Custom homes, additions and concrete in Haymarket, Virginia

Start with the street list. The town publishes the names of the streets inside its limits. Every other street with a Haymarket 20169 ZIP code is under Prince William County jurisdiction.

Historic district zoning since 1994. That year the Town Council placed the entire town under historic district zoning and created the Architectural Review Board. Within the Old and Historic Town of Haymarket, no building, structure or sign may be built, rebuilt or altered until the board approves a certificate of appropriateness, and review covers additions, new construction, rehabilitation and demolition. A 2021 update clarified the overlay's definitions and map and designated buildings in the district built before 1950 as historic.

Town zoning first, county permit second. Since January 15, 2018, the county has issued building permits and carried out inspections inside the town. The town's zoning approval must be in hand before the county will take the building permit application.

What the town's guidelines ask. The design guidelines, adopted in 2010, apply to improvements visible from a public view. Interior remodeling and routine maintenance are exempt, but replacing more than a tenth of a roof, siding or similar feature counts as a material change. New buildings should complement their neighbors in mass, scale and materials. For new construction, foundation exteriors must be brick, stone, or concrete with a brick relief, and siding may be wood, wood-look vinyl, hardboard, stone or brick; exposed block is not appropriate on any building. On historic houses, additions stay limited in size and scale, materials match the period, and original siding is repaired and kept rather than removed or covered. In the historic center, the guidelines look to Colonial, Federal and Folk Victorian styles with Greek Revival and Italianate details.

Walls inside town. Freestanding walls are limited to brick, concrete or fieldstone, and concrete or block must be faced in brick or fieldstone.

Outside the town. County stream buffers, called Resource Protection Areas, reach 100 feet from the bank of a perennial stream or its adjoining wetland, and building and grading inside them are generally not allowed. The county's soil categories flag problem soils such as high shrink-swell soils and marine clay, which can call for an engineered foundation.

Grade changes. The county issues building permits for retaining walls in town and out. Its simplified guidelines cover walls with an exposed height of four feet or less, no load from a nearby structure or driveway and no problem soils; others follow a fuller checklist. Virginia 811's guidance is to call at least three working days before any digging, whatever its depth.

• Custom home building. In town, a new house drawn to sit beside its historic neighbors; outside it, one planned around stream buffers and soil.
• Retaining walls. Walls designed to county thresholds and, in town, built in the brick, concrete, fieldstone or wood the guidelines allow.
• Room and second-story additions. Kept subordinate to an older house in town, and sized to county setbacks elsewhere.
• Stamped and decorative concrete. Terraces and walks toned to sit with brick and fieldstone. The county requires no building permit for an on-grade patio slab unless it is designed to support a future addition; zoning or watershed approval still applies, and visible work in town may need design review.
• Estate and historic home renovations. Rehabilitation planned for older houses in town, where original siding is repaired and kept and changes follow the period of construction.
• Basement finishing and remodels. Interior work is exempt from the town's design guidelines, but finishing a basement still needs a county building permit and, in town, the town's zoning approval first.