Do I need a permit to remodel my house in Herriman?

Call Herriman City before you call a contractor. Most structural, electrical, plumbing and mechanical work needs a permit, and most additions do, but the question that actually decides your project is whether what you want is allowed at your address at all.

That is a different question from whether it needs a permit, and it is the one that sinks plans. A remodel you cannot get permitted is not the cheaper option — it is the one you pay an architect for twice.

Before you plan anything, find out what is already on file for the address. How to check permit history on a house is a free phone call, and an open permit from a previous owner can hold up your application.

The order that saves money

Step	Who	Why it is first
1. Ask the city about your address	Herriman City	Zoning, setbacks, height and lot coverage decide what is possible
2. Read your CC&Rs	Your HOA	An association can prohibit what the city permits
3. Then design	Architect or contractor	A designer working from wrong assumptions produces a plan you cannot build
4. Then permit	Herriman City	The formal submission, with drawings that already comply

Almost everybody does this in the order 3, 1, 2, 4, and that is why remodels get abandoned after money has been spent.

What the city is actually deciding

Permits get the attention, but the constraints that kill projects are usually zoning rather than building code.

Setbacks — how close to your property lines you may build. This is the usual reason an addition shrinks or moves.

Height limits — relevant to a second story, and sometimes to a garage or shop.

Lot coverage — how much of your lot may be covered by structures. In newer Herriman subdivisions with generous houses on moderate lots, this one bites more often than people expect, because the house already uses much of the allowance.

Use — whether what you intend is permitted. A home office is one thing; a separate dwelling is another. If a rental unit is part of the plan, the ADU question covers the three separate gates that has to clear.

Ask about your specific address rather than about Herriman generally. Zoning is not uniform across a city and overlays and subdivision conditions can apply.

The HOA is a second gate and it stacks

A city permission and an association’s rules are independent systems. Satisfying one does not satisfy the other, and the HOA frequently has more to say about appearance than the city does.

Herriman has a lot of association-governed neighborhoods. Whether homes here have HOAs covers how common that is. Architectural review committees commonly control exterior materials, colors, roof lines, fencing, sheds, and anything visible from the street.

Get the CC&Rs and the architectural guidelines in writing, and submit for approval before you start rather than after. Associations have remedies, and “it is already built” is not a defense that works well.

What typically needs a permit

I am not going to publish a list and present it as current, because these things are set by the city and they change. What I will say is the shape of it, so you know what to ask about.

Work that changes structure, alters or adds electrical circuits, moves or adds plumbing, or installs or replaces mechanical equipment generally requires a permit. So do additions, decks above a certain height, and finishing a basement. Replacing a water heater or a furnace commonly requires one, which surprises homeowners who think of it as maintenance.

Cosmetic work — paint, flooring, cabinets, fixtures swapped like for like — generally does not. The boundary is where you start changing what is behind the finishes.

Ask the city. It is one phone call and it is free.

Why it matters even when nobody would notice

Two reasons, and the second is the expensive one.

Safety and quality. An inspection is a second set of eyes on work you are paying for. Plenty of homeowners have discovered a problem at inspection that a contractor would otherwise have buried behind drywall.

Resale. This is the one that costs real money later. Unpermitted work becomes your problem when you sell. A buyer’s agent can check permit history — it is a public record, available by calling the building department or using their portal, and it does not require your permission. When a finished basement shows up with no permit attached, it changes the conversation, and sometimes the price.

It can also affect financing and insurance for your buyer. What a seller has to disclose in Utah is worth reading before you decide that nobody will ask.

If you are buying a house with work already done

The mirror image of all this, and it belongs in your due diligence period.

Call the building department and ask what permits have been pulled on the address. A permitted reroof, panel upgrade or basement finish is good news. An unpermitted addition is a question you want answered before you own it. How to get dated answers on a house’s systems covers the related homework, and what to check in an older house is the fuller list for anything with age.

Under the Utah Real Estate Purchase Contract you can cancel for any reason by written notice before the Due Diligence Deadline and get your earnest money back; after that deadline you cannot unless a remaining contingency applies. Permit history is exactly what that window is for.

The money question nobody asks first

Before you commit, ask whether the remodel returns anything.

Some work pays for itself at resale and some does not, and the gap is wide. What actually adds value to a home in Utah is the honest version. The short form: a sensible kitchen or bathroom update, and anything that fixes a genuine deficiency, tends to hold its value. Highly personal work and anything that takes the house well above its street does not.

There is also a version of this where the answer is to move instead. If the remodel is large, and the permitting is uncertain, and the finished house would be the most expensive on the block, buying what you want is sometimes cheaper than building it. Whether it is cheaper to build or buy in Herriman works through that trade.

What to ask on the phone call

Have the address in front of you, and ask:

• What is this property zoned, and what does that allow?
• What are the setbacks, the height limit and the lot coverage allowance?
• Does what I am describing require a permit, and which kind?
• Is there an overlay or a subdivision condition on this address?
• What does the submission need to include, and how long does review usually take?
• Is there any open or expired permit on the property already?

That last one catches things. An expired permit from a previous owner is worth knowing about before you add to it.

What I would do

Make the city call before you spend anything. Read the CC&Rs the same week. Then brief a designer with the constraints already in hand, so the first drawing is a buildable one.

I am Kelsey Earl, a Realtor with Keller Williams South Valley, and the remodels I see go badly are rarely badly built. They are the ones where somebody designed first and asked afterwards.

If you are weighing a remodel against moving, get in touch — and if the real question is what the house is worth now and what it would be worth finished, start with a valuation.

Note: General information, not legal advice. Contract terms and deadlines vary, and your own transaction may differ — read your actual purchase contract and speak to a Utah real estate attorney about any specific situation.