General building work permit checklist — San Bernardino, California
Assembled from San Bernardino’s own published permit rules. Every line below is quoted from a city document and linked to it. Nothing here is generated, estimated, or inferred from another jurisdiction.
Do you need a permit?
San Bernardino requires a permit for general building work.
The city's Building & Safety page states that with only a few minor exceptions a permit is required for all structural, electrical, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning work, and the fee schedule is written against the state model codes the city adopts. San Bernardino does not publish its own amended exemption list on the Building & Safety pages, so the governing thresholds are the state ones carried in CBC/CRC Section 105.2 (one-story detached accessory structures 120 sq ft or less, fences not over 7 ft, retaining walls not over 4 ft measured from the bottom of the footing where they do not retain a surcharge or impound flammable liquids, and platforms/decks not more than 30 in. above grade and not serving an exit door).
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Sources
- building — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits San Bernardino publishes rules for
Listed because the city publishes a separate rule for each type — not because this project necessarily triggers one. Whether it does depends on your scope of work.
- Deck permit checklist
- Shed permit checklist
- Water heater permit checklist
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Retaining wall permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with San Bernardino before you build.