Madison, WI Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

The Home Occupation standard in Sec. " That phrasing does more than set a size cap, by naming the nameplate as the ONLY exterior indication permitted, it rules out every other form of exterior advertising for a home occupation, including illuminated signs, window displays, banners, sandwich boards or larger placards, regardless of what a business might display if it operated from a commercial storefront instead. The two-square-foot nameplate is also tied to the broader home occupation requirement in subsection (b) that the business stay "clearly incidental and secondary" to the dwelling's residential use, a prominent or illuminated sign undercuts that showing and puts the whole home occupation's by-right status at risk, not just the sign itself.

The disability exemption in subsection (m) does not reach the sign rule: it only exempts qualifying operators from subsections (g) through (k), so even an exempt home occupation must still comply with the (l) nameplate limit. Enforcement runs through the Zoning Administrator, and any exterior sign that exceeds the two-square-foot cap or uses illumination is a violation of Chapter 28, subject to the general zoning penalty in Sec. 207(1), MGO.