General building work permit checklist — San Jose, California
Assembled from San Jose’s own published permit rules. Every line below is quoted from a city document and linked to it. Nothing here is generated, estimated, or inferred from another jurisdiction.
Do you need a permit?
San Jose requires a permit for general building work.
San José Municipal Code Section 24.02.120 waives the building permit for fifteen kinds of work, each carrying its own size or height cap. A detached single-story accessory building - tool shed, storage shed, playhouse or similar - is capped at 120 square feet, and Part 7, the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, can still reach it even with the permit waived. Fences top out at seven feet unless they serve as a pool barrier. Retaining walls are capped at four feet, sized from the footing base to the wall's highest point, and qualify only where nothing loads them from behind and no Class I, II or III-A liquid is held back. Walkways and driveways are capped at 30 inches over the grade beside them. In a Group R-3 occupancy a deck is capped at 200 square feet and 30 inches of height, and it must stand clear of the dwelling and away from the required exit door. A pool kit at a Group R-3 occupancy is capped at 24 inches of water depth and 5,000 gallons and has to sit wholly above ground. Re-roofing - replacement, repair or overlay - is capped at 25 percent of the roof within any 12-month period. Only the building permit is waived: plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits still apply to the exempted items unless Title 24 says otherwise.
Loading the full checklist…
Sources
- building — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits San Jose publishes rules for
Listed because the city publishes a separate rule for each type — not because this project necessarily triggers one. Whether it does depends on your scope of work.
- Deck permit checklist
- Fence permit checklist
- Shed permit checklist
- Water heater permit checklist
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Retaining wall permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with San Jose before you build.