One call. One contractor. Home repair in Tuscaloosa.

Yes. The city lists “Deck (New or Repair)” as work that needs a building permit, so a repair is not exempt the way painting is. Ask us and we will tell you straight what your job needs.

No. Tuscaloosa lists painting, carpet and trim work by name as work that does not need a permit. If the job turns into opening up or moving a wall, that becomes a Residential Interior Alteration, and that does.

Only if it is over 7 feet tall. Standard residential privacy fence heights fall under that line.

For residential work, Tuscaloosa works it out as the job’s valuation divided by 1,000, times $3.50. Commercial is a different rate — valuation divided by 1,000, times $12.21. Most residential permits are processed within 24 to 48 hours, and everything is reviewed against the 2021 ICC codes. There is no minimum permit fee; the only flat fees are demolition, at $21 residential and $26 commercial.

For most jobs we do not need to. Send photos with the form and you get a range the same business day, without waiting on an appointment. When a job cannot be judged from a picture — anything structural, anything still wet, decks, whole-house work — we come and look before putting a number on it. No charge inside 25 miles.

No trip fee inside 25 miles of Tuscaloosa. 25 to 45 miles is $65 and 45 to 60 miles is $110. The trip fee is waived on any job over $1,500.

We quote the job, not an hourly rate. You get the number before we start, and it does not move unless the job itself changes.

It can. Federal rules cover paid work that disturbs paint in pre-1978 homes, and Alabama runs its own certified program through the Department of Public Health rather than the federal one. Small work under six square feet of paint in a room is exempt — but separate jobs in the same room within 30 days count as one, and window replacement never qualifies.

The office runs Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and Saturday 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. We are closed Sunday. If it is water or damage, call and we get back to you within 2 hours, any day including Sunday. For anything else, send the form whenever suits you — it lands in the same inbox and you get a real answer the same business day.

It depends on the size of the job, not the trade. Alabama’s Home Builders Licensure Board requires a State Home Builders license for residential work where the cost of the undertaking exceeds $10,000, and for residential roofing where it exceeds $2,500 — a much lower bar than most people expect. Worth asking any contractor before you sign, and worth knowing that the $100,000 figure you may have read applies to the separate commercial general contractor board, not to work on your house. We take the call, quote the job, and stay responsible for it start to finish; where a job needs a license holder it is performed by one.