Moreland Hills, Ohio
Decks and outdoor living in Moreland Hills
The Building Department takes a check made out to the Village of Moreland Hills, or cash in exact change. There is no card terminal, so the permit fee for a deck is written before the holes are dug.
Two pieces of paper decide when a Moreland Hills deck starts. One is that check, in the amount of the permit fee, because the counter has no card terminal and exact change is the only alternative. The other is the drawing, which has to show the deck behind the house. Codified Ordinances §1151.13 leaves the front yard to low decorative walls and open fencing, so where the structure sits is settled on paper long before a footing is located.
After that the schedule belongs to the village clock. Inspections do not happen on the third Wednesday of any month, and the office closes from 12:30 to 1:30 every day, so a footing inspection is booked around two fixed absences rather than around the day concrete is ready. Holes stay open until someone looks at them, and a deck with any new volume over it picks up a third clock at Planning Commission.
The photographs on this page are from our own jobs on Cleveland’s east side. Each caption says what is in the frame and when. None is presented as work in Moreland Hills.
The permit path in Moreland Hills
- Paper before paymentNIR registers in the city of the house before pulling a permit there. On a home-construction contract over $25,000, Ohio Revised Code 4722 wants the contract in writing and caps the down payment at ten percent before work starts. The permit fee is then paid the way this counter is paid: a check made out to the Village of Moreland Hills, or cash in exact change.
- Behind the house, not in front of itCodified Ordinances §1151.13 keeps accessory structures behind the house and leaves the front yard to low decorative walls and open fencing. That is a drawing decision, made before anything is priced. A household that wants roofed outdoor space is on an addition path instead, which is a different review and a different schedule.
- Planning Commission when there is volumePlanning Commission typically sits at 6 p.m. on the first Monday, wants submittals 21 days prior, and does not meet in January. That approval is not a building permit. Where new volume is involved the Village Architect is in front of the permit as well, so the drawing gets finished early rather than sketched at the counter.
- A Wednesday that existsFooting holes are inspected open, before concrete. There are no inspections on the third Wednesday of any month, and the office closes 12:30 to 1:30 daily, so the pour is scheduled against days the village keeps. Then the ledger behind flashing, framing, decking, railing and stairs, and the final.
Footings are laid out clear of the leach field before they are counted.
What Moreland Hills houses do to a deck estimate
Lots are wooded and many are on septic, which makes a deck a site problem before it is a framing problem. Footing locations have to miss the leach field and the trees that are staying, and the drill has to reach the back of the house without crossing the field. Where access fails, holes are dug by hand, and that is its own line rather than a rounding error inside the footing price.
The river corridor holds water, so moisture at the foundation is more common here than a dry wooded lot suggests. That matters where the ledger lands: a band joist behind a wall that has been damp for years is a wall to open before the number is fixed. Houses run from mid-century to later custom work, and on both the code question is height above grade. Height sets the guard, the opening size and the stair detail long before decking is chosen.
One deck frame, in order
Four photographs from a single deck job, shown in the order they were taken. Scroll and the frame goes up the way it did on site.
01 / 04Lumber staged for a deck frame, May 2026 
02 / 04Deck joists on concrete piers, ledger set to the house, May 2026 
03 / 04Deck frame squared and blocked before decking, May 2026 
04 / 04Deck platform framed, railing posts set, May 2026
Questions from Moreland Hills
How do we pay the Moreland Hills permit fee?
By check made out to the Village of Moreland Hills, or cash in exact change. There is no card terminal, and a receipt from another village's portal does not travel here. The fee is a dated line on the estimate rather than something settled at the end of the job.
Which day can the footing inspection not happen?
The third Wednesday of the month. The village does not inspect that day, and the office also closes from 12:30 to 1:30 daily, so a mid-afternoon drop-off can turn into a next-morning one. Concrete is scheduled against the days that exist, which is why the start is a window and not a promise.
We want a covered porch in Moreland Hills instead of an open deck. Is that the same permit?
No. A roof over the structure moves it toward addition class, and new volume brings the Village Architect and Planning Commission in front of the building permit. The commission sits at 6 p.m. on the first Monday, submittals due 21 days prior, with no January meeting. The schedule changes shape the moment a roof is drawn.
The lot is on septic. Where do the footings go?
Clear of the leach field, and that is decided on the site before it is drawn. Wooded lots here often put the field exactly where a deck would like its footings, so the layout moves or the deck gets smaller. Access matters too: where a machine cannot reach, holes are dug by hand and priced that way.
Deck building nearby
Other work in Moreland Hills
Decks & Outdoor Living: the full scope and Moreland Hills: the permit path.
Request an estimate in Moreland Hills
Four minutes. Rooms, budget range, and when you want to start. We reply with a site-visit time, not a number.
The number reaches Roman Ivakhnenko, who writes every estimate. Texts get a reply with a site-visit time.