Now: freeze-up. Pour before the ground freezes; clear the gutters once the leaves are down.

The Wisconsin year
Homeowners Contractors
Contour-strip fields curving around a hill in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area at golden hour, with a ridge-top farm and autumn woods

The Driftless Area, Wisconsin

Know your ground.

Snow load and footings for all 72 Wisconsin counties, permit rules for 30 cities, and the state’s licenses, read at the source with the date we read it, and the pros we’d send you to.

Fox Valley ConcreteOur directory of concrete contractors in the Fox Valley. See pros →Also: Badger Flatworkarea to confirm
Your region

The same ground, cut open

What the code asks of a Wisconsin house

Two rules in the Uniform Dwelling Code shape every house here: how much snow the roof must carry, set by zone, and how deep a footing goes, the same everywhere. Pick a county.

Roof snow load
Ask the inspector
Map reads Zone 2, 30 lb per sq ft
Footings
48 in. at least
or below frost if deeper · SPS 321.16(1)(a)

Snow load read Oct 16, 2026 from UDC Figure 321.02 (Register, Nov 2024); footing rule read Oct 16, 2026. Counties were placed by reading the scanned zone map; the 21 counties the line touches say “ask the inspector” until DSPS confirms. Regions are our own grouping. All 72 counties

A house cut through: snow on the roof, the ground in layers, and the footing at least 48 inches below grade Shallow bedrock rule: SPS 321.16(2)(c) frost: varies by winter and soil 30 lb/sq ft design snow load · Zone 2 024” 48” 48 in. at least
Drawn, not to scale: topsoil, loess, then limestone.

Trades

What are you building?

Five trades with a directory of ours behind them, and two we cover with guides while we see who’s searching. Where we have no directory, the guide gives you the hire-it-yourself kit: the license to ask for, your city’s permit rule and the questions to ask.

All trades

Permits

Does it need a permit?

Pick a job and a city. The answer is stamped with the city and the date we read its rules; open any row for what the city’s page says. 30 cities, judged for a single-family home.

I want to in .

Permit needed.

Appleton: five jobsOutagamie County · open a row for what the city’s page says

The tables

Every row has a source and a date

Each table links to the page it was read from. Where we could not confirm a rule, it says so and sends you to the people who can.

City pages

There is no county frost-depth table

Wisconsin sets no county frost-depth table. One rule applies everywhere. Footings go at least 48 in. below grade, or below the frost if it goes deeper (SPS 321.16(1)(a)). Anyone quoting “the frost depth for your county” is guessing.

Before you dig, call 811

Wisconsin law asks anyone digging to give the one-call system notice at least 3 working days before the work starts: fence posts, deck footings, a new walk.

Wis. Stat. 182.0175(2)(am)1 · read Oct 17, 2026

The Wisconsin year

Book the work before the season

Each season breaks something different. Tap a month; the triangle marks where we are now.

A gutter packed with maple leaves in late autumn

Freeze-upOct–Nov · now

Trees before the snow, gutters after the leaves drop, the furnace before the cold.

  • Pour footings and slabs before the ground freezes: footings may not go on frozen material. SPS 321.16
  • Oaks are safer to prune now than in spring; the high-risk window is April through July. Wisconsin DNR, Oak wilt
  • Book the furnace check before the first cold snap.
TreesGuttersHeating & cooling guide

Field guides

Read before you hire

All guides Costs

For contractors

Wisconsin homeowners, by trade and by county.

Our Wisconsin directories reach homeowners while they decide who to call. Leads and calls by trade and county, or a featured place on a directory.

Open the field office