City of Chesapeake, Virginia - Business and Development

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Inspections
Commercial - New Building Construction

How do I know when to call for an inspection? What type of permits are required for each inspections?

Commercial building construction inspection requirements:
INSPECTION TYPE	When performed	Permit Required	Performed by
FOOTING	After installation of reinforcement and before placement of concrete	Building Permit In some cases, foundation permit is required	Building Inspector
Slab (if applicable)	After approval of all subtrade ground work and after installation of reinforcement, vapor barrier and perimeter insulation (if required) and prior to placement of concrete.	Building Permit	Building Inspector
Plumbing Slab (if applicable)	After installation of below-slab plumbing piping and prior to covering with slab base material	Plumbing Permit for slab only	Plumbing Inspector
Electrical Groundwork (Slab) If applicable	After installation of conduit and conductors in trenches or in slab base material and prior to backfilling trench or covering with slab base material	Electrical Permit for slab only	Electrical Inspector
Electrical Rough-In (Wall)	Prior to concealment	Electrical Permit	Electrical Inspector
Electrical Rough-In (Ceiling)	Prior to installation of ceiling tiles		Electrical Inspector
Plumbing Rough-In (drain, waste, vent and water distribution piping)	Prior to concealment	Plumbing Permit	Plumbing Inspector
Water Line	Prior to backfilling trench, inspect the water line from the building to the meter location		Plumbing Inspector
Sewer Line	Prior to backfilling trench, inspect the sewer line from the building to the sewer lateral.		Plumbing Inspector
Gas Pressure Test	Inspections are included as follows: Gas pipe groundwork, gas product line for installations utilizing propane. Prior to concealment	Gas Permit	Mechanical Inspector
Mechanical Rough-In	After installation of air handling duct, before placement of duct, dishwasher hood, spray paint booth and duct, walk-in cooler/freezer, and prior to concealment.	Mechanical Permit	Mechanical Inspector
Pre-Fab Fireplace	After installation of required chimney/vent shaft and prior to concealment	Mechanical Permit	Mechanical Inspector
Framing	The following inspections may be performed at the same time of framing inspections; after approval of all subtrade rough-ins and prior to concealing walls (hanging drywall) Above ceiling: after installation of ceiling grid and prior to installing dropped ceiling panels. Spray-on/Fireproofing: after installation of ceiling grid and all above ceiling equipment and prior to installation of dropped ceiling panels. Draftstopping: after installation of required draftstopping material. Firestopping: after installation of required firestopping material and prior to concealment. Insulation: prior to concealment.		Building Inspector
Propane Tank	Need Fire Prevention approval prior to obtain Fire Permit	Fire Permit	Fire Prevention Inspector
Storm Drains	Storm Drains	Permit not required	Engineering letter (see procedure for on-site inspections) must be submitted prior to obtain a certificate of occupancy
Backflow Device	After installation of backflow prevention devices	Plumbing Permit for backflow device	3rd party testing and inspections required
Plumbing Final	After completion of all piping and installation of all plumbing fixtures, equipment and appliances and before final building inspection.	Plumbing Permit	Plumbing Inspector
Electrical Final	After complete installation of electrical system and prior to the final building inspection		Electrical Inspector
Elevator (if applicable)		Mechanical permit for elevator	Elevator Inspector
Mechanical Final	After complete installation of all mechanical equipment and before the final building inspection.		Mechanical Inspector
Fire Inspection	Upon installation of the fire protection or hazardous materials system (See Fire Permit for list of systems) (note: pre-final hydro/air test & visual inspect. reqd. prior to covering aboveground or underground sprinkler piping & underground hazmat piping & tanks) Also Fire Inspection required for most buildings for issuance of Certificate of Occupancy	Fire Permit (See Permit Application for Systems that require a permit prior to installation) Submit 3 sets of plans with Fire Permit application to Fire Prevention for review & approval. Pick up approved package from Fire Prevention when notified & pay for and obtain permit from Neighborhood Services	Fire Prevention Inspector from Fire Department. To request an inspection, please call the Fire Inspection Request Line at (757) 382-8211 with 48 hrs. prior notice
Landscape	Must submit the landscape plan to the Arborist for an approval prior to requesting a building final inspection.		Building Inspector or Arborist
Asbuilts	Must submit an asbuilts site plan to the Department of Public Works prior to issuance of certificate of occupancy.		Department of Public Works (757) 382-6304
Flood Certification	Must submit a flood certification if the property is in the flood zone. FEMA Elevation Certificate & Instructions		Department of Neighborhood Services, Code Enforcement Administrator
Special Inspections	Must submit the complete Special Inspections to the Plan Examiner Statement of Special Inspections Form Special Inspections Guidelines & Procedures		Department of Neighborhood Services, Plan Examiner
Print above chart - Required Steps

Upon the completion of the above-inspections, the Certificate of Occupancy will be issued.

Who should I call to request an inspection?

The City will make every effort to provide inspections on your requested date. However, please be aware, the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code allows two working days from the date of request to perform the inspection.

You can request your inspections by mail, email, phone, fax (contact info below) or online at www.cityofchesapeake.net. Click here for instructions.

New Process for Requesting Inspections

Effective February 12, 2007, the Neighborhood Services Department has a new process for inspection requests. You may request inspections by telephone, email, fax, mail and our new online inspection requests service.

All requested inspections will be directed to and processed by the City’s Customer Contact Center at (757) 382-CITY (2489). You may also submit your inspection request online via the City of Chesapeake Customer Contact Center.

We still accept requests by fax and email.

Next-business-day inspection requests by phone, fax, mail or email must be received by 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Any requests after 3:00 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
will be scheduled for Tuesday.

Instructions for Requesting an Inspection:

Request by phone
Request by fax
Request by mail
Request by email
Request online

Request by Phone

All inspections by phone will be directed to the City’s Customer Contact Center at 382-CITY (2489).
Operator on duty - MON– FRI, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Callers must be prepared to provide specific required information when requesting an inspection.

Permit Number
Property Address
Type of Inspections - See Required Steps pdf format
Contractor’s Name
Phone Number
Requestor Name

Request by Fax

By completing our inspection request form, you may fax your inspection requests at (757) 382-8448 or (757) 382-8555.

Request by Mail

By completing our inspection request form, you may mail your inspection requests to:

City of Chesapeake
Department of Neighborhood Services
P.O. Box 15225
Chesapeake, VA 23328

Request by email

You may send us an email to request your inspection(s). Our email address is neighborserv@cityofchesapeake.net

Request Online

Inspection requests via this communication method are available 24/7. The following are instructions to assist you in creating a valid request for an inspection:

Go to www.cityofchesapeake.net website and click on the Customer Contact Center Request a City Service link in the top right-hand corner of the page.
The next screen will display a heading of Service Type with an indicating a drop-down menu. Click on the and then click on Inspection Request.
This selection will now take you to the intake screen for your inspection request. Appearing on this first screen will be
Provide the address of the site you want to have inspected. For commercial sites, there are additional spaces for information to be provided that may be of assistance to the inspector such as the building name, floor and unit number. Now click on the Continue button.
In the appropriate boxes, indicate the permit number associated with your inspection request (Alpha character followed by 9 numerical characters). If requesting a building, electrical and plumbing inspection, you will need to indicate that permit number in the space provided by each category.
Once you have entered the permit number, you may now select the type of inspection you need. If you have multiple inspections for that permit, you only need to hold down the CTRL key and click each type of inspection.
Specify the date you want the inspection as indicated, MM/DD/YYYY. Example: 01/20/2007
If there are any special instructions to the inspector about this inspection, please list them in the appropriate box. Items that would fit into this field would be that the neighbor on the left has the key to the house or the lock box combination is 4567.
In the event that we need to contact the person making the request, please provide the Requestor's Name and daytime phone number where indicated.
Click on the Review button. Your request will be displayed for you to review and edit, start over or submit options. When you are ready to make your request complete, click the Submit button and you’re done.
To save steps in the future, go directly to online Inspection Request.

How do I know if my inspection was approved?

The Department of Neighborhood Services provides the citizen a daily online Inspection Results listing.
ONLINE INSPECTIONS RESULTS STATUS
Normally, the Department of Inspections’ inspectors will leave a yellow inspection card at the job site to notify the permit holder if the inspection is approved or rejected with the information of the reason for rejection.

City of Chesapeake, Virginia