Shed permit checklist — St. Louis, Missouri
Assembled from St. Louis’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?
St. Louis requires a permit for a shed.
The Building Division's Guidelines for Drawing Residential Utility Shed Plans states that a permit is not required for utility sheds less than one hundred twenty square feet in area, and less than twelve feet in height provided the utility shed is anchored to a minimum four inch thick concrete floor slab and maintains the setback required by the Zoning Ordinance, and that a permit is required for utility sheds more than one hundred twenty square feet in area. The Building Division's "When a Residential Building Permit is Needed" page states that accessory buildings over 50 square feet require a permit and lists small accessory buildings 50 square feet in area or less, provided such accessory buildings maintain setbacks required by the Zoning Ordinance, among work that usually does not require a permit. Ordinance 70795, which adopts the Residential Code for One- and Two-family Dwellings of the City of Saint Louis, exempts small detached accessory buildings such as utility, storage and tool sheds, cabanas and play houses of 120 square feet in area or less and less than twelve feet in height, provided the utility shed is placed on and anchored to a minimum four inch thick concrete slab and maintains the setbacks required by the Zoning Ordinance, and requires a permit for all buildings exceeding 50 square feet in area that house uses such as barbeque or smoke houses, storage of fuel or other hazardous material, structures containing fuel fired equipment, and other uses that present an increased fire hazard or nuisance to adjoining property.
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Sources
- shed — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits St. Louis 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
- Water heater permit checklist
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Retaining wall permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
- General building work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with St. Louis before you build.