Remodeling contractor in Naperville, IL

Building permits come from the Transportation, Engineering and Development Business Group, which the City shortens to TED, at the Municipal Center on 400 S. Eagle Street. Applications go through the City's Civic Access portal. The City's own permit guide lists kitchen, basement and bathroom remodels as work that needs a permit, along with additions and pools.

Review time depends on the job. The City says a fence or driveway can clear in under a week, while a new house can take three to four weeks, and the busy season runs longer. The permit has to be posted where it can be seen from the street, and inspections are booked at least 72 hours ahead. We pull the permit and handle the inspections.

There is no general contractor licence in Naperville. Electricians are a different story. They must hold a state licence and register with the City, and plumbing contractors must file a copy of their state registration with every permit that includes plumbing.

Naperville straddles DuPage and Will counties. The City's township guide puts DuPage County residents north of 87th Street, with Will County below. For most interior work that changes nothing, because TED still issues the permit.

It matters near water. Floodplain work in the DuPage County part follows the DuPage Countywide Stormwater and Floodplain Ordinance, and in the Will County part it follows the Will County Stormwater Management Ordinance. Both are adopted into City code, so we check which one your address falls under before drawing an addition.

The old town is small. The local historic district, designated in 1986, covers about 30 blocks between North Avenue, Columbia Street, Chicago, Jefferson and Franklin avenues and Loomis Street. Its 2026 survey lists Italianate and Greek Revival houses from the 1860s and 1870s, gable front cottages, Queen Annes, Foursquares and 1920s bungalows.

Most of the city is much newer. Naperville's first comprehensive plan, in 1960, served just under 13,000 people. The City now counts 153,337. Its land use plan records that more than 80 percent of the southwest sector, south of 75th Street, was built out by 2002, and that the northwest sector, 1,600 undeveloped acres in 1996, is now largely built out. So the typical Naperville job is a subdivision house with a full basement, not a farmhouse.

Naperville amends the national codes in ways that show up on the invoice. Plastic sheathed NM cable is only allowed for temporary wiring, so new circuits go in conduit or another approved method. The plumbing amendment bars PVC, CPVC, polyethylene and polybutylene pipe for the water supply, and new fixtures must carry the WaterSense label where one is available.

The City also owns its electric utility, and the Department of Public Utilities Electric sets service rules that differ from ComEd's. Plans for an addition, deck or other accessory structure must show the electric meter and the buried service line on your plat of survey.

A finished basement in Naperville needs 6 feet 8 inches of ceiling height, or 6 feet 4 inches under beams and ducts. The City's stormwater pages say sump pumps should discharge at least 10 feet from the house and must never tie into the sanitary sewer or a floor drain.

If sewage has come up through your floor drain after heavy rain, call the Water Utility first. Its backflow device program reimburses 75 percent of the approved cost for eligible customers, but only for sanitary sewer surcharge, not stormwater, and only with approval before any work starts.

Most single family lots are zoned R1, R1A or R1B. R1 lots start at 13,000 square feet with a 25 foot total for the two side yards, and all three districts cap houses at two and a half stories and 35 feet. Rear yards are 25 percent of lot depth, capped at 30 or 35 feet depending on the district.

In the historic district, an addition that touches the street facing facade needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission. A rear addition not visible from the street does not, though it still needs a building permit.

Every inground pool in Naperville needs a permit, and the barrier rules from the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, as the City amends it, apply to existing fences as well as new ones. Naperville fences top out at 6 feet, and the City asks for clearance around its electric transformers.