Tempe, AZ Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Section 3-412 of the Zoning and Development Code, the Home Occupation standard, lets Tempe residents run small commercial ventures out of a dwelling as an accessory use, but only within a list of protective standards meant to keep the operation invisible to neighbors. ' Motor vehicle repairing sits on that list by name, alongside kennels and massage parlors, meaning it is not a matter of degree or scale: a single oil-change side business or a full-service garage in a residential garage are equally out of bounds under the zoning code.

This bar exists independent of any state contractor licensing a repair operator might hold; Arizona Registrar of Contractors licensing regulates who may legally do the mechanical work, while Tempe's zoning code separately controls where that work may happen, and it excludes residential lots entirely for this use. 7 removes it from eligibility outright. Anyone wanting to run a repair business must instead locate it in a zoning district that permits automotive repair as a principal use, subject to the City's separate commercial development standards, or pursue a rezoning rather than treating the home occupation category as a workaround.