Building Plan and Approval (2024)

Primary services provided

• Electronic or paper plan review and approvals for new building construction, alterations, additions, and change of occupancy.
• Virtual or in-person construction inspections to ensure the building and/or building systems are constructed in accordance the construction documents approved by BCC.
• Virtual or in-person preliminary plan review and/or code guidance meetings while in the early stages of building design.

Apply for a permit

Bureau of Building Code Compliance (BCC) accommodates various types of applications and plan approval processes. Please read the brief description of each type of application and click on the title of the application that you wish to apply.

• Application for preliminary plan review:
  • To request a virtual or in-person preliminary plan review and/or code guidance meeting with a plan examiner while in the early stages of building design.
  • The meeting is only for the discussion of the design items that the designer(s) consider meeting code requirement(s) questionable. The applicant must identify these potential design items and code section references in the worksheet to be submitted with the application.
  • The intent of this meeting is NOT for a plan examiner to review the overall design and identify all code violations for your project; i.e., this is not a complete plan review process and no building permit will be issued after the meeting.
  • An adjudication order can also be issued after the meeting to facilitate a code variance appeal process early in the design stage if it is determined that compliance with the building code cannot be achieved.

• Application for Building plan approval:
  • Commonly referred as a "Building permit". This application can be used for the following types of project:
    • Newbuilding construction
    • A lterations to existing buildings or systems
    • Building addition
    • Change of occupancy
    • Inductrialized unit placement
    • Permanent tent and membrane structures
    • Repetitive projects
    • Roof replacement
  • The scope of work may include one of more of the following:
    • Building general trade (structural)
    • Mechanical
    • Electrical
    • Plumbing
    • Medical gas
    • Fire alarm
    • Fire suppression including hood suppression system
    • Industrialized Units.
  • Construction drawings and documents shall be sealed by an Ohio registered design professional and/or certified fire protection system designer.
  • An expedited plan review can be requested for projects of less complexity that plan review can be completed within two hours. A nominal additional fee per expedited scope will apply. Click on the link to see details.
• Application for certificate of partial occupancy:
  • Apply for a partial occupancy of completed areas of a building under construction while work is ongoing in other areas of the building. All applicable building, plumbing, and fire protection systems and components in the areas requesting for occupancy must be completed, inspected, and ready for occupancy.
  • Two inspections, structural and/or electrical life safety inspections, in addition to regular building permit inspections will be required for the areas requesting for partial occupancy.
• Application for inspection without requiring sealed plans:
  • Apply for minor work to a building or building systems where it is determined that technical analysis by a registered design professional is not required.
  • Minor work may include but is not limited to the following:
    • New temporary electrical services
    • Electrical service upgrades
    • One-for-one replacement of plumbing fixture and/or HVAC units
    • Temporary construction trailers
    • Type A daycares
    • Temporary tents
    • Temporary door locking devices in school buildings.
• Application for certificate of occupancy for existing buildings:
  • For an existing building that may not currently has a certificate of occupancy or may be undergoing a change in ownership with no alteration, addition, or change of occupancy.
  • This application can also be used when insurance companies, financial institutions, or local fire officials, etc., requires the building owners to present a copy of the certification of occupancy.
  • Apply for a “Time-limited” occupancy for an existing building to be changed from its current occupancy to a different occupancy for a limited period of time; provided there are no increases in life safety hazards.
• Application for annual project approval:
  • In lieu of an individual approval for each alteration to an existing electrical, gas, mechanical, plumbing, or piping installation, the building official may issue an annual approval upon application to any person, firm or corporation regularly employing individuals holding the related Board of Building Standards certifications in the building, structure or on the premises owned or operated by the applicant for the approval.
  • The work covered under this application shall be for minor work in nature as specified in BCC’s “Application forinspection without requiring sealed plans” process. This process is not applicable to work approved under BCC’s “Application for building plan approval” application.
• Application for repetitive projects:
  • Temporary structures such as tents and membrane structures requiring building plan approval due to their size or complexity can be placed under the initial plan approval, removed, then re-erected in subsequent years using this application. BCC does not require full plan review fees for each application after the initial building plan reviews fees are paid.
• Application for building demolition:
  • This application is for the demolition of an entire structure when no new building or structure will be constructed at the same location.
  • If a new building or structure will be constructed at the same location right after the demolition, the building demoltion work can be included in the construction documents for the new building. No building demolition permit will be required.
  • A partial building demolition is considered an alteration to the existing building which can be submitted under the “Building plan approval” application.
• Application for roof replacement:
  • The application facilitates the "roof covering" replacement for an existing building which represents a simpler scope of work with a reduced permit fee.
  • Any roof replacement projects including the replacement of or alteration to roof deck, roof framing members, or equipment on roof will be considered building alteration projects rather than roof replacement projects.
  • Construction drawings and documents sealed by on Ohio registered design professional are required except for shingle replacement projects only.

Request for a construction inspection

Virtual or in-person construction inspections can be requested 24/7 through DICWeb Portalor by contacting the numbers provided on plan approval certificates or other documents issued by the Bureau. DIC strives to accommodate next-day inspections depending on when requests are made as well as availability of staff. The following are inspections that are typically requested depending on the scope of work of the project:

• Structural inspection: Footing and foundation, floor slab, framing and insulation, gypsum board or lath, fire-resistant penetrations, and final inspections.

• Mechanical inspection: Under-slab, piping, rough-in, above ceiling, fire-resistant penetrations, kitchen exhaust hood, and final inspections.

• Electrical inspection: Temporary and new services, under-slab, rough-in, above ceiling, fire-resistant penetrations and final inspections.

• Plumbing inspection: Plumbing underground, plumbing rough-in, above ceiling, and final inspection.

• Medical gas inspection: Under-slab, rough-in, above ceiling, final inspection and verifier documentation.

• Fire alarm and suppression systems: Certified local fire jurisdictions typically defer to the State Fire Marshal’s (SFM) office to perform acceptance testing of these systems for projects under BCC jurisdiction. Please note that it is still necessary to request fire alarm and fire suppression final inspections by BCC structural and electrical field staff after receiving successful acceptance testing by SFM.