Hudson, NH Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 334-16, last amended through 3-13-2012 by Amdt. Nos. 1 and 2, requires any person, firm or corporation to obtain a building permit before commencing work on the erection, alteration or movement of a building or structure. For one- and two-family dwellings, Hudson has adopted and follows the 2009 International Residential Code, and it also adopts the ADA standards at 28 CFR Part 36; for every other structure the Town enforces the current State Building Code adopted under RSA 155-A:1, with the more restrictive of the local ordinance or the IRC controlling whenever the two differ.

Subsection A exempts a list of small accessory structures from needing a permit at all: mailboxes, doghouses, birdbaths, ornamental landscaping, swing sets, children's playhouses, clotheslines, and fences eight feet or less in height, along with anything else the Building Inspector determines, by custom and reason, does not need one. Before a permit issues, § 334-16C requires the structure to present a reasonable appearance in keeping with the neighborhood and be finished and painted on the exterior, and sets minimum living-area floors for new dwellings: 850 square feet for a single-family home, 1,500 for a duplex, 2,250 and 3,000 square feet respectively for three- and four-unit buildings, and 750 square feet per unit in a multifamily building.

No more than one single-family home or duplex may go on one lot without Planning Board site plan approval, and a certificate of occupancy from the Building Inspector, following a Zoning Administrator inspection, is required before any permitted structure may be occupied. An issued permit becomes void if no substantial construction starts within one year, per § 334-16D.