Bolthole Index county-legal census · checked 2026-10-10
87 of Minnesota's 87 counties — 100% — let an owner build their own home without a licensed contractor. That is the 11th-largest count of any state. The strongest of them on the Bolthole Index is Clearwater County (80/100). Every entry below cites the county’s own official source.
Rules change, and cities inside these counties set their own — treat this as a verified starting point, not legal advice. All 2952 counties nationwide → Minnesota: no zoning → Minnesota: tiny homes → Minnesota: no minimum home size → Full Minnesota profile →
87 of 87 Minnesota counties · sorted by Index score
Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate performing residential building or improvement work in Clearwater County who would otherwise need a residential contractor li…
Minnesota Statutes Section 326B.805 — Exemptions ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of Minnesota residential real estate who builds or improves the residential real estate for the owner's occupancy or rental retention, including work un…
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Property-owner installation of an individual sewage treatment system. A signed indemnification agreement is required if the septic system is installed by an uncertified installe…
Information for Zoning Permits ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner building or improving residential real estate in Hubbard County under Minnesota residential contractor licensing rules. The owner must occupy or intend …
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Owner-builders performing residential construction or improvement in Todd County when the issue is Minnesota residential contractor licensure. The owner must occ…
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Owner-builders performing residential building or improvement work in Minnesota, including Roseau County, for purposes of contractor-licensing exemption. The own…
2025 Minnesota Statutes, Section 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. Owner-builder exemption from Minnesota residential contractor licensing for an owner building or improving residential real estate. The owner must occupy or inte…
2025 Minnesota Statutes, Section 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Owner licensing exemption for residential real estate construction or improvement in Wabasha County. The owner must occupy or intend to occupy the residential re…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who builds or improves residential real estate in Minnesota, including Cottonwood County, with respect to the state residenti…
2025 Minnesota Statutes, section 326B.805: Licensing Requirements ↗Statewide rule. Minnesota residential contractor-license requirements for an owner building or improving residential real estate, including work in Swift County. The owner must …
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Owner-performed work identified on a Nicollet County new dwelling zoning permit application. The application states that a waiver is provided only if the property owner is perfo…
New Dwelling Zoning Permit Application ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate in Big Stone County who builds or improves residential real estate and seeks the Minnesota residential contractor licensing e…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Minnesota residential contractor-license exemption for an owner building or improving residential real estate in Isanti County. The owner must occupy or intend t…
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate in Chippewa County, Minnesota, building or improving residential real estate under Minnesota's residential contractor licensi…
2025 Minnesota Statutes, section 326B.805: Licensing Requirements ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Minnesota residential real-estate owner exemption from residential-contractor licensure for qualifying owner-builders. The owner must occupy or intend to occupy …
Minnesota Statutes Section 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate in Lac qui Parle County who personally builds or improves residential real estate, for purposes of Minnesota residential cont…
2025 Minnesota Statutes, Section 326B.805: Licensing Requirements ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Property owners applying for their own building permits in County-served jurisdictions. The property owner must complete and submit the Property Owner Waiver with the permit app…
Building, well, & septic permit applications & fees ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Under Minn. Stat. 326B.805 subd. 6, an owner of residential real estate who builds or improves property they occupy (not for resale) is exempt from residential contractor licens…
Minn. Stat. 326B.805 - Licensing Requirements ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves the residential property, or retains it for rental after completion, including work in Polk…
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. Minnesota residential contractor licensing requirements for owner-builders. The owner must occupy or intend to occupy the property residentially, or retain owner…
2025 Minnesota Statutes, section 326B.805 ↗Residential building permit applicants. The property owner must submit the Owner as Contractor Form when applying as owner. The form is not stated to exempt the project from per…
Permit Applications ↗Owner-builders undertaking new construction or additions in Yellow Medicine County's unincorporated areas. The county ordinance regulates land uses and development in the uninco…
Planning and Zoning — Land and Resource Management Office — Yellow Medicine County ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who builds or improves residential real estate under Minnesota's residential-contractor licensing law. The owner must occupy …
2025 Minnesota Statutes, section 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. Owner-builders of residential real estate in Freeborn County, under Minnesota's residential-contractor licensing law. The exemption concerns the license requirem…
Minn. Stat. § 326B.805, Exemptions ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate building or improving residential real estate in Minnesota, including Mower County, for purposes of the Minnesota residential…
Minnesota Statutes, section 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Minnesota residential contractor-license exemption for an owner of residential real estate who builds or improves a one-to-four-family residential building, incl…
Minnesota Statutes Chapter 326B ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Carver County provides a homeowner permit application (not used when a contractor pulls the permit) allowing the property owner to act as their own contractor while taking full …
Carver County Land Management - Building Permits ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate in Sherburne County, for contractor-licensing purposes The owner mu…
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 — Licensing Requirements ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Unincorporated Anoka County: no county building permit is required, so there is no permit to be exempt from and you may build your own home. State licensing for electrical, plum…
Permits & New Construction ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Minnesota residential contractor-license exemption for an owner who builds or improves residential real estate, including work in Steele County. The owner must o…
Minnesota Statutes § 326B.805 ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate building or improving residential real estate in Minnesota, including Scott County. The owner must occupy or intend to occupy…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. Residential real-estate owners performing qualifying building or improvement work in Minnesota, including Ramsey County. The owner must occupy or intend to occup…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate building or improving residential real estate in Dakota County, to the extent the state residential-contractor licensing exem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Statewide rule. An owner of residential real estate who personally builds or improves residential real estate, as an exemption from the residential contractor licensing requirem…
revisor.mn.gov ↗Every county here has a full profile — water, land prices, hazard safety, seclusion, and the rest of its building rules. See the Minnesota state page for all 87 counties ranked, or go back to the national list.
Off-grid gear
Building on land in one of these Minnesota counties? The kit we'd start with:
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General guidance, not legal advice. Off-grid, building, and land-use rules are often set at the county level and change often. Verify with your county and state before acting. Data reviewed 2026-06-26.
