Building permit
A building permit is the local building official's permission, under Virginia's Uniform Statewide Building Code, to construct or demolish a building or structure. It is normally obtained before the work begins, and the work is not deemed in compliance until the inspecting authority approves it.
Permission first, then the work, with one emergency exception
Under Section 108.1 of the Uniform Statewide Building Code, an application goes to the building official and a permit must be obtained before construction or demolition of a building or structure begins, except that an application for emergency construction, alterations or equipment replacement is due by the end of the first working day after the work starts.
Application for a permit shall be made to the building official and a permit shall be obtained prior to the commencement of any of the following activities
13VAC5-63-80, USBC Section 108.1
The same section leaves the building official some room: the official may authorize work to begin while the application is still on its way or before the permit is issued. That is the building official's decision to make, not the owner's.
A building permit need not be one document. The code says separate or combined permits may be required for different areas of construction, such as building, plumbing, electrical and mechanical work. A house also needs a step before its building permit can issue: the Health Commissioner's prior written authorization under Va. Code 32.1-165.
The full set of approvals for a new home, and the order they tend to come in, is laid out in what permits you need to build a house in Virginia.
One state code, enforced by the local building department
The rules a permit enforces are the same across Virginia. The desk that issues it is local.
Va. Code 36-98 directs the state Board of Housing and Community Development to adopt the Uniform Statewide Building Code, and says it supersedes the building codes and regulations of counties, municipalities and other political subdivisions. The 2021 edition is in force statewide: Carroll County's new-dwelling cover sheet says the state is under the 2021 codes made effective January 18, 2024. A county does not pick its own edition.
Enforcement is local. Va. Code 36-105 makes enforcing the code for construction the local building department's responsibility. The same statute says any building may be inspected at any time before completion and is not deemed in compliance until the inspecting authority approves it.
The statewide code frames the time limits as the building official's option. Under USBC Section 110, a building official is permitted to revoke a permit when work has not started within six months of issuance, or has been suspended or abandoned for six months, and may grant extensions of up to one year each on written request. The building official is also permitted to set a three-year limit to complete a new detached single-family dwelling, an addition to one, or a residential accessory structure. Floyd County's own page puts it more firmly for Floyd: work must begin within six months or the permit will become invalid. Floyd's office also lists the setback distances it applies from roads, structures and property lines.
Small sheds, low walls, minor work and farm buildings
Section 108.2 of the code lists work that needs no permit application or related inspections. The list is specific, and each item carries conditions.
- Sheds and playhouses. One-story detached tool and storage sheds, playhouses or similar uses, up to 256 square feet of building area, that are not classified as a Group F-1 or H occupancy.
- Low retaining walls. Walls supporting less than three feet of unbalanced fill that are not built to impound Class I, II or III-A liquids or to support a surcharge other than ordinary unbalanced fill.
- Minor work. Construction work the building official deems minor and ordinary that does not adversely affect public health or general safety.
Three limits come with that list. Exempt work is not exempt from the code's other requirements. The building official may require a permit application for any exempt item located in a special flood hazard area. And an owner who asks for a permit for exempt work gets one, with the related inspections.
Farm buildings have their own exemption from the code, with limits. Va. Code 36-97 defines a farm building or structure as one "not used for residential purposes", located on property where farming operations take place and used primarily for the uses the statute lists, and Va. Code 36-99 exempts those buildings from the code. The limits: a building or part of a building on a farm that is operated as a restaurant, as the Code defines one, and licensed as such by the Board of Health is not exempt; farm buildings in a flood plain or a mudslide-prone area stay subject to flood-proofing or mudslide rules; and a farm building the public is invited into for an agritourism activity, used to display, sample or sell farm products, must have portable fire extinguishers, a simple written emergency plan and a sign posted at its entry. Whether an outbuilding helps a sale is a separate matter, covered in whether barns and outbuildings add value.
What a permit file tells a buyer about finished work
When a house or an outbuilding changes hands, the permit comes up as a question about the past: was the work permitted, and was it inspected and approved?
The code gives that question a clear end point. The minimum inspections include footing excavations and reinforcement before concrete is placed, and approval of the final inspection means all work associated with the permit complies with the code and the permit is complete. For occupancy, the document that follows is the certificate of occupancy.
An addition or a finished space with no permit behind it raises different questions, taken up in what happens if a house has an unpermitted addition. On vacant ground the permit looks forward instead: whether a building official can issue one at all, after the health authorization and the other local prerequisites, is part of what makes a lot buildable.
Questions about the permit history of a house or outbuilding?
Tell us the county and what was built, and Lowell will help frame the questions for the building department before the property goes on the market. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions about this term
Does a shed small enough to skip the permit still have to meet the building code?
Yes. The Uniform Statewide Building Code exempts one-story detached tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses up to 256 square feet of building area, if not classified as a Group F-1 or H occupancy, from the permit application and related inspections, but says the exemption does not excuse the work from the code's other requirements. The building official may also require a permit for an exempt item in a special flood hazard area, and an owner who asks for a permit gets one.
Does a small town issue its own building permits?
It can. Va. Code 36-105 lets a town with a population of less than 3,500 elect to administer and enforce the Building Code. Where such a town does not, the county the town sits in administers and enforces the code for it. Which office takes the application for a property inside a town is a question for that town or its county.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- 13VAC5-63-80, USBC Section 108.1 and Section 108.2: when a permit is required, and exempt work Virginia Administrative Code
- 13VAC5-63-100, USBC Section 110: permit types, revocation, extensions and time limits Virginia Administrative Code
- 13VAC5-63-130, USBC Section 113: minimum inspections and final inspection approval Virginia Administrative Code
- Va. Code 36-98: the Board adopts the Uniform Statewide Building Code, which supersedes local codes Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 36-105: enforcement by the local building department Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 36-97: definition of a farm building or structure Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 36-99: farm buildings and structures exempt from the Building Code Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 32.1-165: health authorization before a permit for a building designed for human occupancy Virginia General Assembly
- Building Official cover sheet, new dwelling (2021 codes effective January 18, 2024) Carroll County, Virginia
- Building Inspections (permit validity and setbacks) Floyd County, Virginia