They’re a fact of life that we don’t always want to consider, but building permits are actually there to help in several different ways in that they can protect us from doing things the wrong way on some home renovations or even falling prey to an unscrupulous builder. Most of us are aware that we need to have a permit to at least build an addition onto our house, but many people don’t know that permits are also needed in some localities for something as small as a fence.
Although this handy little addition that keeps us apart from our neighbors and keeps the dogs safe in the yard is a thing that we’re all familiar with, most of us wonder at the need for a fence permit until we understand that in many cases the very thing that we want in a fence might be the thing that can endanger someone else. Here’s an example of why there needs to be certain height restrictions and others on the kind of fence that you build.
Suppose that you don’t get along with a certain neighbor and you’d like to put a little distance between the two of you with a fence in the front yard so you don’t need to see them as you start out for work in the morning. But what if you build that fence so high that neither of you can see the road as you back out of the driveway? Right away there’s a problem and a safety concern. In this way, it’s a good thing to have a set of requirements that are outlined by the building permit regulations so that the fence that you build serves the purpose intended in a safe way.
However, the need for a building permit for a fence is not universal. You should also be aware that the permits issued can be either at the city or county level. Often it all depends on the kind of fence that you want to build. In some areas that are unincorporated, there are no permits needed provided the fence in question is not over six feet tall. Rural areas always give more leeway to the type of fence that you can put up and farmers and ranchers often have special fences like barbed wire and so they make arrangements with their neighbors without including any kind of municipality at all.
Permits are not always easy to get either. Some regulatory bodies will require sketches and even copies of the plans before they will grant a permit.
home-inspection
