Yard Permit Guides
The rules tell you what is allowed; these guides cover how the process actually runs. Each one ends in a printable checklist of the questions to take to your city, town or county planning and building department.
Project decisions
How to Measure Your Setbacks Correctly
Most setback disputes are not about the rule but about where the measurement starts. Learn how to find your true property line, why the kerb and the fence are the wrong starting points, and what to measure for a shed, fence, deck or ADU.
Read the guide →When You Need a Variance and How to Apply for One
A variance asks for relief from a dimensional standard, not from a use. Understand what counts as a hardship, the findings a board must make, how the hearing works, and when a redesign is simply the better path.
Read the guide →The Yard Permit Process, Stage by Stage
What actually happens between deciding to build and getting final approval: pre-application, drawings, submission, plan review, correction lists, permits and the inspections that make the work legal.
Read the guide →Pool Barrier Requirements: What Compliance Actually Involves
Pool barriers follow a stricter standard than ordinary boundary fences. Learn the statutory options in California, Arizona and Florida, the physical features inspectors look for, and how spas and temporary barriers are treated.
Read the guide →Shed Permit Exemptions and the Four Things That End Them
Small sheds are often exempt from a building permit, but the exemption is narrower than it looks. Learn the typical thresholds, what cancels an exemption, and the questions that give you a written answer.
Read the guide →Deck Permit Thresholds: Height, Guards and Inspections
Whether a deck needs a permit usually turns on the height of the walking surface above grade. Learn the typical threshold, when guards and handrails are required, and which inspections cannot be skipped.
Read the guide →Financing an ADU and the Rental Rules That Follow
How construction loans, cash-out refinances and renovation mortgages are typically used for an accessory dwelling unit, plus the rental questions that decide whether the unit can legally be leased.
Read the guide →Fence Disputes With Neighbours: What the Rules Usually Say
Height limits, the good side facing out, fences on the property line, and the narrow set of situations where a neighbour can force you to change or pay for a fence.
Read the guide →Tree Removal Permits: When You Need One and Why
Why tree rules attach to the tree rather than to the property, how protected-tree lists and size thresholds work, and the limited circumstances in which removal is usually approved.
Read the guide →Lot Coverage and Impervious Surface: How the Cap Works
What counts toward lot coverage and impervious surface, why the two numbers are different, and how a small addition can consume the remaining allowance on an older lot.
Read the guide →Backyard Chickens: What Zoning Usually Allows
Flock size caps, rooster prohibitions, coop setbacks and placement rules, slaughter restrictions, and the private covenants that override everything the city permits.
Read the guide →Driveway and Curb Cut Permits: Who Owns the Apron
Why a driveway usually needs two approvals, how width and sight-distance rules work, and what changes when the work touches a public street or a state highway.
Read the guide →Reading Your Survey: Easements and What You Cannot Build On
How to read a plat or survey for easements, what utility, drainage and access easements prevent you from building, and when an old survey is no longer good enough.
Read the guide →Your Right to a Vegetable Garden or Native Plant Yard
Which states protect home food gardens and drought-tolerant landscaping from HOA bans, what boards can still regulate, and the questions to take to your association before you build a bed.
Read the guide →How the process works
How the Yard Permit Process Usually Works
Most yard projects follow the same broad path: confirm the zoning rules, prepare drawings, apply, receive review comments, obtain the permit, then schedule inspections before the work is covered up.
Read the guide →What to Do If Your Yard Permit Is Denied
A denial is usually about a specific standard rather than the whole project. Most jurisdictions offer a variance, an administrative appeal or a redesign path, and each has its own deadline.
Read the guide →HOA Rules Versus City Rules
Homeowner association standards and municipal zoning are two separate systems. You usually must satisfy both, and the stricter one governs, even when the city has already issued a permit.
Read the guide →Have your own numbers? Run them through the permit threshold screener or the ADU feasibility calculator.
Need the rules for a specific project? Start with the yard rules checker.
ZoneFig provides general reference information, not legal advice. Yard and zoning rules are adopted locally, so the only binding answer for your address comes from your city, town or county planning and building department. Typical thresholds shown here describe patterns across many jurisdictions and are not the rule at any specific property.