Residential Permit
New construction, custom builds, additions, alterations, and demolition for residential properties.
What a Residential Permit Covers
A residential permit is the approval your county or city issues before you build, add on to, alter, or tear down a house. Most homeowners meet the process for the first time when a contractor says the job cannot start without one, and most are surprised by how much of the work happens before anything is submitted. The drawings have to show setbacks, structure, and energy compliance in the format that particular jurisdiction expects. Get that part wrong and the application comes back with comments, which restarts the review clock rather than pausing it.
Residential building new construction, custom-build, addition, alteration, and demolition permits. We work directly with the appropriate county and city authorities to get your residential permit approved quickly.
When You Need One
- Building a new house, a custom build, or a second dwelling on the lot
- Adding square footage: an addition, a dormer, an enclosed porch, a garage
- Structural alteration: removing or moving a load-bearing wall, changing the roof line, underpinning a basement
- Demolition, in whole or in part, including most detached-structure teardowns
- Replacing a deck, and in many jurisdictions repairing one if you touch the ledger, posts, or footings
- Any work a lender, insurer, or buyer will later ask you to prove was permitted
What PermitCare Handles
- Permit drawings prepared to the submitting jurisdiction's checklist, or a review and correction of drawings you already have
- Zoning and setback verification before submission, which is where most residential rejections come from
- Energy compliance documentation where the jurisdiction requires it
- Application filing, fee handling, and tracking through the portal
- Written responses to every plan review comment, and resubmission until approval
- Inspection scheduling and coordination through to final sign-off
Documents Usually Required
Exact requirements are set by the jurisdiction you file in. This is the package most submissions are built from.
- A site or plat plan showing the structure, lot lines, and setbacks
- Floor plans and elevations for the proposed work
- Structural details for anything load-bearing, sealed by a professional engineer where required
- Energy compliance worksheets, commonly ResCheck for residential scopes
- Proof of ownership or an owner authorization letter if a contractor is filing
- Contractor license and, where the jurisdiction requires it, a certificate of insurance
Common Questions
How long does a residential building permit take?
It depends entirely on the jurisdiction and how clean the submission is. Simple over-the-counter scopes can be same-day in some offices, while a full addition commonly runs several weeks of plan review before a single comment is answered. The variable you control is the completeness of the package: each round of comments adds another full review cycle, so most of the time people lose is spent on avoidable corrections rather than on the county's queue.
Do I need a permit to replace a deck?
Usually yes. Most DMV jurisdictions treat a deck replacement as new construction rather than maintenance, and several require a permit for any deck attached to the house regardless of size. Swapping deck boards in kind is often exempt, but replacing the ledger, posts, or footings generally is not. The thresholds differ by county, so check the jurisdiction page for the one you are building in.
Can I pull my own permit as a homeowner?
In most jurisdictions yes, if you own and occupy the home. The permit is not the hard part. Producing drawings that pass plan review the first time, and answering code comments in the reviewer's language, is what usually sends homeowners looking for help after the second round of corrections.
What happens if I build without a permit?
The common outcomes are a stop-work order, a fee penalty that is often a multiple of the original permit cost, and a requirement to open finished work back up so it can be inspected. It also surfaces at sale, when the buyer's agent or lender asks for permit history. Unpermitted work can usually be legalized after the fact, which is a code violation case rather than a normal permit.
Do I need an architect or engineer for a residential permit?
For structural work, most DMV jurisdictions require drawings sealed by a licensed architect or professional engineer. PermitCare has both in house, so the drawings and the seal come from the same team that files the application.
Residential Permit by Jurisdiction
Fees, portals, and review timelines differ by county. These pages cover the specifics where we work most.
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