Spotsylvania County, VA Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Chapter 5, Article II of the Spotsylvania County Code incorporates the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC) by reference under Sec. 5-26, covering construction, alteration, addition, repair, removal, demolition, use, location, occupancy, and maintenance of every building and its service systems, both existing and proposed, throughout the county. The county's building official, appointed under Sec. 5-3 by the board of supervisors on the county administrator's recommendation, runs the department of building inspection that issues permits and enforces the code. Before a permit is issued for any building needing county water or sewer service, Sec.

5-27 requires the building official to confirm that all water and sewer availability and connection charges have been paid; unpaid charges block issuance outright. Once issued, a permit runs on a clock set by Sec. 5-28: it becomes null and void if no work commences within six months. An applicant can revive a voided permit without paying an additional fee, but only by reapplying within one year of the original issuance and only if the plans still comply with the building code and other county ordinances then in effect.

Permit fees are paid to the county treasurer under Sec. 5-71, and the treasurer's signature on the permit form is a prerequisite to final sign-off by the building official. Fee waivers apply narrowly: fallout or blast shelters on residential lots for two or fewer families, and housing built, renovated, or rehabilitated by a 501(c)(3) affordable-housing organization, per Sec. 5-72. A cancelled permit where no work began within six months can draw a fifty percent refund of the fee paid, per Sec. 5-73.