How Can You Estimate a Bali Villa’s Official PBG Retribution?

SIMBG’s public calculator answers a narrow financial question: what might the local government retribution for a particular building permit amount to? It does not price an entire permit package. A displayed estimate is separate from the formal PBG approval, the technical drawings needed to apply and the assessment eventually issued for the application. Two physically identical buildings may still face different calculations if the relevant regency or the legally declared building use differs.

PBG stands for Persetujuan Bangunan Gedung, Indonesia’s building approval mechanism for new construction and certain changes to existing buildings. Government Regulation 16/2021 provides the national framework, while the applicable local retribution rules are set at regency or municipal level. A villa described as being in “Canggu” or “Ubud” needs its actual administrative location established before a fee comparison makes sense. These are place names, not alternatives to an official Kabupaten/Kota selection.

The calculator initially displays “0” beneath “Estimasi Retribusi PBG Bangunan Baru”. That is its uncalculated starting state, not evidence of a zero fee. SIMBG also states “*harga belum termasuk retribusi prasarana”, expressly leaving infrastructure retribution outside the displayed building estimate. A separate, application-specific assessment follows the authority’s review; Badung provides an official SKRD lookup by registration number. Neither using the estimator nor paying an assessed fee establishes land rights, planning compliance or the applicant’s eligibility to hold the relevant interest.

Use the official SIMBG retribution calculator, under “Kalkulator Biaya Retribusi”, rather than a contractor’s fee widget. Start with “Jenis Permohonan”, the application category. A proposed new house should follow the new-building route, not a renovation or an infrastructure-only request. “Pemilik Bangunan” then asks about the building owner. The option must reflect the lawful owner and the intended application; seeing a category in a calculator never establishes that an overseas purchaser is entitled to register ownership or apply in that capacity.

For “Provinsi Bangunan Anda”, select Bali. “Kabupaten / Kota” is the crucial jurisdiction field: choose Kabupaten Badung or Kabupaten Gianyar according to the plot’s administrative address. The government, however, assesses an application against the locality recorded for the land.

“Fungsi Bangunan” refers to the building’s declared function, not its listing category. An ordinary dwelling belongs conceptually to the residential or hunian category, while commercial use falls under usaha; mixed-use categories also exist in Indonesia’s building system. A private home and a short-stay rental property should not be assumed to have identical permitted functions simply because both are advertised as villas. The project’s actual use and the classification accepted in the application decide which value belongs in the form. “Durasi Pemanfaatan Bangunan” addresses the intended period of use. The exact currently offered choices for owner type and duration were not independently captured from a completed live dropdown, so a reader should use the labels visible at the time of calculation rather than copying an unverified English translation.

“Luas Lantai” is floor area, not plot area. Consider a two-storey dwelling with a 90 m² ground floor and a 90 m² upper floor: the total is 180 m². Entering 180 m² as the floor area and 2 as “Jumlah Lantai” records two separate facts; it does not instruct you to calculate 180 × 2. A 400 m² parcel, a 90 m² footprint and 180 m² of total floor space describe different things. Plans should reconcile the total area and floor count, particularly where terraces, voids or enclosed ancillary spaces make the drawings less straightforward.

The basement is recorded through “Luas Lapis Basemen” and “Jumlah Basemen”. Both are zero where no basement is proposed. When one or more below-ground levels are planned, the floor plans must support the declared area and level count; do not infer a universal summing rule for multiple basements from the interface wording alone. Press “Hitung Perkiraan Retribusi” only after all fields have been checked. The result is a dated preliminary calculation tied to those inputs, not a government invoice that can safely be passed to another project.

To compare jurisdictions fairly, imagine one proposed building placed first in Badung and then in Gianyar. It is a hypothetical dwelling, not an inspected Bali property or an approved standard design: two above-ground floors of 90 m² each, 180 m² of total floor area, and no basement. Hold everything else constant: an application for new-building PBG, the same hypothetical private applicant, genuine residential use, the same chosen use duration, “Luas Lantai” 180, “Jumlah Lantai” 2, “Luas Lapis Basemen” 0 and “Jumlah Basemen” 0. Only “Kabupaten / Kota” changes. Because the owner and duration dropdown values were not independently recorded from a submitted live form, this is a specified comparison scenario, not a claim that two completed calculations exist.

Badung scenario. Select Kabupaten Badung for the project address and leave every other input unchanged. The relevant local framework includes Perda 7/2023 as amended by Perda 8/2025, effective 1 January 2026. The amendment does address PBG provisions, including the description of the charge and the principles for setting it. In the amendment text reviewed, the list of substituted appendices does not name Appendix VIII of the original Perda. That observation does not prove a particular locality index is unchanged: later tariff reviews or implementing rules must still be considered. No reproducible IDR estimate was obtained for the specified Badung inputs.

Gianyar scenario. Replace Badung with Kabupaten Gianyar and retain the 180 m², two floors, zero basement area, owner, use and duration. Gianyar’s Perda 7/2023 sets out the PBG retribution mechanism in Articles 70–72 and directs the tariff structure to Appendix III. Its repeal list includes the former standalone PBG regulation, Perda 3/2022. Figures copied from that superseded rule cannot be presented as today's charge. Any later regent regulation adjusting the relevant index or unit cost would also need to be accounted for. No reproducible IDR estimate was obtained for this Gianyar configuration either.

As of 19 October 2026, the public SIMBG field labels and the official calculation route can be verified, but two successfully submitted, matching test results have not been documented through the accessible interface. There is therefore no sound basis for stating that Badung is a specified amount cheaper or that Gianyar charges a particular percentage more. The mechanisms use locality-sensitive and building-sensitive variables rather than a universal island rate per square metre. A numerical comparison requires both actual IDR outputs, all selected dropdown values, the same date and confirmation of the local rules in force. Until then, “fee not established” is the accurate budget entry for both hypothetical buildings.

A proposal headed “PBG fee” may cover very different things. The SIMBG figure refers to estimated building retribution charged by the competent local authority. A permit consultant might use the same words for a package that includes drawings, coordination, filing and the government payment. Those numbers cannot be compared until each line is unpacked. SIMBG is explicit about one exclusion: “harga belum termasuk retribusi prasarana”. Infrastructure retribution, where applicable to project facilities, is outside the building estimate and needs its own basis; it is not automatically zero or a fixed surcharge for every house.

An architect's plans, structural design and mechanical, electrical and plumbing documentation are professional work products. Depending on the site and proposal, the design team may also need survey information, soil information or other technical inputs. Whether an expense is necessary for the project and whether it is already covered by a contractor's scope are separate questions. A land survey cannot be added as a standard permit tariff merely because one provider bundles it into a service. Equally, a project manager should not approve another invoice for technical drawings that a signed design contract already includes.

The useful budget distinction is who receives the money and which document supports it. Government retribution must be reconciled to the relevant assessment; architectural and engineering fees should have deliverables and commercial terms; filing support should identify what the agent actually does and whether statutory charges are paid on the client's behalf. Preparatory studies and separate infrastructure charges belong in their own lines only where applicable. Without an itemised professional quote, confirmed scope and the authority's charge for this application, a single reliable “all-in Bali PBG price” cannot be produced.

Use the supporting document to tell a government charge from a private service—and to spot duplicate fees inside bundled quotes.

A zero on the untouched SIMBG dashboard is not a result. Before any inputs are supplied, the system has not been told which regency, function or building size is relevant. The initial display therefore cannot support a budget entry. A usable preliminary estimate needs an identified application type, owner category, address jurisdiction, floor area, floors, basement details and use duration, followed by a completed calculation. An isolated screenshot of “0” with no recorded inputs proves none of those things.

A second kind of zero would be a value shown after a fully populated form has actually returned a response. That deserves investigation, but still does not establish a legal waiver on its own. A third situation is no answer at all: the page may fail to load a result, the response may be incomplete, or the test may be impossible to submit from a restricted viewing environment. These cases should not be collapsed into a single story about portal malfunction or free permits. The Badung and Gianyar scenarios described here have no independently confirmed completed outputs; their budget status is “not established”, not IDR 0.

Gianyar offers a useful example of why exceptions must be read narrowly. Its Perbup 57/2024 provides a PBG retribution exemption for qualifying *masyarakat berpenghasilan rendah*, or low-income households. Eligibility and supporting proof matter. A commercial short-term rental villa, an overseas buyer or even a small residential floor plan does not automatically satisfy that regime. Nor can a concession from Gianyar be assumed to apply under Badung's different local framework. A purported waiver should be traceable to the governing rule and its application to the actual applicant.

A positive estimate has limits too. The eventual documents may identify a different building function, adjusted floor area, an additional basement or an applicant category that was entered incorrectly online. Any of those changes can break the connection between the provisional amount and the authority's formal assessment. The correct question is not simply whether the calculator displayed a number; it is whether the number corresponds to the application ultimately reviewed by the local authority.

The public estimator does not open or approve a PBG application merely because it returns an amount. The formal process needs an identifiable site, a legally appropriate applicant and a technical proposal. Land rights or rights of use, the project's declared function, the building's actual geometry and the supporting drawings all matter. Anyone can view a public calculator; that does not mean any foreign individual can own the relevant interest or file as the legal building owner. Planning permission for the location and permissions relevant to operating a rental property must also be assessed on their own terms.

Badung's official building-information service illustrates the distinction between a quick fee input and an application package. It identifies categories of general and land information, architectural plans and specifications, structural calculations and drawings, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing information. Land documentation, applicable spatial or environmental records and professional designer details may also be relevant. These are categories to discuss with the project team, not a promise that every listed document is mandatory for every house. The drawings and calculations used in the application should describe the same floor area, configuration and intended use that informed the initial estimate.

A particular application eventually has a particular assessed local charge. Badung's “Informasi Retribusi (SKRD)” page allows a search using an SKRD registration number. This illustrates the difference between an unsubmitted public estimate and an identified assessment for a reviewed application. A historical SKRD belonging to another plot or owner is not an island-wide price reference. Where the assessed amount differs from the original SIMBG output, the first comparison should concern the jurisdiction, floor areas, building classification, any basement, applicable local rules and whether an infrastructure component has been addressed separately.

Before a designer or filing agent proceeds, the useful handover is therefore a coherent set of site and applicant records, dimensioned plans showing total floor space, the intended building use and a clear scope of technical work. It is also worth specifying who will pay the assessed retribution directly and who will merely handle the paperwork. An issued PBG and any later building completion or use documentation are distinct stages; neither is supplied by pressing the calculator button or by assuming a consultant's inclusive quotation represents the official government fee.