Permit briefing
Do you need a permit for a pergola?
A freestanding pergola is a detached accessory structure under the International Residential Code, permit-free to 200 sq ft; attached, it needs a permit.
The reliable short answer
Settle two facts before calling anyone: whether any part of it will rest on the house, and how much ground it will cover. The model code and both checked cities start from those.
Planning complexity
Medium
Local answer required
Yes
The model code’s answer
Do I need a permit for a pergola?
Not for a freestanding pergola no larger than 200 square feet, under the International Residential Code, though the code never uses the word. It calls a structure accessory when it is incidental to the house and on the same lot, and it exempts a one-story detached accessory structure up to that floor area. A pergola attached to the house matches no item on the exempt list, so the general rule applies: it needs a permit at any size.
| Rule | What it exempts |
|---|---|
| Model code (IRC R105.2) | Freestanding: up to 200 sq ft; attached: not on the list |
| Austin | No pergola line; its accessory line is 200 sq ft and 15 ft |
| Los Angeles | Freestanding, up to 400 sq ft, outside any fire district |
Los Angeles is the one checked city that names pergolas: its building code does not apply to a freestanding pergola or lath house of up to 400 square feet, twice the model's area, when it stands outside any fire district. Austin's pages name no pergola, so a freestanding one has to fit the line for accessory structures, and Development Services decides whether it does. Neither city lists an exemption for a pergola fixed to the house.
A three-step permit decision
1. Keep it off the house, or plan on a permit
The model code exempts detached structures, and Los Angeles exempts only a pergola that is not supported by or attached to any portion of a building. Hanging one side from a ledger on the house takes it out of both exemptions.
2. Ask how the area is measured
The model code writes its limit as floor area, which a pergola does not have, and Los Angeles writes simply area. Near the line, ask the building department whether it counts the ground inside the posts or the outline of the top, overhangs included.
3. Settle the cover before you apply
The exemptions speak of pergolas and detached structures, not roofs. Where a city adopts the model code's optional patio-cover appendix, a patio cover is limited to one story, 12 feet high and outdoor living use, so a solid or louvered top is a question to put to the city first.
What Austin and Los Angeles say about a pergola
Austin
- Ask the city
- Austin's exempt list names no pergola. A freestanding one would have to fit its line for a one-story detached accessory structure: no more than 200 square feet of floor area and 15 feet in height, without plumbing, not creating a dwelling, and outside flood hazard areas. Development Services decides whether it does.
- Permit
- No Austin residential permit form names a pergola either. Ask Development Services, at 512-978-4000, which path yours takes.
Los Angeles
- No permit
- A pergola up to 400 square feet that stands outside any fire district and is not supported by or attached to any building: the building code does not apply to it.
- Permit
- Fixed to the house, larger, or inside a fire district, a pergola falls under the code, which asks for a permit before any structure it covers is built.
- Fees
- When one is needed, the pergola's valuation decides what LADBS charges for it.
What to have ready before you call
- Sketch of every post, beam and any ledger, and what each one bears on
- Area inside the posts and outline of the top, overhangs included
- Overall height and the planned top: open rafters, louvers, shade cloth or panels
- Fire district or flood hazard status of the lot
- Setbacks from each lot line under the lot's zoning
- Any wiring for fans or lights