, as of October 2026. It is a starting point for your call, not a ruling on your job.

• City of Syracuse: the Central Permit Office says trade permits for HVAC must be obtained separately from the residential construction permit.
• Village of Liverpool: lists installing a new or replacement furnace, central air or boiler among work that needs a building permit, and publishes HVAC and mechanical permit applications.
• Town of Salina: lists additions or new heating systems among the work that needs a permit.
• Village of Fayetteville: lists installing or replacing a heating unit among its permit projects.
• Town of Cicero: lists installing or replacing chimneys, vents or heat producing devices.
• Town of Marcellus: lists furnace installation among work that needs a building permit.
• Town of Camillus and Village of Baldwinsville: require permits for work covered by the codes, and have adopted the exemption for replacement that keeps a listing and original specifications.
• Town of DeWitt: asks for a permit for upgrades and changes apart from minor repairs, and tells anyone in doubt to ask the office.
• Village of Solvay: does not name furnaces or boilers on its published list, and tells anyone unsure to ask its Code Enforcement Department.
• Town of Clay: its codes page does not publish a list, so ask the department.
• Village of North Syracuse: we found no published rule, so ask the village code office directly.

For the other places we cover, including East Syracuse, Manlius and Skaneateles, each office's own pages show the codes it enforces and the application it uses. Our town pages tell you what we found for each one.

Several villages sit inside a town, and the village may keep its own code office. The county's political subdivision chart places Liverpool inside Salina, East Syracuse inside DeWitt, Fayetteville inside Manlius, Solvay inside Geddes, and North Syracuse in Clay and Cicero. Baldwinsville lies in two towns, Lysander and Van Buren.

Do not assume the town answers for a village address. The state's own description puts the village, not the town around it, in charge of codes within its limits where the village runs its own program. Ask the village first, and ask the town if the village says it does not handle it.

Keep it short. Say your address and say you are replacing a furnace, boiler, air conditioner or heat pump. Ask whether the work needs a permit, who applies, what the application needs, and whether an inspection follows.

Note who answered and the date. Then ask the contractor to confirm in writing that the quote follows what the office told you.

Who files varies by office and by job. Some offices require the property owner to sign the application whoever files it. The Village of Skaneateles asks for the contractor's or owner's liability insurance and a workers compensation certificate, and for a signed proposal that shows the project cost.

Ask the contractor two things. Who files the permit? When will I see it? If a contractor says it is the owner's job, ask what you are expected to do and by when.

Keep a copy of the permit with your papers.

The state has no HVAC contractor license of its own. Its business portal names just one rule, the federal Section 608 requirement, for anyone who handles refrigerant. Licensing, where it exists, comes from the municipality.

The city of Syracuse runs a Board of Mechanical Examiners that issues HVAC licenses in classes, and the city's Code Enforcement publishes a list of license holders. Ask each contractor which local license they hold, if your municipality has one. Ask to see the insurance certificate too.

These papers belong to the contractor, and we do not hold or check them for you. Ask for the license, if your municipality has one, and the insurance certificate before you sign. Ask who files the permit and when you will see it.

Where a permit is issued, ask whether an inspection follows. An inspection is a look at the work that does not come from the person who did it. Ask the contractor when it is scheduled, and be home for it if you can.

If your town does not require a permit, ask the contractor what check replaces it. A written start-up record with the settings, the vent connection and the airflow is a good answer.

A permit does not set the contractor's price, and it says nothing about whether the work is good. It shows that your town or village was told about the job and had a chance to look at it.

It also does not replace your own questions. The size, the vent and the ducts still belong on the quote whether or not an inspector visits.

If the office says no permit is needed, ask for that in an email or note, and keep it with your papers. Ask the contractor to confirm that the work still has to meet the codes.

• Call your code office and ask whether your job needs a permit.
• Ask the contractor who files it and when you will see it.
• Ask for the local license, if your municipality has one, and the insurance certificate.
• Put the answers on the quote.

We give you the questions and introduce a local contractor. We do not file permits or inspect work. You decide whether anyone visits.