Water heater permit checklist — Virginia Beach, Virginia
Assembled from Virginia Beach’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?
Virginia Beach requires a permit for a water heater.
A residential range, oven, grill or dryer, and “like for like” replacements, do not require a mechanical permit. A like for like replacement does not include replacement of equipment with a different refrigerant type or replacement of fuel fired equipment. The Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, which is the building code enforced in Virginia Beach, treats replacement of mechanical appliances that are not fueled by gas or oil as an ordinary repair exempt from application for a permit in Group R-2 where serving a single-family dwelling and in Groups R-3, R-4 and R-5 (13VAC5-63-80, Section 108.2).
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Sources
- water heater — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits Virginia Beach 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
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Retaining wall permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
- General building work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with Virginia Beach before you build.