MEMPHIS GUIDE

Do Memphis water-damage repairs need a permit?

Extracting water and setting drying equipment is not the same project as replacing a beam, a circuit, or a supply line. This page cannot tell you the permit rule for your address. It can tell you which questions to take to the City of Memphis or Shelby County office that actually covers the house.

By Mike M · Sources checked October 6, 2026 · How we write these guides

What this page will not pretend to know

Permit thresholds change, and they are not the same for every lot in the metro. A house inside the City of Memphis and a house in unincorporated Shelby County can fall under different offices. Annexation history and the exact address matter more than a neighborhood nickname. Before you assume "water damage never needs a permit" or "everything needs one," call or check the permit office for that address and describe the work in plain language: drying only, or drying plus new wiring, new plumbing, or new structure.

This site does not quote an ordinance number, a fee, or a form name. Those details go stale, and a wrong citation is worse than a pointer. Use the city's own site and the county's own site, and ask the clerk to confirm you are in the right jurisdiction. If a contractor says "we never pull permits," ask what work they think is on the page. Sometimes they mean fans and extraction. Sometimes they mean they do not intend to pull a permit for a structural repair. Those are different sentences.

Insurance does not pull the permit for you. A claim payment, if you get one, is not a building-department approval. Keep the two files separate. The insurance notes are about describing the loss. This page is about who is allowed to rebuild pieces of the house afterward.

Drying versus rebuilding

Many losses start as extraction, removal of wet pad or swollen baseboard, and drying equipment. That visit may not, by itself, be the kind of construction the permit office cares about. Ask them anyway if the scope includes opening walls, replacing electrical devices, or cutting structural wood. "While we are in there" is how a drying job becomes a remodel. The written scope should say which one you bought.

Replacing a burst supply or a failed drain is plumbing work. Ask for a plumber who is licensed for that work in this state, and ask whether the restoration company is hiring them or expecting you to. Industry water-damage training is not a plumbing license. The hiring guide makes that distinction because it changes both the invoice and the inspection path. If the pipe repair is excluded, the permit question for the pipe belongs with the plumber, not with the fan crew.

Electrical repairs after water near a panel, a device, or an air handler are the same kind of split. Do not assume the restoration tech will "check the outlets" as a licensed electrical repair. If devices were submerged, say so, leave them off, and ask who is qualified to put them back in service. Standing in the water to test that yourself is the step this site keeps telling you to skip.

Roofs, storms, and structure

A storm that opens a roof often needs a temporary cover before drying is worth paying for, and it may need a roof repair that the drying crew does not perform. Structural pieces, a displaced wall, or a ceiling that came down can cross into work the building department wants to see. Describe what failed: shingles and a stain, or a rafter and daylight. The storm opening guide separates the board-up from the dry-out. Add the permit question on top once you know which trades are actually rebuilding.

Crawlspace repairs can be moisture management, or they can be sistering joists and replacing a girder. The first might be a drying scope. The second is structure. Ask the quote to use those words. If someone wants to jack a house or replace piers, that is the moment to pause and ask the permit office before the jacks show up. Do not authorize that from a doorway conversation.

Finish work is the gray area owners argue about. New drywall in place of removed wet board, paint, and flooring may or may not trip a permit depending on extent and what else is in the wall. Because this page will not guess your threshold, ask with the square footage and the trades in the description. A contractor who gives you a confident "never" without knowing the address is guessing too.

How to ask, and what to keep

When you call the office, have the street address, not just "Midtown" or "east Memphis." Say whether the property is your house or a rental you do not own. Owners and tenants do not have the same authority to pull a permit. If you are the tenant, the owner needs to be in the conversation before walls open.

Ask the contractor, in writing: who pulls any required permit, whose name is on it, and what happens to the schedule if an inspection is required. Ask for the license numbers you were promised for plumbing or electrical. Compare that with the questions on the before-you-hire list, which covers moisture readings and crawlspace access. Permits do not replace those drying questions. Drying questions do not replace permits.

Keep the scope, the licenses, and any permit paperwork with the photos of the loss. If a company offers to "handle the city" but will not say which office or which trade, treat that as a gap, not as a favor. You can still hire them for the part they are actually doing. You should not hire them for a structural change you have not described to the office that governs the address.