Fairfax County, VA Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

County Code § 61-1-5 puts the inspection burden squarely on the permit holder or the permit holder's representative. Each time construction reaches a stage that requires an inspection, that person must notify the Building Official or the official's designated agent and obtain approval of the construction before the project moves on. The county does not track a project's progress on its own; a missed inspection call under § 61-1-5 is the permit holder's failure, not the inspector's. The section then draws a hard line at move-in: no occupancy shall be permitted prior to final inspection.

When the building is complete, and before the county will issue the certificate of use and occupancy, a final inspection must be made with two purposes spelled out in the ordinance: confirming that any violations cited during construction have been corrected, and confirming that all the work conforms to the USBC, the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code. That sequencing makes the certificate of use and occupancy the last document in the chain. Stage inspections and approvals come during construction, then completion of the building, then the final inspection, then the certificate, and only then lawful occupancy.