Out in Laton, Friant, or the hills above Prather, the house you want to remodel may sit on a well at the end of a long driveway, with decades of small fixes inside. If your home is outside every city limit, the County, not a city hall, issues the permit and sends the inspector.

Who the County covers

Building permits and inspections for the unincorporated portion of Fresno County are handled by Building and Safety, part of the Development Services Division of the Department of Public Works and Planning. That includes farm towns and foothill communities such as:

• Easton, Caruthers, Riverdale, and Laton

• Del Rey, Calwa, Biola, and Tranquillity

• Friant, Prather, Auberry, Tollhouse, Shaver Lake, and Yokuts Valley

It also covers unincorporated pockets within the metro area, such as Sunnyside, Old Fig Garden, Mayfair, and Tarpey Village. Homes inside city limits go to the city instead; see our guides for the City of Fresno and the City of Clovis.

Finding the office and the right phone line

Development Services offices are in Annex A and B of Fresno County Plaza, 2220 Tulare Street, at the southwest corner of Tulare and M streets downtown. The offices close at 12:30 p.m. on Fridays. Plan check and permit questions go to (559) 600-4570, building inspection to (559) 600-4560, and the 24-hour inspection request line is (559) 600-4131.

Exempt work, and work that needs a permit

The County’s FAQ says permits are required to erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, improve, demolish, or convert any building, except for work exempted under the California Building Code and Section 15.08.020 of the County’s Title 15. The exempt list includes painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, and cabinets, which covers much of the finish side of a remodel.

Plumbing, wiring, venting, and framing changes fall outside those exemptions. Moving a shower, adding a vanity sink, wiring under-cabinet lights, or replacing a water heater all point toward a permit, so describe the whole plan when you call. A panel change, a new circuit, or gas piping is work for licensed trades; if your project needs one, it gets sorted out at the in-home consultation.

For residential projects, Fresno County also publishes its submittal requirements under Assembly Bill 2234, including a residential plan submittal checklist, so you can see what reviewers expect before you apply.

Applying through the Citizens Portal

1. Create an account in the County’s Citizens Portal, then apply and upload plans and documents.

2. Use the County’s residential plan submittal checklist and permit application walkthrough to assemble a complete package.

3. Pay from the invoice the County sends. It does not request permit payments without first sending an invoice and instructions, so treat any other request with suspicion. Amounts are in the Master Schedule of Fees.

4. Call in inspections as work progresses; recent inspection results also appear in the portal.

Forms, the fee schedule, and the owner-builder disclosure sit on the Building and Safety page.

Searching a property’s permit record

The portal’s public search does not require a login. You can look up existing and current permits by property or permit information, which helps when you are buying a rural place or wondering about an old addition.

In Riverdale, Caruthers, and Auberry, the typical home dates to the 1970s, based on Census Bureau figures for median year built, so many houses there predate current wiring and plumbing standards. Older files can be thin; ask the County what it has before you plan around earlier work.

Owner-builder status

The County posts the disclosure that owners acting as their own contractor complete. CSLB spells out what that role carries: hire unlicensed workers and you may be treated as an employer, with duties for income tax withholding, disability insurance, and workers’ compensation. The home improvement exemption also has limits, including living in the home for the 12 months before the work is complete.

CSLB’s summary of owner-builder risks is short and worth reading before you check that box. Unpermitted work also tends to resurface when a property sells, when buyers compare the house with the record.

Rural remodels and All American

Our service area reaches across Fresno County; enter your ZIP code in the estimator to confirm coverage for a rural address. The permit question for your specific project gets answered at the free in-home consultation. Foothill homeowners can read about remodeling in the Sierra foothills, and farm-town homeowners can see our south Fresno County page.