Fence or deck costs in Philadelphia

More than half of Philadelphia's homes are attached, by Census count. That shapes a fence or deck job here. In a row house, a neighbor shares each side wall, the back yard is often narrow, and the deck you want may have nowhere to go but up.

L&I's fence rules follow the yard. In a side or rear yard, a wood, metal or vinyl fence up to 6 feet needs no permit. Out front, a fence over 4 feet needs a zoning permit, and so does one that's more than half solid. A masonry wall in back needs a building permit once it passes 2 feet. If your house is on the city's historic register or in the 100-year floodplain, any fence needs a building permit.

For decks, L&I's EZ permit skips the plans if you stay inside tight limits. The deck attaches to a single-family house, sits in the rear yard and goes no higher than the first floor. It tops out at 160 square feet, or 216 with intermediate posts, and keeps 3 feet from the rear property line. Footings go 30 inches down, to the frost line. Under the EZ route, stairs to the yard are allowed only on a detached or semi-detached house, so a deck on a middle row house gets no steps down. A roof deck always needs its own building permit.