Merced, CA Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

020 adopts, by reference, California Code of Regulations Title 24, Part 5, 2025 California Plumbing Code, based on the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code and as amended by the California Building Standards Commission, as the Plumbing Code for the City of Merced, current through Ordinance No. 2582, Section 10, effective December 15, 2025. 040 sets the licensing bar for permits: no permit issues for plumbing or drainage work regulated by this chapter, except to a person holding a valid unexpired and unrevoked California plumbing contractor's license and city contractor's business license.

050 preserves the owner-builder path, letting the bona fide owner of a single-family dwelling used exclusively for living purposes, and its accessory buildings, pull the plumbing permit without a contractor's license. 080 clarifies that laying sewer pipe outside a building and inside the property line does not require a plumbing contractor's license at all, so the city cannot refuse a permit, inspection tag or approval solely because the installer lacks that license, provided the work does not otherwise violate state contractor-licensing law. 060 backs a mandatory sewer-connection duty: wherever a public sewer runs within six hundred feet of a property, the chief building official can order the owner to connect within a period the notice sets, not to exceed one hundred eighty days, and if the owner fails to connect, the city makes the connection itself and assesses the cost as a lien on the property, collectible by suit.