The short answer
Installing cabinets in Mobile County does not require a permit, and a residential job over $10,000 in Alabama does require a licensed builder. Those two sentences cover most situations. The rest of this page is the detail behind them, quoted from the published sources, plus the links to every building department in the service area.
Mobile County: cabinetry is on the exempt list
Mobile County Inspection Services states plainly that almost any work done in Mobile County, whether residential or commercial, requires a permit. It then lists the exceptions, and installing new cabinetry is among them. The full list of exempt changes given on that page includes painting, redecorating, changing countertops, installing new cabinetry, replacing light fixtures, replacing ceiling fans, and replacing equipment that requires no rewiring. Erecting a fence seven feet or less in height is separately listed as exempt.
The department's own page is the authority: Mobile County Inspection Services permits. The page does not state whether the department covers incorporated municipalities as well as unincorporated county, so confirm jurisdiction for your address rather than assuming.
| Exempt work | Note |
|---|---|
| Painting | Listed on the county permits page |
| Redecorating | Listed on the county permits page |
| Changing countertops | Listed on the county permits page |
| Installing new cabinetry | Listed on the county permits page |
| Replacing light fixtures | Listed on the county permits page |
| Replacing ceiling fans | Listed on the county permits page |
| Replacing equipment requiring no rewiring | Listed on the county permits page |
| Erecting a fence seven feet or less in height | Listed separately on the same page |
Quoted from Mobile County Inspection Services. Everything not on the exempt list should be assumed to require a permit, since the department's stated default is that almost any work does.
What takes a cabinet job out of the exemption
The exemption covers cabinetry. It does not cover the trades that frequently accompany cabinetry, and that is where almost every real-world permit question sits.
| Change | Trade involved | Still exempt? |
|---|---|---|
| Replacing cabinets in the same positions | Cabinetry only | Yes, per the county exempt list |
| Changing the countertop | Countertop only | Yes, listed explicitly |
| Moving the sink | Plumbing | No |
| Adding an island with an outlet | Electrical | No |
| Relocating a gas range or adding a gas line | Mechanical and gas | No |
| Adding a laundry or bar sink | Plumbing | No |
| Removing or altering a load-bearing wall | Structural | No |
| Adding a range hood ducted through an exterior wall | Mechanical | No |
Assessment based on the county's published exempt list. Where any other trade is involved, that trade's own permit requirements apply, and city departments set their own rules inside city limits.
The practical consequence for budgeting is significant. A straight cabinet replacement in existing positions is cabinetry, and it is exempt. The same kitchen with the sink moved eighteen inches brings in a plumber, a permit and an inspection, and Homewyse specifically notes that published installed cabinet figures exclude permits and modifications to existing systems. That is covered in the cost guide.
Which department covers your address
Mobile County Inspection Services is not the authority for every address in the region. Each municipality in the service area runs its own department, and the links below are the official ones.
| Jurisdiction | Department | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile County | Inspection Services | mobilecountyal.gov inspection services permits page |
| City of Mobile | Build Mobile | cityofmobile.gov and buildmobile.org |
| Daphne | Building Inspection Department | daphneal.com permits, fees and requirements |
| Fairhope | Building and Permitting | fairhopeal.gov building department |
| Spanish Fort | Building Department | cityofspanishfort.com building department |
| Saraland | City permit applications | saraland.org |
Each municipality publishes its own requirements. Confirm with the department covering your specific address before work starts.
Direct links: Build Mobile, City of Daphne permits, fees and requirements, City of Fairhope Building and Permitting, City of Spanish Fort Building Department, and City of Saraland.
What each department adds
Daphne's published requirements include a copy of the City of Daphne business licence with building permit applications, and state that a homeowner may not occupy a house until a final inspection and a certificate of occupancy have been issued. Demolition permits there require all utilities to be located and disconnected before issue.
Spanish Fort's Building Department is responsible for plan review of residential and commercial construction plans, the issuing of building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, land disturbance and other required permits, the issuing of certificates of occupancy, and the scheduling and performing of inspections on all building components.
Alabama's residential home builder licence
Licensing is a statewide rule administered by the Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board, and it does not vary by city or county. The governing text is Chapter 14A of Title 34 of the Alabama Code. The Board publishes the law at hblb.alabama.gov, and the version currently in force took effect on 1 October 2025.
The definition and the threshold
Section 34-14A-2 defines a residential home builder as a person who, for a fixed price, commission, fee, wage or other compensation, undertakes or offers to undertake the construction, or superintending of the construction, of any residence or structure that is not over three floors in height and that does not have more than four residential units, or the repair, improvement or reimprovement thereof, to be used by another as a residence, when the cost of the undertaking exceeds ten thousand dollars. The same subdivision brings in a residential roofer above two thousand five hundred dollars.
Section 34-14A-2(5) defines cost of the undertaking as the total cost of the materials, labor, supervision, overhead, and profit. That definition is what catches people out: the threshold is the whole invoice, not the labour element.
The requirement
Section 34-14A-5(a)(1) requires all residential home builders to be licensed by the Home Builders Licensure Board annually. Subsection (a)(3) allows the Board to issue licences that vary in scope of work authorised, including, but not limited to, licences without limitation and with limitation, and subsection (a)(4) allows requirements to vary as determined by the cost of the undertaking. That is the statutory basis of the limited licence. The Board's own applicant FAQ confirms a limited licence package exists and notes that a holder of a Limited Home Builders Licence still needs a separate roofers licence to carry out residential roofing. No dollar cap for the limited licence is published, so we do not state one.
Enforcement
Section 34-14A-13 places a duty on the building official, or other authority charged with issuing building or similar permits, of any incorporated municipality or subdivision of the municipality or county, to refuse to issue a permit for any undertaking which would require a licence unless the applicant has furnished evidence that he or she is either licensed as required or is exempt. The same section requires that official to report to the Board the name and address of any person who in their opinion has violated the chapter.
Section 34-14A-14 provides that any person who undertakes or attempts to undertake the business of residential home building without holding a current and valid licence is guilty of a Class A misdemeanour.
The exemptions that matter for cabinet work
Section 34-14A-6 lists the categories the chapter does not apply to. The ones below are the ones that come up around a kitchen or bath project; the section also covers certain agricultural buildings, which is outside this guide. They are worth reading because one of them is the homeowner exemption that people rely on without checking its limits.
- Any employee of a licensee who does not hold himself or herself out for hire or engage in residential home building except as such employee.
- An authorised employee of the United States, the State of Alabama, or any municipality, county or other political subdivision, acting within their employment.
- General contractors holding a current and valid licence issued before 1 January 1992 under Chapter 8 of the same title.
- Real estate licensees, licensed engineers and licensed architects operating within the scope of their respective licences on behalf of clients.
- Owners of property acting as their own contractor and providing all material supervision themselves, when building or improving one-family or two-family residences on that property for their own occupancy and not offered for sale.
- Mobile homes or any structure installed, inspected or regulated by the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission, or the repair, improvement or reimprovement of such a structure.
The Board also publishes its exemptions summary at hblb.alabama.gov exemptions, which adds that subcontractors hired by homeowners claiming the homeowner exemption must themselves be licensed if the cost of the portion they are hired to do exceeds $10,000.
The Homeowners' Recovery Fund
The Board administers a Homeowners' Recovery Fund under sections 34-14A-15 and 34-14A-18, funded by an annual fee set by the Board. The procedural point worth knowing is in subsection (d)(1): when a complaint is filed in a court of competent jurisdiction that may result in liability for the fund, the complainant must notify the Board in writing, by certified mail, when the action is commenced. The Board may then enter an appearance, file pleadings, defend, settle or compromise the claim.
That is a consumer protection most homeowners have never heard of, and the notification requirement is a real procedural step rather than a formality.
What a permit actually buys you
Permits are frequently treated as an obstacle, and it is worth setting out what they are actually for, because it changes how you feel about the ones that do apply to your project.
A permit triggers an inspection, and an inspection is an independent check that the work meets code. On the trades that accompany cabinetry, that is not paperwork. A plumbing alteration that leaks inside a wall, a circuit added without the right protection, or a gas line moved without a pressure test are all failures that show up later and cost more than the permit ever did. In a coastal climate the plumbing one is particularly unforgiving, because a slow leak behind cabinetry in a house with a mean July dew point of 72 degrees goes unnoticed for a long time.
There is a resale consideration too. Unpermitted work on a house is a question that comes up at sale, and the usual outcome is a discount or a retrospective permit application, both of which cost more than doing it properly at the time. It also interacts with insurance, in that a claim arising from unpermitted work is a conversation nobody wants to have.
Checking a licence before you sign
The Home Builders Licensure Board maintains a register of licensed residential home builders, and checking a number against it takes about half a minute. It is the single highest-value piece of due diligence available to a homeowner on a job over $10,000, and almost nobody does it.
Ask for the licence number in writing on the quote rather than verbally. A contractor holding a current licence will have no difficulty providing it. A contractor who is reluctant, who offers a different sort of registration number, or who suggests the job can be structured to stay under the threshold is telling you something useful.
On that last point: splitting one job into two contracts to stay under $10,000 does not work as a legal matter and should be treated as a warning rather than a saving. The statute defines cost of the undertaking as the total cost of the materials, labor, supervision, overhead, and profit for the undertaking, and an undertaking is not redefined by being invoiced twice.
What to do before work starts
- Identify which department covers your address: Mobile County, City of Mobile, or the relevant Baldwin County municipality.
- Confirm with that department whether your specific scope needs a permit, rather than relying on a general exemption list.
- Work out whether anything other than cabinetry is being moved, added or altered, because that is what triggers a permit.
- Add up the cost of the undertaking as the statute defines it: materials, labour, supervision, overhead and profit.
- If that total exceeds $10,000, ask for the contractor's Home Builders Licensure Board licence number.
- Check that number against the Board's published register before signing anything. It takes about thirty seconds.
- Get the scope in writing, including what is excluded, so there is no argument about whether a permit was somebody's responsibility.
This page is a plain-language summary of published rules and is not legal advice. Every figure and quotation above comes from the sources linked in the text. For how the work itself is done, see custom cabinets and cabinet installation, or start a measured quote at contact.