In Armona, Home Garden, Stratford, or on a farm road between them, the kitchen or bath you want to redo falls under Kings County rather than a city. The County’s Community Development Agency handles building permits for the unincorporated area, and it now accepts applications only in digital form.

Who issues permits outside the cities

The County building ordinance applies to its unincorporated territory, which includes communities such as Armona, Home Garden, Hardwick, Stratford, and Kettleman City. Addresses inside Hanford, Lemoore, Corcoran, and Avenal are outside that area, so check with the city first. Our Hanford permit guide covers the largest of those cities.

The Community Development Agency is at 1400 W. Lacey Blvd., Building 6, in Hanford, and the phone is (559) 852-2670. The office keeps full hours Monday through Thursday and is open Friday mornings until noon.

Online only: the Online Permits Center

The agency has shifted from paper to digital applications, and new building permits go through its Online Permits Center. After you create an account and the Building Department verifies it, you can submit applications and plans, view corrections, pay, request inspections, and check permit status. Since January 1, 2026, all submittals must comply with the 2025 building codes, and the portal offers an application pre-check if you are unsure what to include. The link is on the Community Development Agency page, and staff can help at (559) 852-2670 if you get stuck.

What the County ordinance requires

Kings County’s building ordinance is broad. It says no one may erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, improve, remove, convert, demolish, wire, or engage in plumbing on a building in the unincorporated territory without first obtaining separate building, electric, plumbing, and mechanical permits for the work proposed. A kitchen that gets new wiring and a relocated sink can involve more than one permit type. The full text is on the building ordinance page.

The state residential code still exempts finish work such as painting, tiling, cabinets, and countertops. Rewiring, gas work, and structural changes are jobs for licensed trades or an engineer, which is why those parts of a plan get a closer look at the in-home consultation.

Plans for a major residential remodel

The agency publishes plan requirements for new homes and major residential remodels. Plans must be drawn neatly to scale, at a quarter inch to the foot, and detailed enough to show the nature of the work. For kitchens and baths, the parts that matter most are:

• A site plan with the assessor’s parcel number, setbacks, and the locations of the domestic well, private sewage system, propane tank, and existing structures

• A floor plan showing room uses, window sizes and types, plumbing fixtures, the water heater, and the cooktop and oven

• An electrical plan with lights, outlets, switches, GFCI-protected outlets, smoke detectors, the main service, and any subpanels

• A mechanical plan with equipment, ducts, and registers

• Energy compliance documentation attached to the plans, plus calculations for sizing HVAC equipment

Those site plan items reflect rural Kings County properties, where a domestic well, septic system, or propane tank may sit close to the work and reviewers need to see where. If lighting is part of your kitchen plan, our kitchen lighting plan guide walks through layers and placement.

Status checks, fees, and records

The Online Permits Center includes building permit status and report tools, and the agency invites email requests for plan check status or inspection results. Fees are set in the Community Development Agency fee schedule. For older records on a rural property, ask the agency what it has on file before you rely on an old addition or remodel, because unpermitted work tends to surface at sale, when buyers compare the house with the record.

Owner-builders should know one more thing first. CSLB notes that using anyone other than licensed subcontractors may make you an employer, and employers must register with state and federal agencies and handle income tax withholding, Social Security, workers’ compensation, disability insurance, and unemployment contributions. See CSLB’s owner-builder responsibilities.

Your consultation with All American

Homes in rural Kings County are within All American’s service area, and the estimator checks coverage by ZIP code before anyone schedules a visit. We confirm the permit needs for your project in person, during the free in-home consultation. Our Kings County remodeling page and process overview explain what to expect.