Chapter 01 Define the Project Scope
The scope is the written record of the work to be done. The estimate prices it, the permit application describes it, and the schedule sets dates for it.
Write the scope room by room. For each room, list what changes at each stage, in the order the work is built:
- Demolition
- Layout and framing changes
- Plumbing, mechanical, and electrical rough-in
- Insulation and drywall
- Finishes: tile and hard flooring, cabinetry, countertops, finish carpentry, paint, fixtures, and carpet
An addition or a custom home adds the work outside the rooms. Site work, foundation, framing, roofing, and the windows and exterior envelope come before the interior stages above.
Then mark each item as required or optional. If the scope has to be reduced, the optional items go first, before construction begins.
Allegiant Construction takes on full-scope projects only. We remodel bathrooms, kitchens, older finished basements, and entire houses; we add space through basement finishing, home additions, and ADUs; and we build custom homes and commercial projects.
Chapter 02 Know Utah's ADU Rules
For an ADU, the first question is whether the rules allow a unit on the lot. It is answered before any design begins. For cities and towns, Utah sets those rules in two statutes: Utah Code 10-21-303 for units inside the house and Utah Code 10-21-304 for detached units. Each city or town then sets its own conditions within them, as our ADU page explains. Two neighboring communities can treat the same basement apartment differently.
Internal ADUs
Utah Code 10-21-303 makes an internal accessory dwelling unit a permitted use in any area of a city or town zoned primarily for residential use. Under the definitions in Utah Code 10-21-101, the unit is created inside a primary dwelling and within the home's footprint at that time. A primary dwelling is a detached single-family home occupied as the primary residence of the owner of record, including a habitable garage that shares a common wall with it.
The statute lets a city or town set conditions that include these:
- One on-site parking space beyond the home's required spaces, unless the local ordinance requires four off-street spaces
- A rental permit or license for the unit
- A ban on internal ADUs where the lot is 6,000 square feet or less
- A ban on rentals of less than 30 consecutive days
- A ban on renting the unit when the home is not the owner's primary residence
Detached ADUs
Utah Code 10-21-304 took effect on October 1, 2026. It requires every specified municipality to adopt rules that permit a detached ADU on any lot of 11,000 square feet or more with a single-family home that is a permitted use on the lot. A specified municipality is a first through fourth class city, or a fifth class city of 5,000 or more people in a county of the first, second, or third class.
The statute bars a conditional use permit for a detached unit in a primarily residential zone. It caps required parking at two on-site spaces for a unit of 650 square feet or more and one space below that size. A city may require the owner to live in the home or in the unit on the lot. It may also bar rentals of less than 90 consecutive days. The statute does not supersede a prohibition or restriction on detached ADUs in a development agreement the city signed on or before May 6, 2026.
Unincorporated Areas
In an unincorporated area, the county's rules apply. Utah Code 17-80-303 makes an internal ADU a permitted use in county areas zoned primarily for residential use. Utah Code Title 17, Chapter 80, Counties and Housing Supply, has no section on detached units.
Sources: Utah Code 10-21-101, definitions, effective July 1, 2026; Utah Code 10-21-303, effective November 6, 2025; Utah Code 10-21-304, effective October 1, 2026; Utah Code 17-80-303, internal ADUs in unincorporated areas; Utah Code Title 17, Chapter 80.
Chapter 03 Choose a Licensed General Contractor
Before any general contractor visits the property, confirm two things:
The license also protects the home. Utah's Residence Lien Restriction and Lien Recovery Fund Act covers an owner-occupied home. When the owner signs a written contract with a licensed contractor and pays that contractor in full under the contract, a subcontractor or supplier who goes unpaid cannot maintain a lien on the home.
Allegiant Construction holds Utah contractor license 13650486-5501 and is insured.
Sources: Utah Code 38-11-107; Utah Code 38-11-204.
Chapter 04 Prepare for the Consultation
Send three things with a consultation request:
- The property address, which sets the permit office and the local rules
- The scope in your own words, with photos or drawings if you have them
- The start you have in mind and any date the project has to meet
Use the request form below or the contact page.
Chapter 05 Design to the Utah Building Code
Design comes before the contract: the space is measured, permit-ready plans are drawn, and every selection is finalized. The plans follow the codes Utah adopts in Utah Code 15A-2-103: the 2021 International Residential Code for one- and two-family homes and townhouses, and the 2024 International Building Code for commercial buildings, each with statewide amendments. We confirm the version in force when each permit application is filed.
Snow Loads
Utah's amendments to the residential code set ground snow loads for selected cities and towns and refer every other location to the Utah Snow Load Study. We design the structure to the load for the project's location from the first drawing.
Radon
One in three Utah homes has elevated radon, according to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. The EPA action level is 4 picocuries per liter. Testing while a basement is unfinished shows whether a mitigation system belongs in the plan. Passive radon controls are voluntary in Utah and follow Appendix F of the residential code when they are installed.
Egress
Under the residential code as Utah amends it, a new sleeping room or accessory dwelling unit created in an existing basement needs an emergency escape and rescue opening. The exception in Section R310.7 lets an existing operable window serve as that opening when it meets Section R310.7.1: a net clear opening of at least 4 square feet, 22 inches high, and 20 inches wide.
In a home with an automatic fire sprinkler system installed under Section P2904, a basement sleeping room may go without an opening of its own. The basement must then have two means of egress, or one means of egress and one emergency escape and rescue opening. When the plan adds an opening, the egress window and its well are cut before framing begins.
Energy
Utah writes its own residential energy chapter. Its prescriptive values include R-21 for above-grade walls, R-38 for ceilings, R-30 for floors over unconditioned space, R-10 continuous or R-13 cavity for conditioned basement walls, and a maximum window U-factor of 0.32. Instead of meeting those values, a home can follow the chapter's performance path: a REScheck result at least 5 percent better than Utah's 2012 REScheck standard, or a HERS rating of 67 or better.
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms
Under the residential code as Utah amends it, an alteration, repair, accessory dwelling unit, or addition that needs a permit brings the home's smoke alarms up to the locations required for a new home. In a home with a fuel-fired appliance or an attached garage that opens into it, the same work brings carbon monoxide alarms to each level and outside each sleeping area. A carbon monoxide alarm also goes inside any bedroom that has a fuel-burning appliance in it or in its attached bathroom.
Both rules exempt exterior work such as roofing, siding, windows, doors, a porch, or a deck. Work limited to plumbing is exempt from both. Mechanical work is exempt from the smoke alarm rule. It is exempt from the carbon monoxide rule only when it is not fuel fired.
Sources: Utah Code 15A-2-103, adopted codes; Utah Code 15A-3-202, residential code amendments; Utah Code 15A-3-203, energy chapter; Utah Code 15A-3-206, radon controls; IRC Chapter 3 as adopted in Utah; Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Radon.
Chapter 06 Review the Cost-Plus Contract
Once the plans and selections are final, the scope, the schedule, and the contractor's fee are set in writing. Most of our projects are built on open-book, cost-plus terms. Those terms have four parts, in the order the project reaches them:
- The estimate, a non-binding planning number that is neither a cap nor a bid
- The contractor's fee, a percentage agreed in writing before construction begins and fixed once the contract is signed
- The actual cost of the work, billed as incurred and documented on every draw
- Changes to the approved scope, each written as a change order before that work proceeds
Project management and builder's risk insurance carry no markup. Both are billed at direct cost.
Before signing with any general contractor, confirm these items in writing:
- The scope, schedule, and pricing structure
- The response time for project messages
- The process for pricing and approving changes
- The length of the warranty and the date it starts
Allegiant Construction puts each one in writing: the scope, schedule, and contractor's fee; a same-day response to project messages; a priced change order, approved before the work it covers begins; and a one-year warranty on work and materials from substantial completion.
Chapter 07 Secure the Utah Building Permit
When a Permit Is Needed
Section R105.2 of the residential code exempts painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops, and similar finish work from the permit requirement. Under Section R105.1, a permit is needed to move a wall, a drain, or a circuit; to replace a plumbing, mechanical, gas, or electrical system; to finish a basement; or to build an addition. The Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District also lists changing or lowering kitchen cabinets and countertops among the projects that need a permit. The district notes that the change creates plumbing and electrical concerns.
Which Office Issues the Permit
In Utah, the building permit is issued by the Authority Having Jurisdiction: the office of the city, town, county, or district where the property sits. A city or town issues permits for work inside its limits. A county issues permits for work in its unincorporated areas. Salt Lake, Wasatch, and Cache Counties each have an exception.
In Salt Lake County, the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District issues permits for work in the unincorporated areas and in Emigration Canyon, Magna, Kearns, Brighton, White City, and Copperton.
In Wasatch County, a Wallsburg project goes to the Town Council for approval first. With the town's approval letter, the final building permit application goes to the Wasatch County Building Department.
In Cache County, the Cache County Building Division issues permits for work in unincorporated Cache County and in the 15 areas and municipalities it lists, among them Smithfield, Providence, Hyrum, and Wellsville.
Permit Offices by County, City, and Town
Each county page names its permit offices. It also explains which office issues the permit for an address.
Each city and town page names the local permit office and sets out the ADU rules that community publishes.
City and Town Permit Guides, North to South
Sources: IRC Chapter 1 as adopted in Utah; Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District, Building Services; Wallsburg Town Building Permit Application; Cache County Building Division.
Chapter 08 Confirm the Start Date
The start date comes last, once the permit is issued. We confirm the schedule, the materials, and the trades. You have your start date before we set foot on site.
Before that date, settle where the household will live during construction. A bathroom, kitchen, or basement project can run with the work area sealed off and the rest of the home in use. For a full home renovation or a large addition, moving out for part of the schedule can be the better choice. We raise that choice during preconstruction.
If you stay, the daily start and stop times are agreed before the first day. You also know which trade is scheduled on which day, as our Process page explains.
From the start date, the schedule runs through completion and closeout under our Schedule Certainty guarantee. Under our Progress Reports guarantee, weekly reports and photos follow every phase of construction.
This guide summarizes public sources as of October 2026. Requirements change. The Authority Having Jurisdiction has the final word for every address.
