Somerville, MA Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Under Code of Ordinances Sec. 11-101, the superintendent of buildings, acting as inspector of buildings within the division of public works, grants permits for new construction and for additions or alterations to existing buildings only after confirming the owner or builder has complied with the building code. The inspector or assistants must examine all buildings in the course of erection, alteration, or repair as often as practicable, and the office also issues occupancy permits and permits for a change of use. Copies of every permit issued must be forwarded to the fire department's chief engineer within 14 days of issuance, tying the building and fire inspection processes together for new work.

Sec. 11-103 sets the actual inspection-access rule: the inspector of buildings or any assistant may enter any building or premises, so far as necessary to perform their duties, simply by showing a badge of office; no warrant or advance appointment is written into the section. The same section imposes a hold point on interior work: no building may be lathed (the wood or metal lath installed before plastering walls) until the inspector has been notified the building is ready for that stage and has given consent. This makes lathing a mandatory inspection checkpoint in the construction sequence, not a courtesy notice. Sec. 11-102 requires the superintendent to submit a bimonthly report to the city council listing all building permits issued, forwarded to the city clerk on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, giving the public a running record of inspection and permit activity. Because Massachusetts amended the state building code (780 CMR) applies statewide under M.G.L. c. 143, § 3, Somerville's inspector enforces that state code through this local inspection authority rather than a separately written city building code.