California building inspections for contractors

Plan check gets the permit issued; inspections get it closed. Every California building permit carries a set of inspections, and the permit isn't finished until the final passes. This is the general California picture: what inspectors check, how a request works, what a failed inspection means, how to look up a permit's status, and two 2026 laws that make remote inspections a right for some residential work. Each city sets its own cutoffs, fees, and portal, so the city guides link each building department rather than guessing.

What inspections a permit carries

The California Building Code lists the inspections a building permit triggers and makes the building official perform them on notification (CBC §110.3). For one- and two-family homes and townhouses, the California Residential Code has the parallel list (CRC §R109.1). The principle behind both is that nothing gets covered until it's approved: permitted work "shall remain visible and able to be accessed for inspection purposes until approved" (CBC §110.1), and rough plumbing, mechanical, gas, and electrical are inspected "prior to covering or concealment, before fixtures or appliances are set or installed, and prior to framing inspection" (CRC §R109.1.2).

In practice a trade permit has two or three stops:

• Rough, or in-progress, inspection with the work open. Trenches, walls, ceilings, and chases stay open until the inspector signs off.
• Intermediate checks some jobs carry: a gas test, a pressure test on new piping, framing after the rough trades are approved (CBC §110.3.4), the energy-efficiency inspection of insulation, ducts, and equipment (CBC §110.3.9), or a mid-roof check.
• Final inspection, "after all work required by the building permit is completed" (CBC §110.3.12), with the equipment installed, labeled, and operating.

The building official can also require other inspections to confirm compliance (CBC §110.3.10; CRC §R109.1.5) and can accept reports from approved inspection agencies (CBC §110.4), which is where third-party special inspections come in.

By trade, in general terms

Each trade guide carries its own sequence and the Title 24 sections behind it. Two steps in that table are not city inspections: HERS verification is done by an independent rater where the Energy Code requires it, and the utility's own steps for solar or a service change (witness test, meter release, permission to operate) happen alongside the city's inspections, not instead of them.

How to request an inspection

The code puts the request on you. "It shall be the duty of the holder of the building permit or their duly authorized agent to notify the building official when work is ready for inspection," and to provide access to it (CBC §110.5; CRC §R109.3). How you notify is local:

• Where. Most California cities take inspection requests in the same portal that took the application, by permit number; some also run an automated phone line, and a few accept online requests only. Several portals need an account that is linked to the permit before it will show the schedule button.
• When. Cities set a request cutoff for a next-day inspection, and some publish an inspector ETA the morning of. Where a covered city publishes its cutoff, its city guide quotes it with the source; otherwise ask the department.
• What to have ready. The permit and the approved plans on site, the work complete to the stage being inspected and accessible, someone there to open things up or run the test, and the energy compliance forms the Energy Code requires for the measure, including HERS results where they're a condition of final.
• Who. The permit holder or their agent. On an owner-builder permit the homeowner is the permit holder; on a contractor's permit it's the contractor, and some cities make the general contractor responsible for scheduling the subs' inspections.

What a failed inspection means

• A correction notice, not a denial. The inspector "shall either indicate the portion of the construction that is satisfactory as completed, or notify the permit holder or the permit holder's agent wherein the same fails to comply with this code." The noncompliant portion "shall be corrected and such portion shall not be covered or concealed until authorized by the building official" (CBC §110.6; CRC §R109.4). Partial approvals are normal: the passed portion can be covered while the correction is fixed.
• A reinspection. Fix the item and request the inspection again. Most fee schedules include a reinspection fee for a return trip; the city's schedule sets it, and each covered city guide links the schedule.
• The avoidable fails. Many failed or canceled inspections have nothing to do with the code: nobody on site, no access, the work not at the stage requested, or the plans and permit not on the job. Those cost a trip and a day.
• Expiration. A permit stays valid if work starts within 12 months of issuance and isn't abandoned; the building official may grant written extensions of up to 180 days each on a written request that shows justifiable cause (Health and Safety Code §18938.6). The code carries this as CBC §105.5.1, which also voids a permit when the work is suspended or abandoned for 12 months. A job that stalls between inspections is a permit risk, not just a schedule risk.
• No new demands at inspection, for housing. From January 1, 2027, on a housing development project the city can't use an inspection to request or require a change that deviates from the approved plans unless it makes written findings, based on substantial evidence, that no reasonable person could read those plans as compliant or that the change is needed to address a specific, adverse impact on public health or safety (Gov. Code §65913.3(d)(5), as amended by AB 1621; see how long a California building permit takes).

Checking a permit's status

There is no statewide permit lookup. Each city's portal is the record, searched by permit number, address, or parcel number; the record usually shows the status, plan check comments, fees paid and owed, and the inspection history with results. Labels vary by city and by the software behind the portal (Accela, Tyler EnerGov, and city-built systems are common). In general:

• Applied, submitted, received. Intake. Not yet accepted as complete or in review.
• In review, plan check, under review. With the reviewers.
• Corrections required, resubmittal required, pending applicant. The ball is with you. This is the correction cycle.
• Approved, ready to issue. Review is done; fees are due before issuance.
• Issued, active. The permit exists and inspections can be requested.
• Finaled, closed, complete. The final passed and the permit is closed.
• Expired, void, withdrawn, canceled. Time ran out or the application was pulled. Reinstating an expired permit is a local procedure.

Most portals let anyone look up a permit record without an account; requesting an inspection usually needs an account tied to the permit. Each covered city guide links the city's portal with the date we verified it, and its "check permit status and schedule inspections" block quotes what the city's own pages say about scheduling.

Remote inspections: AB 1738

AB 1738 (Chapter 271, Statutes of 2026) was approved by the Governor on September 18, 2026 and adds Health and Safety Code §17970.9. With no urgency clause it takes effect January 1, 2027 (Cal. Const., art. IV, §8(c)(1)), and the duty it creates has its own deadlines:

• Who must offer it. Every city, charter cities included, county, and city and county (§17970.9(j)(1)), except a city with fewer than 5,000 people or a county with fewer than 150,000, including each city within that county (§17970.9(b)(1)).
• By when. January 1, 2028. A "qualifying city or county," meaning a city of 50,000 or fewer that isn't exempt, has until July 1, 2028 (§17970.9(b)(2)–(3), (j)(2)).
• Who can ask. The homeowner, or a contractor who gives the city or county the homeowner's written consent (§17970.9(a)(1)). Where the local agency itself requires an inspection to be remote, the contractor instead discloses that requirement to the homeowner (§17970.9(a)(3)).
• Which work. All or a subset of the inspections a building permit requires for these projects in single- or two-family dwelling units (§17970.9(a)(1)):
  • residential heat pump water heaters, including the alteration, extension, or replacement of the existing electrical system to support them, though the agency need not inspect a new or upgraded main electrical service remotely (subparagraph (A));
  • residential heat pump HVAC systems, "subject to the discretion of the inspector," with the same electrical scope and the same main-service carve-out (subparagraph (B));
  • residential reroofs (subparagraph (C));
  • photovoltaic systems with an alternating current nameplate rating of 15 kilowatts or less, and energy storage systems (subparagraph (D));
  • smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (subparagraph (E)).
• How. Offsite, by videoconferencing or by recorded photos and video, at the inspector's discretion (§17970.9(a)(2)). The agency may adopt protocols on field of view and image quality, on proof of location (the video or photos begin at the street and show the address), and on connectivity (§17970.9(d)), and may keep a digital record (§17970.9(c)).
• Same cost, same speed. "A local agency shall offer a remote inspection at no greater cost and with no greater delay than in-person inspection" (§17970.9(f)).
• If it fails. After a failed remote inspection the inspector may run the permit's later inspections remotely or in person, and may end a remote inspection and require an in-person one whenever compliance can't be verified remotely (§17970.9(e)).
• Misrepresentation. Willfully misrepresenting the work can get the homeowner or contractor banned from remote inspections for up to 6 months for a first offense and 12 months after that, and agencies may enforce each other's bans (§17970.9(h)).
• A floor, not a ceiling. Agencies may offer remote inspections more permissively, or on more permit types, than the section requires (§17970.9(i)).

Asynchronous heat pump inspections: SB 222

SB 222 (Chapter 738, Statutes of 2026), approved September 28, 2026, adds Chapter 7.5 to the Government Code (§§51297.50–51297.59) on residential heat pump water heaters and heat pump HVAC systems, defined as "a single heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system that serves one residential dwelling unit" (§51297.51(c)). The chapter applies to every city and county, charter cities included (§51297.50(a)), and not to new residential construction (§51297.59). On inspections:

• From July 1, 2027, a city, county, or city and county "shall adopt and offer asynchronous inspections" for these installations: inspections that don't require the licensed contractor and the building inspector to be present at the same time (§51297.52(a)). Unlike AB 1738, this section has no population exemption.
• The inspector may phone or video-call the contractor who did the installation during the inspection (§51297.52(b)).
• If the inspector finds an issue the contractor must be present to test or cure, or needs the contractor on site for access, the inspector may require an additional inspection with both present (§51297.52(c)–(d)).
• Cities don't have to drop their in-person option (§51297.52(e)), and may offer a remote inspection instead of an asynchronous one (§51297.52(f)).

The same chapter also limits what a city may charge for a heat pump permit, requires it to post its heat pump requirements and fees online, and, by July 1, 2028, requires an online process that issues permits in real time for qualifying swapouts (§§51297.55–51297.57, each with a population exemption). Those are permit-side rules; the city guides link each city's posted fees.

What this means on the job

• Request the inspection as the permit holder, with the work at stage, open, and accessible, and the permit and approved plans on site.
• Check the city's request cutoff before you promise a day to the customer. Where a covered city publishes one, its guide quotes it with the source.
• Treat a correction notice as a punch list: fix, re-request, and keep the rest of the job moving on the portions that passed.
• From July 1, 2027, heat pump water heater and heat pump HVAC jobs in existing homes get an asynchronous inspection option statewide, or a remote one where the city chooses that instead; from 2028, remote inspections on request for those jobs plus reroofs, small PV, storage, and detectors in one- and two-family homes. Until then it's the city's choice.

Where getPermit fits

getPermit doesn't file permits or handle inspections. It's a pre-launch AI permit coordinator for California contractors, aimed at the step before filing: what a city will expect, with a human coordinator reviewing every assessment. Today you can join the waitlist.