Do you need a pool permit in Tennessee?
By Mario Bailey Last checked
- Always required
- 1
- of 3 jurisdictions
- Conditional
- 2
- depends on size or scope
- Not required
- 0
- exempt outright
Pool Permit rules nationwide, beyond Tennessee.
Requirements and size thresholds for pool permits vary by locality. The table below compares what each Tennessee county or city requires. Always confirm with the local office before starting.
Comparing states? See pool permit rules across every locality we cover.
What to know about pool permits in Tennessee
Pool permits in Virginia generally apply once a pool passes a size or depth threshold, and they often involve barrier and electrical safety requirements. Costs depend on the pool type and your locality. A licensed contractor helps ensure the pool and its safety features meet code.
The application steps and inspection sequence for pool permits come from the model code rather than from Tennessee law, so they read the same wherever you build. We keep that walkthrough in one place: how a pool permit application and its inspections work, start to finish. What changes between Tennessee jurisdictions is below: who requires a permit, what they charge, and which office you file with.
Swipe sideways to see thresholds and confidence.
| Locality | Permit required? | Typical threshold | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memphis | Conditional | prefabricated swimming pools, measured by the depth of the pool | Confirmed on official page |
| Nashville | Yes | Not specified | Confirmed on official page |
| Williamson County | Conditional | Swimming pools designed or able to hold water more than 30 inches deep in unincorporated Williamson County require a building permit; pools designed to hold 30 inches of water or less, temporary pools, above-ground pools with no permanent filter system or decking, and pools not left up year-round are exempt from the permit requirement. | Confirmed on official page |
| No localities match your filter. | |||
What a pool permit costs in Tennessee
3 Tennessee jurisdictions we cover publish a fee figure for this work. Each line is quoted from that office's own schedule and linked to its citation. The figures are not comparable to one another: some are flat minimums, some a percentage of job value, some charged per fixture, so what you pay depends on which schedule applies and on your job's valuation.
POOL OR RETAINING WALL $5.00/1,000 (NO MAX) with a $70.00 minimum, per the 2022 Fee Schedule, Building Section, Residential Fees, plus the separate electrical line E6.4 IN GROUND RESIDENTIAL SWIMMING POOL $100.00, which provides 2 inspections. Construction Enforcement states the residential plan review fee does not apply to pools. All fees exclude an administrative charge of $4.00 and a residential surcharge of $1.00, so $5.00 is added to the residential total, per the 2022 Fee Schedule.
last checked
Billed as a residential building permit at $5 per $1,000 of valuation plus a $25 zoning fee and 10% codes tech fee, with a separate plumbing permit ($75 minimum plus $11 per fixture) since pools are listed as a plumbing fixture classification, per the Metro Codes fee schedule (Dec 2025)
last checked
No pool-specific line; billed under the Section B101 valuation table, for example $260 for the first $50,000 of value plus $4 per additional thousand up to $100,000, plus a plan-check fee of half the permit fee, per the county Schedule of Building Permit Fees
last checked
Jurisdictions not listed publish no dollar figure we could quote. Absence does not mean a permit is free.
Common questions about pool permits in Tennessee
- Do I need a pool permit in Tennessee?
- In Tennessee it depends on the size of the job. Permits are issued locally, so the answer comes from your Tennessee city or county rather than a single statewide rule. Of the 3 Tennessee jurisdictions we have verified for pool work, 1 requires a permit outright, 2 depend on the size or scope of the job, and 0 require none.
- Is there a pool permit exemption in Tennessee?
- 2 of the 3 Tennessee jurisdictions we cover set a threshold rather than a flat rule, so the same job can be exempt in one Tennessee county and permitted in the next. The table above lists each Tennessee jurisdiction's published threshold in its own words, with the source and the date we verified it.
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