To look up a Virginia Beach building permit by address, search the street address in the City’s Building Permits Applications dataset on the OpenVB data portal, which lists every permit since January 2023 with its number, type, work description, application, issue and final dates, and status. Inspections, documents and new applications are handled in the City’s Accela Citizen Access portal. In 2023–24, half of residential addition and alteration permits were issued within a day of the application, and 74.2% had a final date by October 2026.
We followed 9,922 residential building permits applied for in 2023 and 2024 (voided and withdrawn ones removed), using the dataset as last edited in mid-October 2026: 8,368 additions and alterations, 554 new houses, 676 roof and siding jobs and 324 demolitions.
| Item | What we found |
|---|---|
| Where to search | OpenVB Building Permits Applications dataset by address or GPIN; Accela Citizen Access for inspections and documents |
| Records available | Applications from January 1, 2023 onward, about 110,000 records across all permit types |
| Additions and alterations, application to issue | Median 1 day; 46.6% the same day; 90% within 21 days |
| New houses, application to issue | Median 29 days; 90% within 214 days |
| Issue to final | Median 63 days for additions and alterations, 303 days for new houses, 35 days for roof and siding |
| Final date recorded by October 2026 | 74.2% of additions and alterations, 91.3% of new houses, 69.4% of roof and siding |
| Still Active after 2 years | 22.1% of 2023–24 additions and alterations; only 20 were marked Expired |
| Questions | Permits & Inspections, 757-385-4211 or perminsp@vbgov.com |
How to look up a Virginia Beach building permit by address
- Open the Building Permits Applications dataset on gis.data.vbgov.com, choose the data table and filter StreetAddress (for example, 4324 CAMBRIA CIR). The GPIN column matches the parcel number on City property records.
- Read PermitNumber. The middle code tells you the permit type: BDRA is a residential addition or alteration, BDRN a new house, BDRS roof or siding, BDMR a residential demolition, and ELER, PLBR, MECR and GASR are residential electrical, plumbing, mechanical and gas permits.
- Read WorkDesc for the job and ApplicationDate, IssueDate and FinalDate for the timeline.
- Read Status. Closed and Final usually carry a final inspection date (95.0% of Closed addition and alteration permits do). Active means the permit is open.
- For inspection results, plans and documents, look up the permit number in Accela Citizen Access or ask Permits & Inspections at 757-385-4211. For a permit from before 2023, ask the same office.
The same dataset also holds complaint records (code CMPL), about 500–700 a year, most of them reports of work done without a permit.
How fast Virginia Beach issues home permits
The City’s building permit page says the first review of an online plan submission takes 15–45 business days, with revisions taking half that time, and that small residential plan sets (additions, alterations and accessory structures of 500 square feet or less, and uncovered decks) can be reviewed at the counter. The data reflects that split. Additions and alterations were issued a median 1 day after the application, 73.1% within a week. New houses waited a median 29 days, and 28.7% were issued within a week.
Which Virginia Beach projects stay open longest
We sorted the 8,368 addition and alteration permits by keywords in the work description. Pools and waterfront structures stand out: about a third of 2023–24 permits for each were still Active in October 2026.
| Project (from work description) | Permits 2023–24 | Final date recorded | Still Active | Median days to issue | Median days issue to final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar panels | 1,750 | 85.0% | 7.3% | 6 | 36 |
| Pool or spa | 1,031 | 64.3% | 34.4% | 0 | 185 |
| Deck or porch | 878 | 71.8% | 26.9% | 0 | 62 |
| Addition | 832 | 71.0% | 26.0% | 0 | 147 |
| Foundation, crawlspace or structural | 801 | 94.3% | 3.9% | 1 | 39 |
| Pier, dock or bulkhead | 561 | 58.1% | 35.5% | 0 | 39 |
| Interior remodel | 440 | 70.9% | 27.3% | 2 | 125 |
| Garage or shed | 242 | 71.9% | 26.0% | 0 | 115 |
| Other descriptions | 1,702 | 69.5% | 27.6% | 0 | 71 |
New houses (554 permits) reached a final date in 91.3% of cases, a median 303 days after issue; a quarter took more than 405 days. Roof and siding permits (676) were issued a median 3 days after application and finaled a median 35 days later, but 30.6% were still Active. Residential demolitions (324) were finaled in 92.6% of cases, a median 17 days after issue.
What an Active permit from 2023 means in Virginia Beach
Under the Virginia Construction Code, section 110.6, a building official may revoke a permit if work does not start within six months of issue or stops for six months; the applicant shows progress with at least one approved inspection in each six-month period (quoted in Prince William County’s permit abandonment policy). In Virginia Beach’s data, only 20 of the 2023–24 addition and alteration permits carry the status Expired, while 1,850 (22.1%) still read Active. On a house you are buying, an Active permit that is two or three years old is an open item: ask the seller for the inspection history in Accela and whether the final was ever called in.
Checklist before buying a home in Virginia Beach
- Every permit at the address, with its status and final date.
- Any BDRA, BDRS or trade permit still Active more than six months after issue.
- Pool, pier, dock and bulkhead permits: these were the most likely to be left open.
- For a newer house, the BDRN permit’s final date and the matching electrical, plumbing, mechanical and gas finals.
- Complaint (CMPL) records at the address, and whether a permit followed.
- Work you can see on the property that has no matching permit.
About the Virginia Beach permit data
The Building Permits Applications layer has one row per permit. We kept residential building permits (BDRA, BDRN, BDRS, BDMR) with application dates in 2023 and 2024, dropped Void and Withdrawn records, and measured application to issue and issue to final. Project groups come from keywords in the work description, so a permit with an unusual description lands in Other. These are our calculations from City data. For nearby Norfolk, see our Norfolk building permit search guide; for how long permits take elsewhere, our permit timing comparison; and for more city data, our building permit data page.
To see what happens when neighbors report work with no permit, read our study of Virginia Beach unpermitted construction complaints.
Before hiring for a permitted job in Virginia Beach, check the contractor’s class and specialty in DPOR; our Virginia contractor license lookup explains what Class A, B and C allow.
City of Virginia Beach permit pages and open data checked October 25, 2026.