Fitchburg, WI Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)
Construction hours in Fitchburg, WI, sometimes called construction noise rules or contractor work-hour ordinances, set when contractors can run power tools, hammers, and heavy equipment.
Key Facts
- Prohibited hours
- 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., every day
- Covered activity
- Excavating, grading, building, constructing, erecting
- Exception
- Noise necessary to protect public health, safety, welfare
- On-site enforcement
- Officer may order immediate stop (§ 74-111(d))
- Fallback penalty
- $25-$500 first offense; $50-$1,000 repeat (§ 1-21)
Summary
Fitchburg, Wisconsin bars construction noise, including excavating, grading, building or erecting a structure, between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on any day under Fitchburg City Code § 74-111(c). The only exception is noise necessary to protect public health, safety or welfare, and a law enforcement officer can order work to stop on the spot.
(c)Noise between certain hours prohibited. Except when necessary to protect the public health, safety or welfare, no person shall cause or allow any noise between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 7:00 a.m. or between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 12:00 midnight on any day as a result of excavating, grading, building, constructing, or otherwise erecting any building.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 30).
Full Breakdown
Fitchburg's noise ordinance sits in Chapter 74, Article IV, Division 1. Subsection (a) bars any noise that unreasonably disturbs the comfort, quiet or repose of people nearby, unless the noise cannot be prevented and is necessary to protect life, health or property. Subsection (b) separately targets loud radios, phonographs, tape recorders, loudspeakers or other mechanical or electrical devices operated so as to unreasonably disturb persons in a building or its vicinity. -to-midnight windows named in the text. Subsection (d) gives a law enforcement officer authority to order an immediate stop to any activity violating the section; failing to comply with that order is itself an additional, separate violation.
The section traces to Comp. Ords. 01(5). Because Article IV sets no construction-noise-specific fine, a violation defaults to the Code's general penalty in § 1-21.
Violations & Fines
Violating the construction-hours limit, or ignoring an officer's on-scene order to stop, falls under Fitchburg's general Code penalty in § 1-21: a forfeiture of $25.00 to $500.00 for a first offense and $50.00 to $1,000.00 for a repeat offense within a year, plus prosecution costs, with jail time in default of payment up to 90 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What hours is construction noise banned in Fitchburg, Wisconsin?
Can police stop construction noise on the spot?
Is there a different rule for loud equipment noise generally?
What is the fine for violating the construction noise hours?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fitchburg
How Fitchburg compares: Cities with the Strictest Construction Hours·Compare Fitchburg to another location·View the Wisconsin noise ordinances overview
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Construction Hours in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Dane County handle construction hours.