Ocean County, NJ Building Permit Checklist

1. Confirm the work needs a permit

• Ordinary maintenance (N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.7) needs no permit and no notice.
• Minor work (5:23-2.17A), such as renovations in a one- or two-family home that don’t alter primary structural members, still needs a permit. You can start after giving the construction office notice, then file the application within five business days.
• Everything else (new buildings, additions, structural work, most new systems) needs a permit before work starts (5:23-2.14).

2. Get your prior approvals first

The UCC calls them “prior approvals”: approvals from other agencies that must be in place before the permit is issued. The state list (N.J.A.C. 5:23-1.4) includes zoning, soil erosion and sediment control, highway curb cuts, water and sewer approvals, coastal (CAFRA) review, Pinelands review, underground tank compliance and abandoned wells. In Ocean County, check these:

• Zoning permit from your township or borough. For an addition or alteration to an owner-occupied one- or two-family home, zoning approval has to be in place before the construction office will even start plan review (5:23-2.15(f)4ii(1)(A)). Zoning is also where most plot-plan and survey copies go. Copy counts by town are in our town guides.
• Township engineering or grading review, where your town has one. Brick, Berkeley, Jackson and Lacey all review grading or plot plans for new homes; ask your zoning office what applies to your project.
• Ocean County Soil Conservation District, if the project disturbs more than 5,000 square feet (the District’s FAQ says “5,000 square feet or more”), counting the footprint, driveway, utilities, grading and stockpiles. For a single house, state rules usually apply only when the lot came from a subdivision of two or more lots approved after January 1, 1976 (N.J.A.C. 2:90-1.5), so ask the District if you aren’t sure. The District’s FAQ says the ideal submission is one full set of plans and four copies of the soil erosion and sediment control plan, and the District has 30 days to certify the plan or send a review letter. Below the threshold, the District has a non-applicability request that needs a signed and sealed plot plan showing the disturbed area.
• Pinelands. 14 Ocean County towns have land in the state-designated Pinelands Area, including Toms River, Jackson, Manchester, Berkeley, Lacey, Barnegat, Stafford and Little Egg Harbor. Only part of each of these towns is in the Pinelands Area, and the Commission’s Property Lookup Map shows whether your lot is. If it is, and the work isn’t exempt, the Commission usually issues a Certificate of Filing before the town and county approvals. In towns in its Local Review Officer program, a single-family home on an existing lot is filed with the town instead.
• Coastal and flood permits from NJDEP (CAFRA, permit-by-rule, flood hazard) if your lot is in the coastal zone, on the water or in a regulated flood hazard area. Point Pleasant’s checklist, for example, asks for a copy of any DEP, CAFRA or permit-by-rule approval.
• Septic or well permit from the Ocean County Health Department, if the lot isn’t on public sewer or water. Under County Health Ordinance 94-1, the septic design plan must be prepared and sealed by a New Jersey professional engineer and can’t be larger than 24″ x 36″.
• Utility authority sign-off, where your town asks for it. Little Egg Harbor’s new-construction list asks for an MUA permit approval slip.
• Board approval if you need a variance. Bring a copy of the signed resolution to the construction office.

Most new houses don’t go to the Ocean County Planning Board: its rules say site plan review isn’t required for one- and two-family dwellings. Subdivisions do go to the Board.

3. Fill out the state permit forms

The forms are the same in every New Jersey town. They’re on DCA’s construction permit forms page, and many construction offices hand them out as a folder (the “jacket”).

• F100 Construction Permit Application, the jacket
• F110 Building subcode technical section
• F120 Electrical subcode technical section
• F130 Plumbing subcode technical section
• F140 Fire Protection subcode technical section
• F145 Mechanical Inspection technical section (Point Pleasant, for example, uses it for new or replacement heating and cooling in existing one- and two-family homes)
• Only the technical sections your project uses. Licensed electrical, plumbing and HVAC contractors seal and sign their own subcode forms. A homeowner doing their own work on their own single-family home can sign instead (5:23-2.15(b)).
• Copies: DCA asks for one original plus three photocopies of each completed form. If a form needs a raised seal, the copies need it too.

Have these ready for the jacket:

• Block, lot and site address
• Owner’s name and address (an owner outside New Jersey names a New Jersey agent)
• Contractor’s license number (or, for a new home, the builder registration number), plus the home improvement contractor registration number or the reason for an exemption
• Architect’s or engineer’s name and contact
• Estimated cost of the work for each subcode, including materials and labor, even donated ones
• Total land area disturbed, flood hazard zone, base flood elevation and whether there are wetlands
• For a new building or addition: floor area, volume, stories and height

4. Put the plan set together

For a single-family home, N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.15A(b) lists what the plans have to show. A complete set has:

• Site diagram: new and existing construction drawn to scale, distances to lot lines, and new building services. Base it on an accurate boundary survey.
• Construction plans: foundation, floor plans and elevations, with structural framing notes for every floor, ceiling and roof, and a loading schedule showing design live loads.
• Typical wall section from the footing through the roof framing, naming the materials, insulation and sheathing.
• Truss layout and permanent bracing plan, if you’re using trusses.
• Electrical: lighting, receptacles, smoke detectors, service entrance location and size, panel size and location, number of circuits, and a symbol legend.
• Plumbing: fixture locations, water and drainage pipe sizes, a riser diagram, and a note saying public sewer or septic.
• Mechanical: heating system type, unit location and size, distribution, gas riser with pipe sizes and input ratings, dampers, and flue.
• Energy compliance for a new home or addition, for example a REScheck printout.
• Seal and signature of the architect or engineer on each sheet of each copy. A homeowner who drew the plans for their own detached single-family home files an affidavit instead. That exception doesn’t cover structural design for new or substantially improved homes in a V flood zone.
• Work area marked on the plans for reconstruction in an existing building.
• Adjoining-property protection plan in the situations listed in 5:23-2.15(f)1i(1), such as a new foundation immediately next to an existing one.

5. Make the right number of copies

• State minimum: at least two paper copies of the plans for a paper filing. One released set stays with the town and one stays at the job site (5:23-2.15A(a), 2.16(e)).
• Filing online? You still need a paper copy of the released plans at the work site, sealed and wet-signed by the design professional (5:23-2.15B(d)).
• Town extras: many towns ask for more, such as a third unsealed set, a set for the tax assessor, or extra plot plans. Look up your town in the town guides or the dataset.
• Sheet size: print at the size the drawings were made for. Some offices refuse reduced or enlarged copies, and some cap the sheet size, so ask before you print.

6. Flood-zone add-ons

Flood-zone lots are where Ocean County towns differ most. Lacey, Stafford and Little Egg Harbor all ask for elevation certificates, and many towns add their own flood review on top of the state rules. Two examples from towns we haven’t written guides for yet:

• Point Pleasant Borough (new construction and additions): the elevation drawing has to show grade, the crawl space or slab elevation, the base flood elevation, the design flood elevation (BFE plus 3 feet in Point Pleasant) and the finished floor elevation. Plans go in as two hard copies plus one PDF by email.
• Little Egg Harbor: new construction, additions and substantial improvements in flood hazard areas need two foundation location surveys by a New Jersey licensed land surveyor before vertical construction continues.

7. After you file

• The construction office has 20 business days to approve or deny the application, and 7 business days to act on revised plans you resubmit (5:23-2.16(a)).
• Keep the released set, stamped by the town, at the job site for every inspection.
• The permit becomes invalid if work doesn’t start within 12 months of issue, or if it stops for 6 months after it starts (5:23-2.16(b)).
• An application that sits is treated as abandoned 6 months after filing unless it’s being actively pursued (5:23-2.15(f)4iv). Design changes can be filed as amendments at any time.