We review plans to assure the compliance and safety of the buildings constructed based on the 2010 California Building Codes and applicable ordinances.  These codes include the 2010 California Building, Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical and 2008 Energy Codes. 

We also compare them with your submitted civil improvement plans to insure consistency and compliance.

Commercial Plan Review consists of:    

• Electrical
• Fire/Life/Safety  
• Plumbing/Mechanical
• Structural

Plans and applications are submitted to one of four Intake Counters and then forwarded to the Plan Review section.  The Fire/Life/Safety reviewer, who is typically the Project Coordinator, begins the first review. 

The Structural, Electrical, and Plumbing/Mechanical staff complete their reviews and the plans are returned to the Project Coordinator.

Plans will either be approved for issuance, or there will be comments, conditions or additional requirements that need to be addressed prior to permit issuance.  The Coordinator will inform the applicant about needed requirements.  Once the plans are approved through Building Inspection, Fire Department and any department holds cleared, the applicant can obtain a permit at an Intake Counter and begin construction.

Special Inspection:
You may need to obtain a contract with a special inspection agency for your project prior to building permit issuance, depending on your design and type of construction.

Types of special Inspections include: field welding, high strength bolting, high strength concrete or Structural Observations. Check with your design engineer for these requirements.

Plan Review Turn Around Times:

These will depend on the complexity and project valuation.  See Form PR-05 for details.  Once your plans are reviewed, we return them to you for corrections and you resubmit all old and new plans for re-review.

The more thorough and complete the plans are, the faster they are approved. 

Plan for this phase of your project to take 1-3 months, depending on how complete your plans are and how quickly you return your plans to us after comments are made.

Submit a Commercial Building Plan

Commercial Plan Review Staff

Plan Review Status (links to online Permit System that requires a user account)