Santa Clara County, CA Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

The County Noise Ordinance, Section B11-154 'Prohibited acts' subsection (b)(6) on construction/demolition, restricts operating tools or equipment used in construction, drilling, repair, alteration or demolition work. Such work is prohibited between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on weekdays and Saturday, or at any time on Sundays or holidays, when the sound creates a noise disturbance across a residential or commercial real property line. Exceptions exist for emergency work of public service utilities or where a variance is granted, and the construction-hour limit does not apply to domestic power tools as separately specified. Where technically and economically feasible, construction activity must also keep maximum noise levels at affected properties within scheduled limits. For nonscheduled, intermittent, short-term mobile equipment (less than 10 days), the daytime limit (7 a.m.-7 p.m., except Sundays and legal holidays) is 75 dBA at single-/two-family residential areas, 80 dBA at multifamily, and 85 dBA at commercial; the 7 p.m.-7 a.m. plus all-day Sunday/holiday limit drops to 50/55/60 dBA. For repetitively scheduled, long-term stationary equipment (10 days or more), the daytime limits are 60/65/70 dBA and the night/Sunday limits are 50/55/60 dBA. These rules apply only to the unincorporated County.