Running a business from home in Austin: the three-trip rule

Last verified August 6, 2026 against the Austin Land Development Code · Kimbrough Gray · KiliGray Homes

A home occupation must be conducted entirely within the dwelling or an accessory structure, may generate no more than 3 customer vehicle trips per day, and generally may only involve occupants of the dwelling.

Applies to: Commercial activity accessory to a residential use. Sixteen categories of business are prohibited as home occupations outright.

Three customer vehicle trips a day. §25-2-900(E) is the number that decides most of these questions: a home occupation may not generate more than three vehicle trips each day of customer-related vehicular traffic. A consultancy where clients rarely visit is fine. A salon, a studio with a class timetable, or anything with a steady stream of appointments is not.

Inside the building, and residential in character

§25-2-900(A) frames it: a home occupation is a commercial use accessory to a residential use. The house stays a house; the business is secondary to it.

Two requirements follow from that:

§25-2-900(B) — the occupation must be conducted entirely within the dwelling unit or an accessory structure. Nothing outdoors, and a detached garage or studio counts as an accessory structure.
§25-2-900(D) — the residential character of the lot and dwelling must be maintained, and a home occupation requiring a structural alteration to comply with a nonresidential construction code is prohibited.

That second one is a neat test. If your business would force the building to be constructed as a commercial premises, it is not a home occupation. The single exception is modification for accessibility requirements, which is expressly carved out.

Whether you can have someone else working there depends on the business

§25-2-900(C) starts restrictively: participation is limited to occupants of the dwelling unit.

But a person who does not live on site may participate if the home occupation is one of four things:

a medical, professional, administrative or business office;
an art workshop or gallery;
a music, dance or photography studio; or
handicraft or hobby instruction.

It is a closed list. A bookkeeping practice can have a non-resident employee; a home-based online retailer, on the current wording, cannot — because it is not an office, a workshop, a studio or instruction.

Note the three-trip limit still applies on top. A music studio may involve a non-resident teacher, but the pupils arriving are customer-related traffic.

Nothing may cross the property line

§25-2-900(G) is a long list with a simple point — a home occupation may not produce any of the following outside the dwelling unit or accessory structure:

noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odor, heat, glare, fumes, electrical interference or waste run-off.

And §25-2-900(F) adds a visual test: equipment or materials associated with the occupation must not be visible from off the premises. The one exception is materials and equipment used in an art workshop — presumably because the alternative would make a working studio impossible.

Read together, these mean a passer-by should not be able to tell the business exists. That is really the organizing principle of the whole section.

No commercial vehicle, and effectively no advertising the address. §25-2-900(H) prohibits parking a commercial vehicle on the premises or on an adjacent street by residentially zoned property. And §25-2-900(I) prohibits a sign on the premises except under §25-10-156, and prohibits advertising the street address at all — through signs, billboards, television, radio or newspapers. You may advertise the business; you may not tell people where it is.

Sixteen things that can never be a home occupation

§25-2-900(J) lists them outright, regardless of how quietly you could run them:

animal hospitals, animal breeding
clinics, hospitals, hospital services
contractors yards
scrap and salvage services
massage parlors — other than those employing massage therapists licensed by the state
restaurants and cocktail lounges
rental outlets and equipment sales
adult oriented businesses
recycling centers and drop-off recycling collection facilities
anything requiring an H-occupancy under the building code
automotive repair services, and any business involving the repair of any type of internal combustion engine, including equipment repair services

The engine repair prohibition is the broadest. It is not limited to cars — mower, generator and small-engine repair are all caught by "any type of internal combustion engine".

The massage carve-out is worth noting the other way round: a licensed massage therapist is permitted, since the prohibition reaches only parlors not employing state-licensed therapists.

This is the land use question only. §25-2-900 decides whether the use is permitted on the property. It says nothing about business licensing, tax, or the separate regime for short-term rental, which moved to Title 4 in 2025. Satisfying this section is necessary, not sufficient.

What this means when a client asks for a home office

Most of what people actually want is straightforwardly permitted. A study, a desk, a home-based professional practice with occasional visitors — all inside the section, and no permit question arises for the space itself.

Where it changes a design brief is the accessory structure. A detached studio at the back of the lot is a good answer to §25-2-900(B), and it also helps with the nuisance and visibility tests. But it is still subject to impervious cover, the setbacks and — if it is over one story or 15 feet — the ordinary rear setback rather than the five-foot accessory allowance.

The conversation that goes wrong is the client-facing business. Three customer trips a day is a hard ceiling, and clients who imagine a treatment room or a teaching studio at home are usually describing something well past it. Better raised at briefing than after the studio is built.

Common questions

Can I run a business from my house in Austin?

Yes, as a home occupation — conducted entirely within the dwelling or an accessory structure, generating no more than three customer vehicle trips per day, and producing no noise, odour, glare or other effects outside the building.

How many customers can visit a home business in Austin?

The limit is on trips, not people: no more than three vehicle trips each day of customer-related vehicular traffic, under §25-2-900(E).

Can I have an employee at a home business in Austin?

Only if the occupation is a medical, professional, administrative or business office, an art workshop or gallery, a music, dance or photography studio, or handicraft or hobby instruction. Otherwise participation is limited to occupants of the dwelling.

Can I put a sign up for my home business in Austin?

Only as §25-10-156 permits, and you may not advertise the street address at all — through signs, billboards, television, radio or newspapers.

Can I do car repair from home in Austin?

No. Automotive repair services are prohibited as home occupations, as is any business involving repair of any type of internal combustion engine, including equipment repair.

Can I park a work van at my Austin home business?

No. §25-2-900(H) prohibits parking a commercial vehicle on the premises or on a street adjacent to residentially zoned property.

Can a massage therapist work from home in Austin?

Yes, if state-licensed. The prohibition reaches massage parlors other than those employing massage therapists licensed by the state.

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We do this research ourselves on every project we take on — zoning, floodplain, watershed, trees, whether it is a legal lot. Send us an address and we will run it and tell you what we find. It works the same whether you own a vacant lot, a house you are thinking of adding a unit to, or a house you are thinking of replacing. No charge and no strings, and if it is a bad lot we will say so.

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We are homebuilders, not the City of Austin. This page explains how we read the code in practice — it is not legal advice and it is not an official determination. Always confirm with Austin Development Services before you rely on it for a project. The authoritative text is the Austin Land Development Code; permitting questions go to Austin Development Services Department.