Virginia Building Permit Guides

Virginia’s building code is the Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC), adopted by the Board of Housing and Community Development. Under Virginia Code § 36-98 it supersedes the building codes and regulations of the counties, municipalities and other political subdivisions, so no Virginia county, city or town adopts its own building code or amendments. The code in every Virginia county, city and town is the same code.

Section 36-98 leaves a short list of local rules in place: proffered conditions accepted with a rezoning; conditions on special exceptions, special or conditional use permits and variances; conditions on clustered single-family development and open-space preservation under § 15.2-2242(8) or § 15.2-2286.1; land use requirements in airport or highway overlay districts; historic districts created under § 15.2-2306; and local flood plain regulations adopted to take part in the National Flood Insurance Program. None of these is a building code provision, and any of them can hold up a permit.

For single-family construction, § 36-98 also overrides local ordinances that regulate dwelling foundations or crawl spaces, require specific building materials or finishes, or set a minimum window area or number of windows.

Enforcement is local (§ 36-105). A town with fewer than 3,500 people may choose to enforce the code itself; where it does not, the county enforces it for the town. A county or city without its own building department must arrange enforcement through another locality or an approved agency.

Which edition applies

The 2021 edition of the USBC and the 2021 Statewide Fire Prevention Code took effect on 18 January 2024. For one year from that date an applicant could choose the 2021 edition or the previous edition (USBC Section 103.2), so every permit application submitted from 18 January 2025 is reviewed under the 2021 edition. A permit properly issued under an earlier edition does not require changes to its approved design (Section 103.2), and under § 36-103 a building permitted, started, or with working drawings prepared in the year before a new code took effect stays under the regulations in force at that time.

The USBC has three parts: the Virginia Construction Code for new construction, the Virginia Existing Building Code for work on existing buildings, and the Virginia Maintenance Code for buildings in use. Alongside them sit the Virginia Residential, Energy Conservation, Mechanical, Plumbing and Fuel Gas Codes and the Statewide Fire Prevention Code. The 2021 edition is based on the 2021 International Codes and the 2020 National Electrical Code, and the Virginia Construction Code replaces ASCE/SEI 7-16 with ASCE/SEI 7-22 for structural design loads (Chapter 35), so load calculations carried over from an ASCE 7-16 design need rechecking.

Work that needs no permit

USBC Section 108.2 lists work that needs no permit or inspection, though an owner may still ask for one and the work must still meet the code. The list includes one-story detached sheds, playhouses and similar structures of 256 square feet or less (not Group F-1 or H); fences, except pool barriers and fences required for pedestrian safety; concrete or masonry walls up to 6 feet above grade; retaining walls holding back less than 3 feet of unbalanced fill; pools of 150 square feet or less and under 24 inches deep; flagpoles up to 30 feet; and wiring under 50 volts, broadband cabling and home automation wiring, unless it is part of a fire alarm, fire suppression or other life-safety system.

It also exempts ordinary repairs: replacing windows and doors with ones of the same operation and opening size; replacing plumbing fixtures without altering the supply, drainage or vent piping; replacing switches, receptacles, light fixtures and ceiling fans in houses, townhouses and single apartments; replacing mechanical appliances that do not burn gas or oil in those dwellings; replacing any amount of roof covering or siding on Group R-3, R-4 and R-5 buildings where the design wind speed is 100 mph or less, and up to 100 square feet of roof covering on any building; floor finishes; cabinets and trim; and paint and wallpaper. In a local historic district the building official may still require a permit for replacement siding, roofing and windows, and in a special flood hazard area for any exempt item.

Federally owned buildings are exempt unless federal law requires a local permit (USBC Section 102.3). Farm buildings and structures are exempt from the code (§ 36-99), except a farm building run as a licensed restaurant. Farm buildings in a flood plain or mudslide-prone area still follow flood-proofing or mudslide rules, and a farm building that the public is invited into for an agritourism activity, and that is used to display, sample or sell the farm’s products, must have portable fire extinguishers, a simple written emergency plan and a posted sign of at least 24 by 36 inches stating that it is exempt from the USBC.

Under § 36-98.1 the Department of General Services, acting through its Division of Engineering and Buildings, is the building official for state-owned buildings and for all buildings built on state-owned property. It reviews and approves plans, grants modifications and may delegate inspection and enforcement to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, other state agencies or local building departments; when it asks a local building department for those services, the state agency pays the same fees a private applicant would. At the request of a public college or university, the Department must authorise the institution to contract with the local building official for its inspections and certifications, so a campus project may or may not use the local inspectors. A public institution of higher education with a management agreement with the Commonwealth (a “covered institution”) may instead designate its own building official for its capital projects under § 23.1-1016; that official must be certified by the Department of Housing and Community Development, reports to the institution’s governing board, is subject to review by the Department of General Services, and must have each project inspected by the State Fire Marshal or a designee before certifying it for occupancy. The contract-with-the-locality route does not apply to such an institution.

The permit records the mechanics’ lien agent

Under § 36-98.01 a building permit for a one- or two-family dwelling must show, when it is issued and if the applicant asks, the name, mailing address and telephone number of the mechanics’ lien agent defined in § 43-1; if no designation is requested, the permit must say “None Designated.” Under § 43-4.01 that permit must be posted on the property before any work starts and until the work is complete, and anyone entitled to a mechanics’ lien may send notice to the lien agent named on the permit. The choice made on the application therefore decides where subcontractors and suppliers send their lien notices.

Buildings first permitted before 1985: asbestos certification

Under § 36-99.7 a local building department may not issue a permit to renovate or demolish a building whose initial building permit was issued before 1 January 1985 until the owner or agent certifies that the affected parts were inspected for asbestos by an inspector licensed under § 54.1-503, and that none was found or that response actions will follow the federal NESHAP rule (40 CFR 61, Subpart M) and the OSHA construction standard (29 CFR 1926.1101).

Single-family dwellings and residential buildings of four or fewer units are exempt unless the renovation or demolition is for commercial or public development. The rule also does not apply where the regulated asbestos-containing material is less than 260 linear feet on pipes, less than 160 square feet on other components, or less than 35 cubic feet where it could not be measured beforehand. For work limited to repairing or replacing roofing, floorcovering or siding (except in schools), a statement that the materials are assumed to contain friable asbestos and will be handled by a licensed asbestos contractor satisfies the inspection requirement. An abatement area may not be reoccupied until the building official receives certification that response actions are complete and final clearance levels have been measured.

Other statewide provisions

Single-family drawings are not public. Under § 36-105.3, information in engineering and construction drawings for a single-family dwelling submitted for code compliance is exempt from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, except to the applicant or property owner on request, and building officials must keep drawings of critical structural components, security, ventilation, fire protection, elevators, electrical and other utility systems secure.

A building official may issue an annual permit for any construction regulated by the code (§ 36-105); the holder must keep a detailed record of the alterations made under it and make it available to the building official (USBC Section 110.2).

The code must provide procedures for the local building department to grant modifications of any provision where the spirit and functional intent of the code are observed and public health, welfare and safety are assured (§ 36-99). A refusal to grant a modification can be appealed to the local Board of Building Code Appeals (§ 36-105).

In § 36-99.01 the General Assembly found that applying current building code requirements to rehabilitation had sometimes led to costly and time-consuming requirements that reduced rehabilitation, and directed the Board to make the changes needed; the Virginia Existing Building Code governs work on existing buildings.

A locality may adopt a rental inspection ordinance only for designated rental inspection districts supported by specific findings, or for an individual unit on a separate finding (§ 36-105.1:1). A unit that passes with no violations affecting safe, decent and sanitary living conditions is exempt for at least four years, as is a unit issued a certificate of occupancy within the last four years. In a multifamily development of more than 10 units, only a sample of between two and 10 percent of the units is inspected.

Under the Virginia Maintenance Code every bedroom must have at least 70 square feet of floor area, and a bedroom occupied by more than one person at least 50 square feet for each occupant (Section 404.4.1).

Two rules in § 36-105 govern local permit fees everywhere in Virginia. Fees are set by the local governing body to defray the cost of enforcement and appeals, and, apart from the state levy, may be used only to support the local building department. And where construction costs less than $2,500, the inspecting authority may waive inspection at its discretion; the permit is still required.

USBC Section 107.2 adds a 2.0 percent levy on permit fees under § 36-137. The local building department collects it and sends it quarterly to the Department of Housing and Community Development for the Virginia Building Code Academy; localities that run their own DHCD-accredited training academy keep it.

No statewide rule sets plan review as a percentage of the permit fee; each locality’s adopted fee schedule sets its own charges.

Under § 36-105, an applicant who is a tenant, or who owns an easement on the property, cannot be denied a permit only because the property owner owes the locality money that is a lien on the property. Where the applicant is the property owner, the locality may require those obligations to be paid in full before the permit issues.

The Board for Contractors, part of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, licenses contractors under Title 54.1, Chapter 11, and the licence is held by the business entity, which can be a sole proprietorship. Every firm names a Qualified Individual with the required experience, and where applicable the examination, for each classification or specialty it holds; Class A and B firms also name a Designated Employee who has passed the Board’s examination (18VAC50-22-40 to 18VAC50-22-60).

The class sets the size of work the firm may take on (§ 54.1-1100). Class A: a single contract or project of $150,000 or more, or $1 million or more of work in 12 months. Class B: single contracts of $30,000 or more but less than $150,000, or $250,000 or more but less than $1 million in 12 months. Class C: single contracts over $1,000 but less than $30,000, or less than $250,000 in 12 months. The classification or specialty, such as Residential Building, Commercial Building, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC or Home Improvement, sets what work the firm may do. Electrical, plumbing and HVAC contractors must hold a master tradesman licence as a condition of licensure, and individual tradesmen hold their own tradesman licences.

Under § 54.1-1111 a permit applicant must show a state contractor licence or certificate number, or file a written statement that it is not subject to licensure, and must show that the locality’s required license taxes or fees have been paid; a building official who issues a permit without them commits a Class 3 misdemeanor.

Under § 54.1-1115, contracting without a licence, or without the right class of licence for the value of the work, is a Class 1 misdemeanor, with an added fine of up to $500 for each day of violation, and a contract made by an unlicensed contractor is generally not enforceable by that contractor.

When a local building department denies a permit application, § 36-105 requires a written explanation of the reasons. The applicant may submit a revised application, and the department is encouraged, but not required, to limit its review to the parts previously found inadequate, so a full re-review of a resubmission is lawful.

Every local building department has a local Board of Building Code Appeals. Anyone aggrieved by the department’s application of the code, or by a refusal to grant a modification, appeals there first; no appeal to the State Building Code Technical Review Board lies until the local board has made a final determination (§ 36-105).

Plan review and inspection of buildings other than state-owned buildings are the sole responsibility of the local building inspectors (§ 36-105.1). Once a building is complete, responsibility for fire safety passes to the State Fire Marshal in localities that do not enforce the Statewide Fire Prevention Code themselves.

A copy of the permit must be posted on the construction site until the work is complete (USBC Section 110.5), and one set of the approved construction documents must be kept at the building site and available to the building official (Section 109.5).

The local governing body inspects and enforces the code for elevators, escalators and related conveyances, except elevators in single- and two-family homes and townhouses (§ 36-105).

A stop work order is a legally binding written order from the local building official that must identify the specific code violations in the work and state the conditions under which work may resume (§ 36-97).

A building code violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500, with higher minimum fines for a second offense within five years or within five to 10 years (§ 36-106). A locality may instead adopt a uniform schedule of civil penalties for specified violations: up to $100 for the initial summons and $350 for each additional summons, with a total of $4,000 for violations arising from the same set of facts.