Newark, NJ Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Section 7:1-6 of the Revised General Ordinances lists the specific duties the Construction Official or a designee must perform once a construction permit application enters Newark's Uniform Construction Code Enforcing Agency. Beyond intake, fee-setting and plan review, the section requires the office to ensure that all required inspections are scheduled and performed, to ensure that the reports of all inspections are completed and properly filed, and to record stop work orders upon notification of the appropriate Subcode Official. Before any certificate of occupancy is released, the Construction Official must ensure that all final inspections have been completed, and where a certificate of occupancy is sought for a change of use, each Subcode Official must separately approve based on inspection and review of the submitted data.

The actual field inspections are carried out by the Subcode Officials named in Section 7:1-2: the Superintendent of Buildings, Chief Plumbing Inspector, Chief Electrical Inspector and the officer in charge of the Division of Fire Prevention and Life Safety, or their certified assistants, each holding exclusive decision-making authority with respect to the technical provisions of the appropriate Subcode. Section 7:5-3 gives inspectors a right of entry: an owner who is building is deemed to have consented to inspection of the entire premises until a certificate of occupancy issues, and credentialed inspectors may enter to check compliance or to order removal of an unlawful use.