Boonville is the Warrick County seat, and that matters more than you might expect when you start a home project here: the county building department and the city planning office are two different desks, in two different buildings, and a lot of projects touch both. Here is what a Boonville homeowner actually needs to know before work starts.
Permits: two offices, not one
City of Boonville — Improvement Location Permit. Required for new residential and commercial structures, described by the city as any structure that adds pavement and/or roofing to the footprint of the property, and for signage. Residential is $50, commercial $100, signs $100 for the first and $10 each additional. You need a scaled drawing showing lot dimensions and the footprint tied to the property lines, plus the application. Planning & Zoning is at 135 South Second Street, (812) 897-1230, zoning@boonville.in.gov, Monday to Friday 8:00–5:00 with a midday close from 12:00 to 1:00. City permit page.
Warrick County Building Department. Enforces building codes across the county and issues remodeling, utility and road right-of-way permits. Office is at 107 West Locust St, Suite 208, Boonville, (812) 897-6188, Monday to Friday 8:00–4:00. One practical detail worth knowing before you print anything: residential plans go in at application time and cannot exceed 11 x 17 inches, because they are scanned. County building department.
The short version: a new slab, a covered structure or anything that adds roofing or pavement to your footprint starts at the city; the build itself is a county building department matter. When in doubt, call both before you schedule a crew — it costs one phone call and saves a stop-work conversation.
Clearing out: Warrick County
Boonville sits in Warrick County, so county clear-out programs — dump days, tire collection, household hazardous waste — run on Warrick’s calendar rather than Evansville’s. As of our last check, no 2026 calendar was findable online for Warrick County, which is worth knowing before you drive somewhere with a trailer. We track every county’s programs and sources on the Tri-State Clear-Out Calendar, and we say plainly when dates have not been posted rather than repeating last year’s.
What the weather does to houses here
Boonville gets the same Ohio Valley pattern as the rest of the Tri-State: humid summers, freeze-thaw winters, and a spring storm season that arrives fast. Practically, that means three things for a homeowner. Outdoor concrete needs proper base prep and drainage away from the house, because freeze-thaw finds every low spot. Gutters and grading matter more than they do in a drier climate. And roofs age from storm events as much as from years — a roof that looks fine from the ground can have lost granules or lifted shingles after a wind event.
Before you dig
Call 811 before any excavation — fence posts and deck footings included. It is free, it is the law, and it is a great deal cheaper than hitting a gas line.
Find a local contractor
Browse the Tri-State contractor directory by trade, or tell us what you need and we will hand it to one local contractor in your area. Free to you — contractors pay us, you never do.
Tri-State Homeowner Report 
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