Mobile, AL Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

Section 39-96.1 of the Mobile City Code sets the city's residential noise standard, then carves out a construction window. Subsection (d)(6) says the residential noise limits 'shall not apply to any construction activity or equipment operated between the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.' The code defines 'construction activities' as 'any and all activity incidental to the construction, erection, demolition, assembling, altering, installing or equipping of buildings, structures, roads or appurtenances thereto, including land clearing, grading, excavating and filling,' and 'construction equipment' covers pile drivers, power shovels, derricks, hoist tractors, loaders, bulldozers, cranes, pavement breakers, compressors and other fuel- or electric-powered machinery used on a job site.

Outside the 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. window, construction noise is measured against the same limits that apply to any residential-district noise source under subsection (c). Between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., a device is unlawful if it is plainly audible fifty feet or more from any property line within a residential district, or if it exceeds 85 db(a) at that property line. From 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., the threshold tightens to twenty-five feet audibility or 50 db(a). Because the construction exemption ends at 9:00 p.m. while the daytime standard runs to 10:00 p.m., equipment running between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. must meet the 50-foot/85 db(a) daytime limit, and anything after 10:00 p.m. must meet the stricter 25-foot/50 db(a) nighttime limit.

Domestic power equipment (routine home and yard maintenance gear) gets an identical 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. carve-out under subsection (d)(7). The general nuisance clause in subsection (c)(1), barring any loud or excessive noise that unreasonably interferes with the comfort, health, or safety of others, also does not apply to construction activity during the exempt hours.