Building without a permit in Hawaii

What Hawaii law says

Hawaii has no statewide crime or fine for building without a permit. Building permits are issued and enforced by the four counties, and state law gives each county the power to make and enforce ordinances on the inspection of buildings and to fix the penalty for breaking them as a misdemeanor, petty misdemeanor, or violation. Counties may also impose civil fines on top of any criminal penalty, but only after giving the violator reasonable notice and a request to correct or stop the violation. Unpaid civil fines can be added to county taxes and fees, recorded as a lien on the owner's real property, and used to hold up other county permits. The dollar amounts and any daily accrual are set in each county's own building code ordinance.

Cited from HRS 46-1.5(14)(A)(iii), 46-1.5(14)(D), 46-1.5(24)(A)-(B): official text. Localities enforce these rules and may add their own fees and procedures on top.

Can you get a permit after the work is done?

No Hawaii statute sets an after-the-fact or as-built permit process or a fee multiplier for unpermitted work; that is left to each county's building code ordinance. What state law does govern is how county civil fines behave once a violation is cited: fines can accrue daily, and after an appeal the county agency reviews the fines that built up, taking into account how long the violation lasted and any effort the owner made to correct it. Correcting the violation (in practice, permitting or removing the work under county rules) is what stops the accrual.

Cited from HRS 46-1.5(24)(D)-(E): official text.

The typical path, whatever your locality calls it: stop any ongoing work, contact the permit office before they contact you, apply for the permit describing what was actually built, and expect the office to require opening up or inspecting concealed work. Voluntarily coming forward generally goes better than waiting for a complaint or a sale to surface it.

What Hawaii permit offices charge when work starts first

The statute above sets the ceiling; the bill comes from the local office. One Hawaii jurisdiction we cover publishes a specific surcharge for work started before the permit, quoted here from the fee schedule or permit page we verified, each linked to the page that carries the citation.

• Work begun without a permit pays $1,000 plus the fee, or double the fee, whichever is greater (5-7-3(d)).

  Hawaii County · from the bathroom remodel permit page · last checked 3 Oct 2026

Jurisdictions not listed either publish no surcharge clause or publish one we could not quote from an official schedule; their permit pages state what we could verify.

Who can pull the permit

Hawaii lets owners or lessees build or improve residential or farm buildings for their own use, or for use by their grandparents, parents, siblings, or children, without a contractor's license, as long as the building is not offered for sale or lease. The owner must register for the exemption with the county when applying for the building permit, supervise the work, hire licensed subcontractors for any licensed work, and use licensed electricians and plumbers for electrical and plumbing work unless the owner holds that license. Selling or leasing the structure within one year after final county inspection is treated as evidence it was built for sale, unless the permit valuation was under $10,000, the buyer is the owner's employee, or the Contractors License Board finds an unforeseen hardship. A violation carries a fine of up to $5,000 or 50% of the permitted construction value, whichever is greater, for a first offense, and bars the owner from the exemption for three years.

Cited from HRS 444-2(7), 444-2.5, 444-9.1, 444-23(e): official text.

Common questions about unpermitted work in Hawaii

What is the penalty for building without a permit in Hawaii?

Hawaii has no statewide crime or fine for building without a permit. Building permits are issued and enforced by the four counties, and state law gives each county the power to make and enforce ordinances on the inspection of buildings and to fix the penalty for breaking them as a misdemeanor, petty misdemeanor, or violation. (HRS 46-1.5(14)(A)(iii), 46-1.5(14)(D), 46-1.5(24)(A)-(B))

Can you get a permit after the work is done in Hawaii?

No Hawaii statute sets an after-the-fact or as-built permit process or a fee multiplier for unpermitted work; that is left to each county's building code ordinance. What state law does govern is how county civil fines behave once a violation is cited: fines can accrue daily, and after an appeal the county agency reviews the fines that built up, taking into account how long the violation lasted and any effort the owner made to correct it. (HRS 46-1.5(24)(D)-(E))

Who can pull a permit in Hawaii?

Hawaii lets owners or lessees build or improve residential or farm buildings for their own use, or for use by their grandparents, parents, siblings, or children, without a contractor's license, as long as the building is not offered for sale or lease. The owner must register for the exemption with the county when applying for the building permit, supervise the work, hire licensed subcontractors for any licensed work, and use licensed electricians and plumbers for electrical and plumbing work unless the owner holds that license. (HRS 444-2(7), 444-2.5, 444-9.1, 444-23(e))

Related situations in Hawaii

• A stop work order was posted: what it means and how to lift it
• How to find out if a permit was pulled, or report work with none
• A wall was removed without a permit
• Selling a house with unpermitted work
• Buying a house with unpermitted work

How Hawaii compares: building without a permit, state by state.

Your local permit office

Enforcement, after-the-fact fees, and the exact fix-it process are local. We cover these Hawaii permit offices:

• Hawaii County
• Honolulu

Official sources

• data.capitol.hawaii.gov: HRS 0046 0001 0005
• data.capitol.hawaii.gov: HRS 0444 0002 0005