Remodeling Permits in Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County's Department of Permitting Services issues building and electrical permits for most addresses, but plumbing and gas permits come from WSSC Water, and Rockville and Gaithersburg run their own permit offices. Confirm which office your address answers to before work starts. Remodel Now remodels kitchens and bathrooms across Montgomery County.

Your address decides which permit office you answer to

Montgomery County is not one permit jurisdiction. It is a county permit office plus a handful of incorporated cities that adopt their own codes, employ their own inspectors and issue their own permits. The county has no role inside those city limits.

For most of the county, the Department of Permitting Services in Wheaton is the office. DPS handles building, alteration, electrical and mechanical permits for everything in the unincorporated county, which is Silver Spring, Bethesda, Wheaton, Germantown, Olney, Potomac and the great majority of houses here. Its residential alteration permit is the one most remodels run through, and the page defines the trigger plainly: a permit is required for reconstruction or renovation to an existing structure other than a repair, and reconstruction includes partial demolition.

A mailing address is not a jurisdiction. This is the most expensive misunderstanding in Montgomery County remodeling. A house with a Rockville postal address may sit inside the corporate limits of the City of Rockville or several miles outside them, and the two cases route to different permit offices, different inspectors and different adopted codes. The same is true of Gaithersburg.

Plumbing is separate again. The county does not issue plumbing permits for most of its territory. Its own homeowner permit flyer lists plumbing under work that requires a permit and gives a one-line instruction beside it: contact WSSC. That is WSSC Water, the bi-county utility serving Montgomery and Prince George's, and it issues plumbing and gas permits under its own code, with its own licensed tradespeople and its own inspectors.

So before anyone talks about cabinets, find out which office your address answers to.

The permits a Montgomery County remodel can touch

A remodel is not one permit. It is a small stack of them, issued by different offices on different timelines.

The building or alteration permit covers the structure and the room itself. Framing, walls, floor structure, headers, egress, stairs, anything that changes the shape of the house. DPS issues it for unincorporated addresses, and it is the permit that carries plan review.

The electrical permit is its own application with its own licensing rule. DPS requires an applicant for a stand-alone electrical permit to hold a Maryland state Master Electrician license and a valid electrical business license number, and applications go through the DPS ePermits system. Homeowners cannot file that application online the way a licensed contractor can.

The mechanical permit covers ducted equipment and some ventilation work. It often rides alongside an alteration permit and is easy to forget until an inspector asks for it.

The plumbing and gas permit comes from WSSC Water. Its homeowner permit guidance says that in Montgomery and Prince George's counties most plumbing projects must be done by a WSSC Water licensed plumber or gasfitter, that applications are submitted through ePermitting, and that paper applications are no longer accepted. Gas work is the strictest category. Moving a gas line for a range, or reconnecting one after a cabinet run changes, sits squarely inside it.

Two more appear without warning. A right-of-way permit applies when a dumpster or a utility connection touches the public street. A historic area work permit applies when the property is on the county's master plan for historic preservation, and that review comes before the building permit.

Rockville issues its own building and trade permits

If the property is inside the City of Rockville, Montgomery County DPS is not the permit office. The city's Inspection Services Division is, and it issues the full set. The city's building and trade permit page lists residential construction, decks, sheds, accessory dwelling units, demolition and occupancy permits on the building side, and backflow, electrical, mechanical, meter and plumbing permits on the trade side. Applications run through the city's MGO Connect portal, not county eServices.

Rockville also adopts and amends its own codes. Administrative Bulletin 2024-01 records that the Mayor and Council adopted an ordinance amending and retitling Chapter 5 of the city code, now called Building and Property Maintenance Regulations, with local amendments generally effective May 29, 2024. Those amendments are not cosmetic. The city raised the maximum height of a patio or deck that escapes a building permit from four inches to seven and three quarters inches, to line up with the maximum allowable riser height. It rewrote the roofing and siding exemption so it applies primarily to in-kind replacement of the outermost exterior covering layer. It narrowed the drywall exemption to drywall that is not part of a fire-resistance-rated assembly. It raised the minimum service disconnect for a one-family dwelling from one hundred fifty amps to two hundred. A contractor working off county assumptions inside Rockville will get some of these wrong.

The strongest confirmation comes from the county itself. The DPS page describing its homeowner electrical exam, which lets a qualifying owner of a single-family detached home sit a two-hour open-book test and pull a limited electrical permit, states the eligibility rule in one sentence: the property cannot be within the city limits of Rockville or Gaithersburg. The county will not issue there because it cannot.

Rockville's plumbing situation has a wrinkle worth knowing. The city supplies water to part of its territory and WSSC Water supplies the rest. The city's express water heater permit guide tells applicants to check the Water Service Provider Map to see whether an address is on WSSC or City of Rockville water, and says addresses on WSSC water are to get the permit from them. The same guide requires a licensed plumber or gasfitter to hold a current City of Rockville license and a State of Maryland license, and notes that owners can apply for the permit but cannot act as the contractor. Two houses on the same Rockville street can route their plumbing permit to two different agencies.

Gaithersburg, Takoma Park and the rest of the municipal map

Gaithersburg works the way Rockville does. The city issues a residential improvement permit for alteration work, and the examples the city gives are exactly what homeowners mean when they say remodel: finishing a basement, remodeling a kitchen or a bathroom, enlarging a window or door opening. Electrical and mechanical permits are separate city applications.

Takoma Park trips people up because it works differently from both. Takoma Park does not issue building permits. The county does. But the city inserts itself ahead of the county with a document called a municipality letter. The city's municipality letter page states that any renovation, building or outdoor project requiring a permit from the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services first requires a municipality letter from Takoma Park, that there is no fee for it, and that the letter is not itself a permit. Skip it and the county application stalls. Takoma Park layers its own tree rules on top, enforced by the city and separate from the county's. Construction within fifty feet of an urban forest tree, on the property or on the one next door, can require a tree impact assessment and a protection plan, and taking one down is a separate city application.

Takoma Park also sits largely inside a county historic district, which brings a third review. Montgomery Planning's historic area work permit process covers exterior alterations, new construction and demolition on properties listed on the county's master plan for historic preservation, individually or as part of a district. There is no fee, but approval does not replace the building permit, and the planning department notes that municipalities such as Takoma Park may have their own requirements on top.

Kensington, Chevy Chase, Garrett Park and Poolesville each have municipal rules of varying reach. The county's permit flyer says so in its own footnote: the information does not include municipality and homeowners association rules, and if you live in a municipality or have an association, check the bylaws.

What needs a permit and what does not

The county publishes a short, blunt guide for homeowners called Permits Required, No Permits Required. For an unincorporated address it is the fastest authoritative way to see where the line sits.

  • Interior work. Permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Interior alteration, addition, accessory structure. No permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Cabinets installed, repaired or replaced; floor coverings; walls repaired or painted.
  • Electrical. Permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Electrical work generally. No permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Plug receptacles repaired or replaced in the same location.
  • Plumbing. Permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: All plumbing, through WSSC Water rather than the county. No permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: The county's homeowner guide lists no exempt plumbing work.
  • Exterior. Permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Deck, fence, garage, shed, driveway apron, exterior work on a historic property. No permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Roof covering only, siding, patios, private walkways, gutters and downspouts.
  • Windows and doors. Permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Any change to the opening size or the net clear opening dimension. No permit required in unincorporated Montgomery County: Replacement without changing the opening size or the net clear opening dimension.

Two of those do most of the damage. Cabinets installed, repaired or replaced needs no permit, which sounds like a kitchen remodel is exempt. It is not, because almost no kitchen remodel stops at cabinets. The other is plumbing, listed under work that requires a permit with the instruction to contact WSSC rather than the county, which homeowners read as the county saying no permit is needed. The county is saying the opposite.

Everything on the exempt side carries the caveat the county prints at the bottom of that page: work exempt from permits must still not violate the building code or any other law or ordinance for that jurisdiction.

Where the line falls in a kitchen remodel

Swap the doors, keep the boxes, keep the layout, keep every appliance where it is. That is a finish job and it needs no permit in unincorporated Montgomery County.

Now change one thing. Move the sink two feet so it lines up with the window. That is a drain and vent relocation, which means a WSSC Water plumbing permit and a WSSC licensed plumber, and it is not something a general contractor or a homeowner can file around. Add an island with an outlet and the electrical permit follows, filed by a Maryland master electrician holding an electrical business license. Take out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and you are into the alteration permit with a structural plan, because in a 1960s Wheaton rambler or a Silver Spring colonial that wall is frequently carrying the ceiling joists above it. Convert a window to a door, or widen an opening, and the window and door exemption stops applying, because it only survives if the opening size and the net clear opening dimension do not change.

Gas deserves its own paragraph. Plenty of Montgomery County kitchens run a gas range, and a layout change usually moves it. Gas line work here is WSSC gasfitting work. It needs a WSSC licensed gasfitter, a WSSC permit and a WSSC inspection, and on a county permit the scheduling and approval of that inspection falls to the WSSC licensed master of record rather than to the homeowner.

Range hood venting is the quiet one. A recirculating hood is a filter in a box. A ducted hood terminating through a wall or roof is mechanical work, often a mechanical permit, and it is the detail most likely to be drawn on a plan and never built. Remodel Now remodels kitchens in Rockville, Silver Spring and across Montgomery County, Maryland, and these are the questions worth settling before cabinets are ordered. The number is (301) 798-4696.

Bathrooms, basements and the second errand nobody plans for

A bathroom is the densest room in the house and it triggers the most offices. New tub, new pan, relocated toilet, new vanity drain, new mixing valve: all of it is plumbing work under the WSSC code, pulled by a WSSC licensed plumber on a WSSC permit. The fan, the vanity circuit and any added receptacle are electrical work on a county or city electrical permit. If a wall moves or a floor is opened for a drain, add the alteration permit.

A basement bathroom adds two problems. Drainage below the sewer invert needs a pump system, which is a design decision rather than a fixture swap. And a basement bath is usually part of a larger basement finish, which is unambiguously an interior alteration and needs its own permit for the framing, egress and smoke alarm work whether or not a bathroom is in the plan.

The second errand is what homeowners do not plan for. Because the plumbing permit lives at a different agency with a different portal and a different inspector, it has its own queue and its own sequence, and the county says so in the inspection sequence it publishes for a residential alterations permit: county inspectors will not conduct a close-in inspection or a final inspection without an approved WSSC rough-in or final inspection. One agency gates the other. A crew treating the WSSC permit as paperwork to catch up on later finds the county inspection cannot be scheduled at all.

Remodel Now remodels bathrooms throughout the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area, including Montgomery County, where this two-agency sequence is simply how the work goes.

Roofs, siding, windows and doors

Exterior work carries the most generous exemptions in the county and the most misread ones.

Roof covering only sits on the no-permit side of the county's homeowner guide. Covering only is doing a lot of work in that phrase. Tear off shingles, lay new shingles, done. Open up sheathing, replace decking, change the structure of the roof, add a skylight, and the exemption has stopped applying. Siding is likewise listed as exempt with no qualifier beside it, which is narrower than it looks. Rockville writes the limit out in its own amendments, confining the exemption primarily to in-kind replacement of the outermost exterior covering layer, and the sheathing and water-resistive barrier behind it are a different question.

Windows and doors are exempt only on a narrow condition, stated by the county and repeated by Rockville in its own amendments: replacement without changing the opening size and without reducing the net clear opening dimensions. Net clear opening is egress language. A bedroom window has a minimum size a person can get out of, and some replacement units with thicker frames quietly shrink the clear opening below it inside the same rough opening. Nobody pulled a permit, so nobody caught it.

Decks are not exempt beyond a very low platform. Rockville sets its threshold at seven and three quarters inches, and requires floor framing within thirty-six inches of the ground to be inspected before any decking goes down.

Historic properties invert all of this. Exterior work on a historic property is listed on the county's permit-required side with no finish-work carve-out, and the historic area work permit is reviewed before a building permit can issue. Replacing a window sash or installing siding on a listed property is a reviewable alteration, not maintenance.

The codes Montgomery County actually enforces

Writing that Maryland requires something is almost always wrong. Maryland adopts a statewide baseline and every county and municipality amends it, and what gets enforced on your job is the amended local version.

Montgomery County enforces the 2021 International Code Council family, adopted with Executive Regulation 13-24 and effective December 10, 2024. The county's master code list names that one regulation against the residential, building, mechanical, fuel gas, energy, green building and existing building codes, each carrying county amendments.

The amendments matter more than the base edition, and the permit exemptions are where a homeowner runs into them. The county's homeowner guide puts roof covering, siding, and windows and doors replaced without changing the opening size or the net clear opening dimensions on the no-permit side. None of those sit on the unamended residential code's exempt list. Reading the model code and assuming it governs is how a plan comes back with corrections.

Electrical runs on the National Electrical Code rather than the residential code's electrical chapters, and DPS examines homeowners on the department's currently adopted edition of NFPA 70. Plumbing and fuel gas run on the WSSC Water Plumbing and Fuel Gas Code, which the county's master code list names as the plumbing and gas standard of record, with no county executive regulation listed beside it. The county does not enforce the International Plumbing Code here, and the residential code's plumbing chapters are not the standard either. A fixture clearance or a vent sizing question in Bethesda is settled out of the WSSC code, by a WSSC inspector.

Inside Rockville, Chapter 5 of the city code governs, with the city's own articles for the building code, the one- and two-family dwelling code, the electrical code, the mechanical code and the plumbing code, each carrying city amendments on top of the 2021 editions.

Inspections, and the mistake that opens a finished wall

Permits first. Demolition. Rough-in, meaning drains, vents, supply, gas, wiring, boxes and fan housings all open and visible. Rough inspections. Then, and only then, insulation, drywall, backer board and tile.

The rough inspection is the gate, and in Montgomery County it is a gate with two keys. The county calls the framing or close-in inspection only once the framing, the roof, the stairs, the fire and draft stopping, the air sealing of the thermal envelope, the exterior sheathing and house wrap and the flashed windows and doors are all in, with exterior finishes still off. Its approval comes before insulation goes up and before outlets, switches, fixtures and appliances go in, and the framing, rough wiring and mechanical inspections are requested together. Where plumbing or gas is in the scope, the WSSC rough-in approval comes first. County inspections are requested at least twenty-four hours ahead, by permit type, permit number and the contact ID printed on the permit.

The mistake that costs real money is covering work before it is seen. Tile over an uninspected shower rough, drywall over an uninspected circuit, and the remedy is to make it accessible again. That is the same tile, the same labor and the same plumber, done twice.

Reinspection fees are usually not about bad work. They are about an inspection called before the work was ready, nobody on site to give access, or no approved plans at the job. Those are scheduling failures, avoidable by asking whether the rough is genuinely finished before the inspection is called.

Older housing adds one more item. Much of Takoma Park, downtown Silver Spring, Kensington and the older parts of Rockville and Bethesda predates 1978. Anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in a pre-1978 home has to be a firm certified under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, with workers trained in lead-safe practices. Taking down painted plaster in a 1948 Silver Spring bungalow is exactly the activity that rule was written for, and EPA runs the program directly in Maryland.

License, insurance and records: what to see before anyone starts

Three documents answer most of what a homeowner needs to know, and all three can be checked before signing.

The first is the MHIC license. Maryland home improvement contractors are licensed by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, and only MHIC licensed contractors may enter into contracts with homeowners for home improvement work. The number belongs on the contract, and the commission publishes a free license status search returning status and complaint history. Look it up yourself, and check that the name on the license matches the name on the contract.

The second is insurance, and Maryland changed here recently. Under Business Regulation Article Section 8-302.1, effective June 1, 2024, Maryland home improvement contractors must carry general liability insurance at a statutory minimum level as a condition of licensure. Verifying it is a process rather than a glance. Ask for a certificate issued by the insurer or its agent, then call that agent and confirm the policy is live on the day you ask, because a certificate records only the day it was printed. Workers' compensation is the separate question, and it is the one that reaches your own homeowner's policy if an uninsured worker is hurt on your property.

The third is the trade license on whoever actually does the work. Electricians are licensed by the state, and Maryland publishes a license search for master, journeyperson and apprentice electricians. Plumbers and gasfitters in Montgomery County need a WSSC Water license, and WSSC tells homeowners to take the license number from the plumber and confirm it with the utility's licensing office. Inside Rockville a current city license sits on top of the state one.

The contract itself is regulated. MHIC's contract requirements say it must be in writing and signed by each party, must carry the contractor's name, address and MHIC license number, must describe the work and the materials, must give approximate start and substantial completion dates, and must include the homeowner notice about the commission and the Guaranty Fund notice. A contractor cannot accept more than one third of the contract price as a deposit and cannot accept any payment before the contract is signed. The homeowner must receive a signed copy before work starts.

One last check costs nothing. Ask what is already on record for your address. Permit history is a public record, and a bathroom or basement that exists in the house but not in the permit file is the kind of thing a buyer's inspector or a lender finds later. Remodel Now serves Rockville, Silver Spring and the surrounding Montgomery County communities, and the permit question is worth settling in the first conversation rather than the week before demolition.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

What permits do I need for a kitchen remodel in Montgomery County, Maryland?

It depends entirely on scope, and on which office your address answers to. Replacing cabinets and countertops in the same layout needs no permit in the unincorporated county, because the county's homeowner permit guide lists cabinets installed, repaired or replaced on the no-permit side. The moment plumbing moves you need a WSSC Water plumbing permit pulled by a WSSC licensed plumber, because Montgomery County does not issue plumbing permits. New or extended circuits need an electrical permit, filed by someone holding a Maryland Master Electrician license and an electrical business license. Moving or removing a wall puts you into a residential alteration permit with plan review through the Department of Permitting Services. A ducted range hood can bring in a mechanical permit. Inside the City of Rockville or the City of Gaithersburg, the city issues these instead of the county.

Does Montgomery County issue plumbing permits?

No. For most of the county the plumbing and gas permit comes from WSSC Water, the utility serving Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The county's own homeowner permit flyer lists plumbing under work that requires a permit and the instruction beside it reads contact WSSC. WSSC says most plumbing projects in the two counties must be done by a WSSC Water licensed plumber or gasfitter, that permit applications go through its ePermitting system, and that paper applications are no longer accepted. WSSC sends its own inspectors, and the county will not approve a framing inspection on a job with plumbing or gas in it until the WSSC inspection is approved first.

My address says Rockville. Do I apply to the city or the county?

Check the boundary, not the envelope. A Rockville mailing address covers a large area, and a great many of those houses sit outside the corporate limits of the City of Rockville in the unincorporated county. If the property is inside city limits, the city's Inspection Services Division issues the building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits through the MGO Connect portal, and Montgomery County DPS has no role. If it is outside, DPS issues the building, electrical and mechanical permits and WSSC Water issues the plumbing and gas permit. The county confirms the split in its own material: its homeowner electrical exam is only open to properties that are not within the city limits of Rockville or Gaithersburg.

Do I need a permit to replace kitchen cabinets and countertops?

In the unincorporated county, generally no. The county's guide puts cabinets installed, repaired or replaced, floor coverings, and walls repaired or painted on the no-permit side, and its residential alteration page lists installing countertops among the cosmetic work that is exempt as long as no structural changes are performed. The exemption is narrower than it sounds. If the new layout moves the sink, the dishwasher drain or the gas line, that is plumbing or gas work under the WSSC code. If it adds circuits or relocates receptacles, that is electrical work. The county also prints the standard caveat: work exempt from permits must still comply with the building code and other applicable law.

How do I verify a contractor's insurance in Maryland?

Ask for a certificate of insurance issued by the insurance company or its agent, with your name and project address shown as certificate holder, then call the agent named on the certificate and confirm the policy is active as of today. A certificate records the position on the day it was printed, and a policy can lapse between signing and demolition. Separately, check workers' compensation. The Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission points the public to an employer coverage verification search by employer name, and a blank result there means only that nothing was returned rather than that coverage is absent, so pair it with the carrier confirmation. Maryland also requires licensed home improvement contractors to carry general liability insurance at a statutory minimum level as a condition of licensure under Business Regulation Article Section 8-302.1, effective June 1, 2024.

How do I check that a remodeling contractor is licensed in Maryland?

Use the Maryland Home Improvement Commission's free license status search and look the contractor up by name or license number. Only MHIC licensed contractors may enter into home improvement contracts with Maryland homeowners, and the license number has to appear on the contract along with the contractor's name and address. Check that the name on the license matches the name on the contract rather than a trade name on a truck. For the trades, electricians are licensed by the state and Maryland publishes a separate electrician license search, while plumbers and gasfitters working in Montgomery County need a WSSC Water license, and WSSC tells homeowners to take that number from the plumber and confirm it with the utility's licensing office.

Does Takoma Park issue its own building permits?

No, but it stands ahead of the county in the process. Montgomery County DPS issues the building permit for a Takoma Park address. The city's own guidance states that any renovation, building or outdoor project requiring a permit from the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services first requires a municipality letter from Takoma Park, that there is no fee for it, and that the letter is not itself a permit. The city also enforces its own tree protection requirements, which are separate from the county's, and much of Takoma Park sits inside a county historic district where a historic area work permit is reviewed before the building permit can issue.

Can I pull my own permits as a homeowner in Montgomery County?

Sometimes, and less often than people expect. The county offers a Rough Wiring and Fixtures examination for homeowners: an owner of a single-family detached dwelling that is their primary residence, shown on the deed or an immediate family member of the owner, may sit a two-hour open-book exam based on the National Electrical Code and then be issued an electrical permit for a limited scope of work. The property cannot be within the city limits of Rockville or Gaithersburg. On the plumbing side, WSSC allows homeowners a narrow set of work defined in its code, and the City of Rockville notes that an owner can apply for a plumbing permit but cannot act as the contractor. Anything a paid contractor performs has to go through that contractor's license.

Contact Us
Call Now
Get A Quote