Hardin County, Iowa Building Permit Guide

In rural Hardin County, the Planning and Zoning Department at the courthouse, 1215 Edgington Avenue, Eldora, issues the building permit, which you can apply for online through the county’s Schneider GIS workflow or on the PDF form. The county’s FAQ prices a new home at a $100 building permit, a $275 well permit and a septic permit from $250. The Zoning Administrator visits the site while the application is reviewed, and once the permit is issued the county makes no further inspections.

What requires a permit in unincorporated Hardin County?

The county’s answer is broad: a permit must be obtained before any structure is erected, altered, constructed, reconstructed or moved outside city limits. The rule comes from the Hardin County Zoning Ordinance of 1999, whose Article III is titled “Zoning Certificates Required,” and the Planning and Zoning Department enforces it with zoning inspections. The ordinance divides the rural county into eight districts: W Wilderness Preserve, G Conservation-Greenbelt, A Agricultural, R-1 and R-2 residential, R-3 Mobile Home Park, C Commercial and M Manufacturing. How much land a building site needs depends on the district; the county says a 2-acre lot is the typical minimum.

For farm buildings, Iowa Code section 335.2 reads: “Except to the extent required to implement section 335.27, no ordinance adopted under this chapter applies to land, farm houses, farm barns, farm outbuildings, or other buildings or structures that are primarily adapted, by reason of nature and area, for use for agricultural purposes, while so used. However, the ordinances may apply to any structure, building, dam, obstruction, deposit, or excavation in or on the floodplains of any river or stream.” Before building a machine shed or livestock barn, ask the Zoning Administrator how to file it.

What the county decides and what the state holds

The ordinances the county posts include no building code: they are the 1999 zoning ordinance with its maps and zoning reference atlas, an airport tall structure zoning ordinance, the floodplain management ordinance and subdivision and plat guidelines. The building permit therefore confirms district, use, lot size and setbacks rather than framing or structural design. The state’s energy, plumbing, mechanical and electrical rules still apply to the work, and state electrical inspectors cover wiring.

Hardin County building department: who handles permitting

One department handles planning, zoning regulations and building for the unincorporated county. Besides issuing building and zoning permits, it takes requests for rezonings, variances, conditional use permits, temporary use permits and special use permits, books hearings for the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of Adjustment, processes major and minor subdivisions, and decides home industry and home occupation requests. Rural roads and addresses belong to the County Engineer, Taylor Roll, and wells and septic systems to Environmental Health.

Cities in Hardin County

The county’s permits stop at city limits. Each of the 12 incorporated cities below handles building and zoning inside its own boundaries, and none of them has a guide on this site yet.

Hardin County permit types

The Permits and Applications page offers three online workflows, for a building permit, a floodplain development permit and a special permit, plus a PDF version of each. The paper building permit form is headed “Hardin County Zoning” and states that all fees are non-refundable.

Residential permits

For a new home the county expects three permits: the building permit from Planning and Zoning and separate well and septic permits from Environmental Health. The building application asks for the legal description, zoning district, parcel acreage, adjoining roads, the house’s dimensions, rooms, bedrooms, stories and number of families, its setbacks from the front right of way and the rear and side lot lines, the estimated valuation and the contractor. Its second page is a building site location map showing the house, well, septic tank and absorption field, accessory buildings, the 911 address and road name, and the site’s soil types and corn suitability rating (CSR). The form carries two approvals, one by the Hardin County Sanitarian for the sewer system and one by the Zoning Administrator. The applicant signs under oath that the building does not violate any restrictive covenant in the abstract, and the zoning official may ask for a complete set of building plans.

Building or remodeling a home here? Alliance handles residential permit applications, so the crew isn't waiting on the counter.

Commercial permits

The 1999 ordinance has a C Commercial and an M Manufacturing district, and Article XX covers conditional use permits; ask Planning and Zoning whether a business use needs one or a rezoning. Temporary and special use permits, home industries and home occupations are decided by the same department. Commercial wind energy systems have their own rules in Article XXIII, and tall structures near an airport are limited by Article XVIII and the airport tall structure ordinance.

For tenant improvements and new commercial builds, Alliance handles commercial building permits through issuance. More on this: commercial building permits explained.

What comes before the building permit

• Zoning approvals. A rezoning, variance or conditional use permit needs a hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission or the Board of Adjustment (Article XXI) before the permit can be issued.
• Floodplain. FEMA’s flood insurance rate maps are kept in the Zoning Administrator’s office at the courthouse, and building in the floodplain is restricted under the county’s floodplain management ordinance; file the floodplain development permit application, online or on paper, for a site in the mapped area.
• Septic and well. Environmental Health permits the well and evaluates the septic site, including soil coring, before the Sanitarian signs the building application.
• Driveway and address. A new or widened driveway onto a county road needs the Engineer’s driveway permit, and a new house gets its rural 911 address only after that permit is approved.
• Splitting land. A new lot is a minor or major subdivision under the county’s subdivision and plat guidelines.

Hardin County permit costs and fees

The county’s fee figures appear in its Planning and Zoning FAQ, which gives the three typical permits for a new house; the FAQ carries no adoption date. The One Stop figures come from the Engineer’s permits page.

Worked example: a new rural house on its own well and septic system starts at $625 in county permits ($100 + $275 + $250), and more if the septic design costs more than the $250 starting fee. The FAQ gives the $100 figure for a home; for a garage, shed, addition or commercial building, and for rezoning, variance, conditional use or floodplain applications, ask Planning and Zoning for the fee before filing, because fees cannot be refunded once paid.

The One Stop permit covers loads over 80,000 pounds or wider than 8 feet 6 inches, taller than 13 feet 6 inches or over the length limits; single and round-trip permits are valid for five days.

Trade permits and who may pull them

The county pages describe no electrical program, so DIAL issues the electrical permit for rural wiring and a state inspector inspects it. Hardin County has no building inspector, and its pages describe no county plumbing or mechanical permit. Electricians, plumbers and mechanical contractors work under state licenses, and a contractor earning $2,000 or more a year from construction work registers with DIAL.

• Driveway builders. If anyone other than the county builds the driveway, a Work in the Right-of-Way application goes in with the driveway permit application.
• Utilities and manure lines. Utility lines in the county right of way need the Engineer’s utility permit, and manure pumped through lines under a county road needs its own permit.
• Dust control. Dust control on a county road takes a dust control permit from the Engineer.
• Septic and wells. Septic design and installation are checked by Environmental Health, which also inspects private wells, their rehabilitation and plugging of abandoned wells.

How to apply for a Hardin County permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

The building application carries the Sanitarian’s sewer-system approval as well as the zoning approval, so the septic review has to be finished before the permit is complete. A lot under the district minimum, a setback shortfall or a use the district does not allow sends the project to a public hearing before the Board of Adjustment or the Planning and Zoning Commission, which the department schedules. An incomplete site map (well and absorption field locations, soil types, CSR) or a request for a full set of building plans also adds time.

Inspections in Hardin County

The county’s inspection is a single on-site zoning review by the Zoning Administrator during the application. After the permit is issued, the county makes no further inspections of the building, and it employs no building inspector. Wiring is the exception: the state inspects it under the electrical permit.

Environmental Health makes the other site visits on a new home: a septic site evaluation with soil coring and classification, renovation inspections where an old system is rebuilt, and a final inspection of the finished system. Its well program covers permitted new wells, rehabilitation and abandonment inspections and water testing. When a rural property with a septic system is sold, the office makes the time-of-transfer pass or fail decision from the report of a certified inspector.

The maintenance superintendent inspects each proposed driveway site before the Engineer approves the permit. Once the house has an address, the owner must install the blue rural 911 sign in the right of way along the fence row on the same side of the road as the house, never closer than 15 feet to the road edge and visible from both directions; every house or building site needs one, and failing to install or replace it carries penalties.

Iowa building code

Hardin County enforces zoning, airport height, floodplain and subdivision rules outside its cities, and posts no building code among its ordinances. FEMA’s Community Status Book lists Hardin County as participating in the National Flood Insurance Program since August 3, 2012, on a flood map effective June 19, 2012 that shows flood areas without base flood elevations.

Iowa lets most cities and counties adopt the state building code, another code or none (a city of more than 15,000 must enforce at least the state code), but the energy, accessibility, fire, plumbing, mechanical and electrical rules apply statewide. Iowa rules

Hardin County permit search and official resources

The county’s online workflows are for filing new applications. For an existing permit on a rural parcel, ask Planning and Zoning at the courthouse; ask Environmental Health about well and septic permits and time-of-transfer results, and the Engineer about driveway permits.

• Hardin County Planning and Zoning (FAQ and fees)
• Permits and applications, including PDF forms
• Apply for a building permit online
• Zoning ordinance, maps and floodplain ordinance
• Draft battery energy storage ordinance (August 18, 2026)
• Hardin County Environmental Health
• County Engineer permits and applications
• Driveway permit
• Requesting a rural 911 address
• Iowa Code section 335.2 (farm exemption)
• State electrical permits (DIAL)
• FEMA Community Status Book, Iowa

Hardin County permit FAQs

How much are the permits for a new house in rural Hardin County?

The county lists a $100 building permit, a $275 well permit and a septic permit starting at $250, so at least $625 in all.

Does Hardin County inspect my house while it is built?

No. The Zoning Administrator reviews the site during the application, and no inspections follow once the permit is issued; the county has no building inspector.

Can I apply online?

Yes. Building permits, floodplain development permits and special permits each have an online application, and PDF versions are posted too.

How big must a rural building lot be?

It depends on the zoning district, but the county says 2 acres is the typical minimum.

Who gives me a rural address?

The County Engineer’s office, at 708 16th Street in Eldora, after it has approved your driveway permit; inside a city, ask that city’s city hall.

Where can I see whether my land is in the floodplain?

The official FEMA flood maps are in the Zoning Administrator’s office at the courthouse, 1215 Edgington Avenue, and building there carries restrictions under the floodplain ordinance.

Can I build a battery storage project in Hardin County?

The county has only a draft battery energy storage ordinance, dated August 18, 2026 and still in development; ask Planning and Zoning about its status before planning a site.

Simplify Hardin County permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Iowa. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the permitting authority through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Hardin County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.