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

Sec. 5-3 creates the department of building inspection and names its head the building official, appointed by the board of supervisors on the county administrator's recommendation for an indefinite term, removable at the board's pleasure with the administrator's concurrence. The building official enforces the adopted Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and the county's construction ordinances, issuing permits and conducting the inspections those permits require. For one- and two-family dwellings specifically, Article IV's Sec. 5-124 layers on additional inspection requirements tied to drainage. Lots must be graded to drain surface water away from foundation walls, and foundation drains must be installed around any enclosed habitable or usable space below grade that is subject to ground water, discharging by gravity or mechanical means into an approved drainage system.

The drain tile or pipe must be perforated, at least four inches in diameter, bedded on two inches of #5 or #57 VDOT-specification stone, and covered with at least six inches of the same stone. Critically, Sec. 5-124(4) makes the foundation drain inspection a hard checkpoint: it must occur before any plates or decking are placed on the foundation, and the finished outside grade must be established and marked on the foundation wall at that same time. No additional inspections proceed, and no permits are issued, until the department of building inspection has completed and approved the foundation drain inspection.

Sec. 5-123 adds a related field check on utility placement, requiring meter barrels to be set with at least 36 inches of ground cover and water lines with 36 inches of cover except at the building foundation, with meters set 18 to 22 inches from the top of the barrel lid.