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Lodi · Building on your lot

Running a business from home in Lodi

A home business is limited to one room and 25% of the ground floor; on-site clients are not allowed, with exceptions such as tutoring.

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Key points

  • Home businesses: A home business is limited to one room and 25% of the ground floor; on-site clients are not allowed, with exceptions such as tutoring.

Each rule below links to the section of the Lodi Municipal Code it was read from, with the code text one click away (checked October 2026). General information, not legal advice.

What Lodi's code says

Lodi code What Lodi's code adds
Space used
  • No more than 25% of the ground floor's gross floor area.
    Applies: All activity must be in one room of the main home.
    § 17.36.060 · code text
    All home occupation activities shall be confined to one room within the primary dwelling, which shall not occupy more than twenty-five percent of the gross floor area of the ground floor.
Customer visits
  • No on-site clients.
    Applies: Except live/work units, tutoring or teaching children by appointment, and applicants with a proven mobility disability.
    § 17.36.060 · code text
    The home occupation shall involve no on-site clients except for:
Employees
  • No on-site employees other than full-time residents of the home.
    § 17.36.060 · code text
    A home occupation shall have no on-site employees other than full-time residents of the dwelling.
Permit
  • A city business license is required.
    § 17.36.060 · code text
    A home occupation shall require a city business license.
  • A minor use permit is required.
    Applies: Small-scale commercial wood and metal working as a home occupation.
    § 17.36.060 · code text
    Small-scale commercial wood and metal working may be authorized by minor use permit as a home occupation, provided that the review authority may require conditions of approval limiting hours of operation, noise levels, and/or any other aspect of the operation, to ensure compatibility with on-site and adjacent residential uses.
Businesses not allowed
  • Adult entertainment activities/businesses; animal hospitals and boarding facilities; automotive and other vehicle repair and service; contractor's and other storage yards; dismantling, junk, or scrap yards; fitness/health facilities, except one-on-one personal trainers may be allowed; medical clinics, laboratories, or doctor's offices; personal services, except licensed massage therapy and physical therapy may be allowed; vehicle parking or dispatching for automobile wrecking, towing, taxi, or similar passenger or delivery services; on-site sales, except mail order businesses without stock-in-trade on site; uses requiring explosives or highly combustible or toxic materials; welding and machine shop operations; wood cutting businesses; barber/beauty/nail shops; dance/night clubs; food preparation for commercial purposes; fortune telling; photography studios, not including photo processing; plant nursery; retail or wholesale sales of products stored at the residence, except mail order businesses without stock-in-trade on site; other uses determined by the director to be similar
    § 17.36.060 · code text
    The following are examples of business activities that are not incidental to or compatible with residential activities, and are, therefore, prohibited as home occupations:

Who this affects

HomeownersContractorsDesigners

Frequently asked questions

Can I run a business from my home in Lodi?

A home business is limited to one room and 25% of the ground floor; on-site clients are not allowed, with exceptions such as tutoring.

General information, not legal advice.

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Lodi Municipal Code — full text