General building work permit checklist — New Orleans, Louisiana
Assembled from New Orleans’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?
New Orleans requires a permit for general building work.
New Orleans lets several categories of work proceed without a building permit. Interior finish work, meaning paint, wallpaper and the like, is one. So is exterior paint, provided the job needs neither protective scaffolding over public property nor removal of lead-based paint, and stucco repair on the same scaffolding condition. Swapping out rotted floorboards is exempt, as is replacing deteriorated weather boards, aluminum or vinyl siding on less than half of any one exterior wall, though touching the sheathing behind it is not. Open, uncovered porches and steps that have deteriorated may be torn out and rebuilt when they stand five feet or less above grade. Paving a yard qualifies where the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance allows it. New cabinets and countertops are exempt when no plumbing fixture or fixed equipment is swapped in the process. Backyard play structures at detached one- and two-family homes round out the list. None of this is permission to build something that violates the code, and a property inside a local historic district may still need sign-off from the Vieux Carre Commission or the Historic District Landmarks Commission.
Loading the full checklist…
Sources
- building — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits New Orleans 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 New Orleans before you build.