A farmhouse kitchen near Le Grand or a bathroom in a Delhi home may carry decades of small changes, and a remodel is when those changes get a closer look. If the house is outside city limits, the County’s Building and Safety Division issues the permit and sends the inspector.

Building and Safety at 2222 M Street

The Building and Safety Division of the Community and Economic Development Department issues building permits and inspects construction in the unincorporated areas of Merced County. It keeps weekday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the second floor at 2222 M Street in Merced, and the phone is (209) 385-7477. Unincorporated communities include Delhi, Winton, Planada, Le Grand, Hilmar-Irwin, Snelling, Stevinson, Ballico, El Nido, and Santa Nella.

Merced, Atwater, Livingston, Los Banos, Dos Palos, and Gustine are incorporated cities, so check with the city if your home is inside one. Our City of Merced permit guide covers addresses inside that city.

The County’s rule of thumb

The County’s Guide to Building Permits and Inspections, updated in December 2025, offers a simple test: new construction, remodels, additions, alterations, repairs, improvements, changes of use, electrical, plumbing or mechanical work, and demolitions require a building permit. It adds that there are many exceptions, generally minor repairs to existing systems, listed in the codes and the County Building Ordinance.

For a kitchen or bath, that means plumbing, wiring, venting, and framing changes need a permit, while the state residential code exempts finish work such as paint, tile, cabinets, and countertops. The County’s online Permit Decision Tool can help you test a specific project. Electrical, gas, and structural pieces call for licensed trades or engineering; raise them at the in-home consultation, where they are evaluated with the rest of the scope.

Four steps, and who else may review

1. Application. Zoning approval comes first when a project needs it, and County staff check whether the structure is in a flood zone.

2. Plan check. The Division collects the applicable review fees, and permit technicians route plans to Planning, Roads, Environmental Health, and the Fire Department as needed.

3. Permit issuance. After the routed reviews sign off, the permit is issued.

4. Inspections. Work is inspected in stages through the final.

Permits run through a computerized tracking system. You can apply on the County’s licensing and permitting portal, where the residential categories include an alteration permit plus separate electrical and mechanical types, or email permits@countyofmerced.com and a permit technician will enter your information. Questions about a building permit already in process can go to Buildings@countyofmerced.com. Upload plans as PDFs with no special characters such as # or % in the file names, which the County says keeps them routing on time.

The guide is linked from the Building and Safety page, or you can read the Guide to Building Permits and Inspections directly.

Records and permit history

The portal lets you check permit status and request public records and other building or property information. For a rural home with an old addition, start there before you plan around the work. Unpermitted rooms and baths tend to surface during a sale, when buyers and their inspectors compare the house with the record.

The portal also carries a scam alert worth repeating: Merced County will never ask you to wire money, and secure permit payments go through the County’s own licensing and permitting portal.

Owner-builder cautions

CSLB warns owners to be wary of unlicensed people who offer to guide them through the owner-builder process for a consulting fee, saying those people are breaking the law. It also notes that without construction knowledge, mistakes can be costly to correct and take extra time. Both points are on CSLB’s owner-builder risks page, and our guide to checking a contractor’s license helps you vet anyone you hire.

Planning with All American

Unincorporated Merced County is within All American’s service area, which the estimator confirms by ZIP code. Permits for your project are worked out at the free in-home consultation, alongside the scope and the planning range. See our Merced County remodeling page and how the process works.