Wauwatosa, WI Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

020 list specific uses that are expressly prohibited from operating as a home-based business, and vehicle repair tops the list. The code bars any type of repair or assembly of vehicles or equipment with internal combustion engines, naming autos, motorcycles, scooters, snowmobiles, outboard marine engines, lawn mowers and chain saws, and it extends the ban to any other work related to automobiles and their parts. The same prohibited-use list also bars repairing large appliances such as washing machines, dryers and refrigerators from a home. Auto and small-engine repair join a short list of other outright-banned home businesses: dispatch centers where employees report to be sent to job sites, rental businesses, tow truck services, material or equipment storage businesses, restaurants, funeral or interment services, and animal boarding businesses.

Because the prohibition sits inside the home occupation section, it applies only to residentially zoned property; a licensed auto repair shop can still operate as a principal commercial use where zoning otherwise allows it, subject to Wauwatosa's business licensing and conditional use rules for that use category. A homeowner who wants to work on their own personal vehicle in their own garage, rather than run a repair business, is not the target of this rule, which governs businesses operated out of a dwelling.