What's New With The Washoe County Department of Building & Safety

News As Of May 23, 2010 

EZ Permit is Now Live!
 

Washoe County Building and Safety Department is pleased to announce our new EZ Permit process.  Contractors and home owners can now obtain permits by sending a completed application to Building and Safety by fax or email.  Payment will be by credit card, with the permit card sent to the applicant via fax or email.  Permit types that presently qualify for EZ Permit are residential Utility, Reroof and Demo permits.  Utility permits encompass water heaters, ACs, furnaces and any minor plumbing, mechanical or electrical work not requiring plans.  This will allow same day permitting from your home or office.  Applications submitted before 3:00 pm will be processed the same day as long as the applicant is available for payment processing.

This is an interim step until we can rebuild our website to accept applications and payments online.  Future enhancements include commercial versions of the above permits.  Small projects requiring plans are also being studied to see if they can be integrated into EZ Permits.

Please contact Mike McCullogh at 328-2021 with any comments or questions.

Due to the unpredictability of daily field inspection numbers we will have to stop over the counter plan checks.  There is no way of knowing how many plans examiners, if any, we will have on a given day. 

We can talk about appointments, but I believe all the traffic is walk in.  For the foreseeable future we can no longer provide over the counter plan review.

Mike McCullogh M.C.P.
Deputy Building Official
Building and Safety Dept
Washoe County NV
775-328-2021  office
775-328-6132  fax
mmccullogh@washoecounty.us

  Our New Permit Search Page is now available online.  You can search for permits on a property either by Address, Assessor Parcel Number (APN) or by the Permit Number.  The search results also include inspection results and comments for all active permits.  This allows property owners and builders to access inspection corrections right from the web.

Building Permit Search

This search feature can be found on our Applications Page, FAQ's Page, Office Page & Statistical Data Page.

  New Code Update 

As you are aware, we adopted the new Codes as of March 11, 2008.  To better help you understand our local amendments, we please ask you to visit our Construction Design Requirements Page to help guide you with the local amendments to these new codes for your submital to our Department.

Please Help Us, Help You!

The following changes have been made in an effort to help the correction process work more effciently for our customers.  Effective Immediately, the process of accepting corrections is as follows: 

1. Corrections will only be accepted after the initial review has first been completed by all departments.
2. All department corrections must be submitted at the same time to continue the review process.
3. Subsequent corrections or revisions will not be accepted until the previous correction review has been completed by all departments

NNICC Makes ICC News with an article in Building & Safety Journal

The Northern Nevada Chapter of the International Code Councel (NNICC), of which Washoe County Building & Safety is a member, made ICC News with an article featured in the December 2007 issue of Building & Safety Journal.  The article features the successful adoption of the Northern Nevada Code Amendments.  Please click on the prior link to read the full article.

Red Flag Fire Notice Request

New Procedure for Submitting Plans Located within a Registered Architectural Committee Area

Effective January 1, 2007, Washoe County Department of Building & Safety will no longer require/allow architectural committees to stamp plans for committee approval.  All plans submitted for a building permit which have a construction valuation over $500.00 and are located within an area controlled by an "active, sanctioned" architectural committee, shall instead include a letter or written report from the architectural committee as stated by NRS 278.566.

Washoe County Department of Building & Safety does not enforce applicable CC&R provisions for each subdivision, nor is the Department required under state statutes.  The intent of the policy change is to establish a method which ensures the architectural committee's right of notification under state statute and to give the committee additional time to take legal action to enforce their requirements.

Washoe County Department of Building & Safety will continue our policy of encouraging applicants to submit first to the architectural committee for a letter or written report of approval.  However, if the applicant insists on submitting plans, the Building Department will accept the plans and request, in writing and by certified mail, from the architectural committee a written report.  If the Department does not receive a written report from the architectural committee within 20 calendar days from the date of the receipt of the request, the Building Official will proceed as provided by law where there is no functioning committee.  If the architectural committee's letter or written report denies approval of the project, the committee will have an additional 30 calendar days to take legal action before an approved permit is issued.  Only a court order filed with the Department can stop the process or issuance of the building permit.

Code History

A history of the Building Codes that have been adopted by the Washoe County Department of Building & Safety has been added to the Codes page. Dated July 6, 2004; Revised 07/01/2005

Want to add a deck to your house? Deck permits are no longer required when the height of your finished deck is less than 30 inches above the lowest grade.
Dated July 31, 2003

All wood embedded in concrete for structural framework must be pressure treated lumber identified for direct contact with the earth. Dated July 31, 2003