General building work permit checklist — Norfolk, Virginia
Assembled from Norfolk’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?
Norfolk requires a permit for general building work.
Building permits are not required for one- and two-family residential re-roofs, replacement windows of the same size, vinyl or shake siding, cabinets, floor coverings, minor repair to decks including deck board repair and tread repair, driveways, water tanks supported on grade at 5,000 gallons or less, retaining walls supporting less than 2 feet of unbalanced fill, and above-ground swimming pools less than 2 feet deep.
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Sources
- building — fee schedule ↗verified August 2026
Other permits Norfolk 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
- Fence 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 Norfolk before you build.