Building a New Home in Campbell: Zoning, New House Rules and the City Permit Path

Planning guide · updated November 2026

Campbell sits in the heart of the South Bay between San Jose, Los Gatos and Cupertino. A lot of the custom building here is replacement: an older ranch or mid-century house comes down and a new single-family home goes up on the same lot. Below is how we plan new homes in Campbell so the zoning path, the trees, any historic listing and the construction schedule are understood before the drawings are locked.

Harrod Built takes on new custom homes and whole-home rebuilds in the South Bay and on the Peninsula, including Campbell. Have a Campbell lot, a tear-down or a plan set ready for an estimate? Phone 805-712-8993 or use the form at the bottom of this page.

The short answer

In the City of Campbell, a new single-family house on an R-1 lot is usually submitted directly to the Building Inspection Division for a building permit through the MGO online portal, without a prior Planning land use permit. Planning still reviews tree removal, historic resource work, variances and Site and Architectural Review when those apply. Heavy rebuilds that keep pieces of the original house may be classified as a new dwelling using portions of the original structure and have to meet new-house standards. Santa Clara County Fire reviews new construction. (we confirm per lot)

1. Who reviews what

A city with Building, Planning and County Fire

Campbell’s Community Development page houses the Building Division page and the Planning Division page. The Building Division approves plans and issues permits for construction in the city; other agencies handle the rest:

Summarized from City of Campbell Building, Planning, Historic Preservation, Planning Commission and handout pages and from Santa Clara County Fire, read November 5, 2026.

We confirm the zoning district and pull the City’s records for the lot before anything else. Our Los Gatos and South Bay custom home page describes the kind of homes we take on in the South Bay; next door, our Cupertino and Saratoga permit guide cover neighboring cities with their own review boards. (we confirm per lot)

3. New house vs keeping pieces

The City’s New House Determination

Not every Campbell tear-down is a clean slab. When a heavy rebuild keeps pieces of the original house, the City may classify the work as a new dwelling using portions of the original structure. Crossing the City’s thresholds for how much of the existing house comes out triggers a New House Determination from the Building Inspection Division before a building permit is filed in MGO.

Once classified as new, the project has to meet the standards that apply to a new house — current zoning, fire sprinklers where required, frontage improvements, water-efficient landscape rules and reach-code items. Keeping a lawfully built wall that sits inside today’s setbacks can be allowed under the City’s nonconforming-structure rules when that wall is not structurally altered; we confirm that reading with Building on the specific plan.

Handouts explaining the New House path sit on the Building Handouts and Forms page. We run the determination early when any of the original house might stay, because the classification changes the code path, the fire and frontage scope and the schedule.

5. The building submittal

What Building wants for a new house

Since May 4, 2020, all building permit applications go through the City’s MyGovernmentOnline portal. The MGO Application Center is where you create an account; the Building Application Guides page organize applications by type, including new single-family residential construction. Plans and supporting documents are uploaded as separate named files:

• Construction plans. Architectural, structural and related sheets prepared to the City’s naming rules.
• Soils report. The geotechnical report that the foundation and drainage design follow.
• Structural and energy calculations. The engineering and Title 24 documents for plan review.
• CALGreen and waste tracking. Green building items and a waste management plan monitored through Green Halo.
• Clean Bay sheet. The Blueprint for a Clean Bay stormwater practices sheet in the plan set.
• Demolition clearance. Demolition clearance and PCB screening forms before the old house comes down; forms live on the Building Handouts page.

A separate Grading and Site Improvement Permit covers grading, paved surfaces, utilities, stormwater and landscaping; the building permit for a new dwelling is not issued until that grading permit is also issued. Concurrent review is normal. Forms, the Construction Management Plan template and jobsite signage for new residential work are on the Building Handouts and Forms page. Owner-builder questions are covered in our owner-builder comparison.

7. Construction in Campbell

Hours, inspections, frontage and licenses

The City’s construction-hours rules, summarized on the inspections page and the construction-hours flyer, shape when site work can run: weekdays and Saturdays are open under the posted window; Sundays and state and federal holidays are closed for site work unless an exception is granted.

• Construction Management Plan. A plan meeting CalGreen and local code has to appear on the cover sheet; non-compliance can stop an inspection.
• Jobsite signage. New residential projects post the City’s fillable jobsite signage.
• Inspections. Field inspections are scheduled through MGO or by phone; the inspections page explains windows and the sequence of inspections.
• Frontage improvements. A new single-family dwelling typically triggers Public Works frontage work such as curb, gutter, sidewalk, driveway and street trees; Engineering confirms the scope per lot.
• Business license. The contractor keeps a current City business license and a CSLB license in good standing for the life of the job.

Active permits in the neighborhood show on the Permit Center Map. We build the schedule around the City’s hours and inspection process so heavy site work lands when it is allowed.

9. Before you design

Questions to answer about your Campbell lot

1. Is the lot inside the City of Campbell, and is there a current boundary and topographic survey?
2. Is it zoned R-1, or does another district change the Planning path?
3. Do recorded easements on title change the setbacks?
4. Is a full new home the cleaner path than trying to keep pieces of the existing house, and does a New House Determination apply?
5. Is the property on the Historic Resource Inventory or otherwise historic?
6. Which trees on or near the lot are protected, and which need a removal permit or a protection plan?
7. What frontage improvements will Public Works require with a new dwelling?
8. Which fire agency and sanitation district serve the address?

Owners who already have an architect send us the drawings and we estimate and build from them; owners starting fresh can have Harrod Drafting & Design, our sister studio, draw the house and the permit set.

How we help

What Harrod Built brings to a Campbell new home

Harrod Built (CSLB #986950) is a family-run general contractor building on the Peninsula, in the South Bay and on the Central Coast. On a new home or a full rebuild in Campbell, our role usually covers:

• Lot review first. Zoning district, title easements, trees, historic status, fire agency and the New House path, checked before we write an estimate.
• Estimates during design. We estimate while the design is still flexible, including the cost of keeping or removing pieces of an existing house.
• Demolition lined up early. Utility disconnects, demolition clearance, PCB screening, waste tracking and tree protection set before the tear-down date.
• Site work from real plans. Soils recommendations, foundation, drainage, grading permit and frontage work taken from the engineered set, not allowances.
• Run to the City’s rules. Construction Management Plan, hours, inspections and a schedule that respects neighbor noticing when Planning is involved.
• Design support. Harrod Drafting & Design can draw the house and the permit set, or we build from your architect’s plans.
• Landscape. Paso Robles Landscaping, our landscape company, handles planting, irrigation and hardscape to the approved landscape plan.

Before hiring any builder, look up the license on the state license lookup; the CSLB’s advice on hiring a contractor and our article on how to check a CSLB license explain what to look for. Nearby we also build in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Palo Alto, Atherton and Woodside and Portola Valley, and farther south in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, through general contracting or design-build. Our process page walks through the steps from estimate to move-in, and our contract type comparison explains fixed-sum and cost-plus agreements. For the local market, see our page on custom homes in Los Gatos and nearby South Bay towns.

Pricing a new home or a full rebuild in Campbell? Send the address and any drawings you have. We check the zoning district, the New House path, protected trees, any historic listing, the fire agency and the submittal package, then send back a written estimate. Phone 805-712-8993 or reach us here.

Sources: City of Campbell Building Division, Building Application Guides, Building Handouts and Forms, inspections, Electrify Your Home, Community Development, Planning Division, Planning Applications, Planning Handouts, Zoning and Land Use, Planning Commission, Historic Preservation and Historic Preservation Board pages; the City Maps Gallery, interactive GIS viewer, Permit Center Map, MGO Application Center and the Zoning Code (Title 21) via Municode; Building and Planning application guides and handouts for new single-family construction, New House Determination, tree protection, tree removal, demolition clearance, reach codes and the Construction Management Plan. Fire sources: Santa Clara County Fire Department home and fire prevention pages. State sources: the CEC’s 2025 energy standards and the CSLB, all reviewed November 5, 2026. This page is a general overview, not legal or code advice; what applies to a given lot is decided by the City of Campbell and the other agencies involved.