Do I need a permit in Hillsborough County? 2026 homeowner guide

Updated September 2026

Probably yes. Hillsborough County says most construction needs a permit.² Unlike some Florida counties, it does not set a dollar line. It publishes a list of the jobs you can skip a permit for.¹ If your job is not on that list, it most likely needs a permit. Find your job in the tables below.

What needs a permit in Hillsborough County?

Hillsborough works the opposite way from a county with a price rule. There is no "under this much and you are fine." The county prints a list of exempt work, and its own words for anything else are that it "most likely requires a permit."¹

State law sits underneath all of this. It is unlawful to build, alter or repair without a permit unless something excuses you.⁴ Florida's own no-permit list is short: 12 jobs, every one of them a gas, heating, or plumbing item.³ There is no building category and no electrical category on it at all.

The state code has one more door. A building official can okay an ordinary minor repair with no permit. That door is narrow. It shuts on cutting a wall or a beam. It shuts on pipes, gas, wiring, and A/C gear too.³

Jobs that do NOT need a permit

Job	Permit?	What to know
Painting, wallpaper, tile	No	The county prints these as cosmetic work.1
New floors, carpet, or wood	No	Named on the county's own list. Many Florida counties never printed a flooring rule at all.1
Cabinets and shelving	No	Named on the list. But move a pipe or a wire to fit them and that part needs one.1
Shed or greenhouse under 150 square feet	No	Hillsborough's line is 150 square feet. Do not carry a neighboring county's number over.1
Fence of PVC, wood, or chain link	No	For the building permit the test is the material, not the height. Zoning still controls height and placement, and the county says to call zoning about every fence.1
Unclog a drain, stop a leak, reset a toilet	No	The county and the state code agree on these. Replace a hidden pipe and it becomes permit work.13
Clean a septic tank	No	Cleaning only. Replacing the tank or the drainfield is a different job.1
Low-voltage work, $5,000 or less	No	The county's test is labor and materials together not exceeding $5,000, in an existing single-family home. Exactly $5,000 is still inside it.1
Portable heater or cooling unit	No	The word is portable. A unit that gets wired in or built into a wall is a different job.13
Dock the Port Authority already approved	No	The approval has to exist first. No approval, no exemption.1

Jobs that DO need a permit

Job	Permit?	What to know
Roof: new, replaced, or repaired	Normally yes	The county names non-structural roof work as work that might skip the permit under $7,500. But on a home permitted before the Florida Building Code, tearing the covering off triggers a check of how the deck is fastened, and a secondary water barrier. If the fastening has to be strengthened, that part is structural, and structural work never gets the $7,500 break.110
Windows	Normally yes	The county does name window replacement as possibly exempt under $7,500. Ask first, and know the new window still has to meet today's code either way.111
Outside doors	Normally yes	Also named as possibly exempt under $7,500. Same answer: ask before anyone starts.1
Porch	Yes	The county's words are "all porches require a permit." No size, no price, no exception.1
Concrete or electric fence	Yes	The two fence types the county pulls back out of the exemption. Call zoning either way.1
Shed over 150 square feet	Yes	Over the line is a permit. At exactly 150, ask, because the county's word is "less than."1
Water heater	Yes	No water heater sits on the county's exempt list. The same kind in the same spot still needs one.1
A/C or heat, not portable	Yes	Replacing a fixed system needs a permit, even for the same size. Portable equipment is exempt, and so are a few small mechanical items like a minor replacement part.13
Panel, wiring, or new outlets	Yes	The $5,000 break is for low voltage only. House wiring is not low voltage and gets no price break.1
Replace a hidden pipe or move a fixture	Yes	The county draws its plumbing line here: concealed pipe or a fixture that moves.1
Bathroom or kitchen remodel	Depends	The county says it depends on the work. Tile and cabinets alone likely need no permit. Touch the plumbing, wiring, A/C or anything structural and it does.2
Room addition or new building	Yes	New construction is the plainest case there is.2
Pool or spa	Yes	To pass the last check, a new pool needs one safety feature the state approves. A barrier at least 4 feet high, a safety cover, exit alarms, self-closing doors, or a pool alarm.12
Anything structural	Yes	Beams, load-bearing walls, the foundation, rafters and trusses. Nothing structural gets a price break.14

Two things change the answer on any job. Cutting a new opening in a wall needs a permit, and so does making an existing one wider. So does any work on a wall that carries weight.

What is the $7,500 permit exemption?

A state law that started July 1, 2026. Non-structural work worth less than $7,500 on a single-family home can sometimes skip the building permit. Hillsborough names siding, window and door replacement, and non-structural roof work as jobs that might qualify.¹

It is not yours to decide. In Hillsborough you apply through the county's HillsGovHub portal and hand over paperwork showing the scope and the value of the work.¹¹³

Three things switch it off completely. The work is worth $7,500 or more. The property is in a flood hazard area. Or the job touches electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical or gas work.¹⁴ That last one is why a water heater or a panel never qualifies, whatever it costs.

What changes if my home is in a flood hazard area?

The $7,500 break is gone. The state law switches that exemption off for a property partly or wholly in a flood hazard area, and the county says the same thing.¹⁴ The term that matters is flood hazard area, not any flood zone letter on a map.

There is more paperwork too. The county requires a Substantial Improvement Worksheet for all projects inside a Special Flood Hazard Area, or an approved FEMA Elevation Certificate showing the building is high enough.⁸ Look up your address on the county's flood map before you plan around any of this.⁸

Can I pull my own permit in Hillsborough County?

Yes, for the home you live in. Florida lets an owner pull a permit for their own property.⁹ Hillsborough asks that the property be in your name and be your primary residence, and it makes you sign an Owner Builder Disclosure Statement.²

There is a catch worth knowing before you start. Hillsborough tells owner-builders not to sell, lease or rent the property for a year after the work is done.² The state law behind that is worded differently. Selling or leasing inside that year does not break a ban. It creates a presumption that you built it to sell, which is the thing the owner-builder exemption is not for.⁹

Either way, if you are fixing a house up to flip it, this is not your exemption.

How do I look up building permits on a house in Hillsborough County?

Permit records are public, but they are not in one place. The county keeps records for unincorporated Hillsborough in HillsGovHub.¹³ Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City each keep their own.⁵⁶⁷ Which office holds your house depends on the address, and older records can sit somewhere else again.

That is the part that stops people. You can call the office that covers your address and ask for the permit history. The county's number is (813) 272-5600.² Or you can have it done for you.

Buying a house? See its permits first.

QReport checks Hillsborough County, Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City for one address. Then it tells you in plain words what work had a permit, when the roof, A/C, water heater and wiring were last done, and if the home sits in a flood zone. We cover seven Florida counties: Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Hernando, Sarasota and Charlotte.

See a sample report

Where these rules come from

1. Hillsborough County, Work Exempt from Permits - the cosmetic list (painting, tile, floor coverings, shelving, cabinet work, wallpapering), fences of PVC, wood or chain link, "residential sheds and greenhouses less than 150 square feet," docks with Port Authority approval, "all porches require a permit," electrical and concrete fences, low-voltage work under $5,000 in labor and materials, portable heating and cooling, the plumbing line between stopping a leak and replacing concealed pipe, septic tank cleaning, and the HB 803 exemption with its three exclusions and its HillsGovHub application.
2. Hillsborough County, Permits for Homeowners - that most construction requires a permit, the bathroom-remodel-with-plumbing example, the owner-builder conditions and the one-year no-sale rule, and Development Services at (813) 272-5600, permitting@hcfl.gov, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa.
3. Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), sections 105.1, 105.2 and 105.2.2 - the complete no-permit list in 105.2 is 12 items under three headings: Gas, Mechanical and Plumbing. There is no building category and no electrical category. Section 105.1 names repair as permit work. Section 105.2.2 lets a building official approve "ordinary minor repairs" without a permit, but bars the cutting of any wall or structural beam and bars work on "water supply, sewer, drainage, drain leader, gas, soil, waste, vent or similar piping, electric wiring systems or mechanical equipment."
4. Florida Statute 553.79 - it is unlawful to construct, erect, alter, modify, repair or demolish without a permit; and the exemption from a permit for "any work valued at less than $7,500" on a single-family dwelling, which does not apply to a property in a flood hazard area or to electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical or gas work.
5. City of Tampa, Construction Services - the division that issues every building permit and inspection inside Tampa city limits, at (813) 274-3100.
6. City of Temple Terrace, Building Division - permitting, inspections and contractor registration for addresses inside Temple Terrace, with its own portal and fees.
7. City of Plant City, Building Division - permits for addresses inside the incorporated city limits, and the warning that a Plant City mailing address does not mean the property is inside them.
8. Hillsborough County, Special Flood Hazard Area Requirements - "Substantial Improvement Worksheets are required for all projects within the SFHA," or an approved FEMA Elevation Certificate documenting that the building is properly elevated, plus the county's Find My Flood Zone map.
9. Florida Statute 489.103(7) - the owner-builder exemption for a person improving their own property, and its conditions.
10. Florida Statute 553.844(3)(a) - roof-deck re-nailing and a secondary water barrier are required when a roof covering is removed and replaced on a structure not permitted under the Florida Building Code, which is broadly homes built before 2002.
11. Florida Existing Building Code, section 707.4 - a replacement window "shall be designed and constructed to comply with Chapter 16 of the Florida Building Code-Building," with no count or area below which a replacement escapes.
12. Florida Statute 515.27 and 515.29, the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act - a residential pool must meet at least one of five safety features: a barrier, an approved safety pool cover, exit alarms on doors and windows, a self-closing self-latching device, or an approved swimming pool alarm. A barrier "must be at least 4 feet high on the outside."
13. HillsGovHub - the county's online permitting portal, where county permits are applied for, tracked and searched.