Pole barns and barndominiums in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Building in Rehoboth Beach.
Rehoboth Beach is known for its mile-long boardwalk, its bandstand and Funland, which opened in 1962, and it began in 1873 as a Methodist camp-meeting site. The Coastal Highway (DE 1), Rehoboth Avenue (DE 1A) and State Road (DE 1B) are its main roads. For a builder, two things stand out here: flood elevation rules and a City permit that must come before any work.
Flood rules and the City’s seasonal work hours both shape the schedule here, so we plan around them and keep you posted from permit to final inspection. Our designers draw the building, we file with the City and the County, and our crews make the trip of roughly 46 miles from Dover, about 68 minutes, to build it.
- County
- Sussex County, Delaware
- Population
- 1,108 (2020 Census)
- ZIP code
- 19971
- From our office
- About 1 hr 8 min (46 miles) by car
- Permits
- City of Rehoboth Beach Building & Licensing Department
- Main roads
- DE 1 (Coastal Highway), DE 1A (Rehoboth Avenue), DE 1B (State Road)
Permits and rules in Rehoboth Beach.
Inside city limits, all residential and commercial construction needs a City building permit from the City of Rehoboth Beach Building & Licensing Department, 229 Rehoboth Avenue, 302-227-6181 ext. 222, before work begins; starting early can cost up to three times the permit fees. The City performs the inspections. The County permit is separate and still required: Sussex County requires one for all construction, even in towns like Rehoboth Beach that run their own inspections.
New and substantially improved structures must be built at least one foot above the base flood elevation, and all new construction and substantial improvements need an elevation certificate. A shed permit takes plans, a proposal and a current property survey showing lot coverage and the shed’s location. In the ocean blocks up to Lake Gerar, a project also needs a DNREC Shoreline Construction Approval Letter.
Who issues the permit
City of Rehoboth Beach Building & Licensing Department
- Address
- 229 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
- Phone
- 302-227-6181 ext. 222
- Website
- Permit information(opens in a new tab)
Where this comes from
Permit details checked October 2026. Rules change, so we confirm the current requirements for your parcel before anything is drawn.
What people build around Rehoboth Beach.
Near a mile-long boardwalk, storage for summer living fits: a shed for bikes, chairs and umbrellas, a detached garage or a pool house. A third-party copy of the City Code limits accessory buildings to 12 feet in height and 10% of a residential lot, and the City wants lot coverage shown on the survey for a shed, so we confirm current limits with Building & Licensing before drawing.
Rehoboth Beach questions.
Have a question about your property? Call 302-399-4420 and we’ll look it up.
What happens if work starts before the Rehoboth Beach permit?
It gets expensive. The City says starting construction before the permit is issued can cost up to three times the permit fees, and all residential and commercial construction inside city limits needs that permit first. We wait for both the City and County permits before any work.
When can crews work in Rehoboth Beach?
City work hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday work, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., is allowed only from November 1 to April 30, and there is no work on Sundays, holidays or Saturdays from May 1 to October 31. We schedule the build around those hours.
Do you take projects in Rehoboth Beach?
We do. It is a trip of about 46 miles and 68 minutes from our office at 575 N Dupont Hwy in Dover, and we take Rehoboth Beach projects from the first site visit to the final inspection.
Let’s plan your building in Rehoboth Beach.
Tell us what you’d like to build and where, and we’ll come back with drawings and a free quote.
- info@pbuincde.com
- Office
- 575 N Dupont Hwy, Dover, DE 19901 (opens Google Maps in a new tab)
- Hours
- Mon to Fri, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
- We build in
- Rehoboth Beach and all of Sussex County