Spokane Valley Home Projects: Finding the Right Permit Application

For most work on a Spokane Valley house, one online portal carries the permit from application to inspection. For some of it, the Valley is not the permit office at all.

The City of Spokane Valley Permit Center issues the building permit and the mechanical and plumbing trade permits. Its own pages state the electrical boundary plainly: electrical permits come from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Sewer permits are a third office again — issued, the Valley’s residential page says, through the Spokane County Utility Department.

This page is for an address inside the Valley’s city limits. A “Spokane, WA” mailing address proves nothing, because the same postal city covers City of Spokane, Valley and unincorporated county addresses: the jurisdiction guide settles which authority applies and the cluster overview routes the rest. Two limits apply here. This page does not decide whether your project needs a permit, and it publishes no fee total; the Valley’s Master Fee Schedule is the current list.

Start with the address, then the project

The Valley is one permit authority among several in the county. Put the address into the county’s parcel dashboard or the jurisdiction guide before you read any checklist: a Valley lot and the lot next door may sit with different authorities.

The Valley also publishes its own permit register. Its public permit search takes an address, a parcel number, an application number or a permit type, and returns results without an account; two searches run on 3 October 2026 — one for a street, one across the register — both answered. The search shows what is on record; it is not proof that unrecorded work never happened, which the permit-history guide covers.

What the Valley’s own pages say needs a permit

The residential page states that permits are required for new single-family homes, new duplexes, new garages and pole buildings, new decks, pools, spas or fences, additions of any square footage to an existing home, duplex or accessory structure, and interior alterations to any of those. The mechanical and plumbing page adds new, altered or replaced mechanical and plumbing fixtures and appliances.

One row of that list does not match another Valley document. The residential page names fences among the projects requiring permits, while the city’s own Residential Fencing Standards handout opens “Although there is no permit for a standard fence, there are guidelines required to be followed”, and then states that a residential fence above seven feet up to eight feet must be permitted and engineered. Both documents are the city’s, published side by side. Ask the Permit Center which applies to your fence rather than assuming either exemption or requirement.

Which office issues which permit

The five steps the Valley publishes

1. Complete the application. The city recommends its online portal, which it says may be processed more quickly, and where an applicant submits, pays, obtains the permit and schedules an inspection. Fillable PDFs remain available for anyone who does not want to use it.
2. Submit the materials and the fees. Application fees must be paid before the application is processed. Payment is by card through the portal or by telephone, or by check or cash at the counter; the city charges a 2.5% convenience fee on credit-card and online payments, and states it is not charged for checks or cash paid to the Permit Center directly.
3. Review. Staff review the application and any additional materials, contact the applicant if more is needed, and notify applicants when a permit is approved.
4. Request inspections as the work proceeds. Inspections are booked through the portal or the Inspection Request Line at 509-720-5350.
5. Certificate of Occupancy, where it applies. The city prepares a certificate for new buildings and additions once inspection staff and the review agencies have given final approval of every permit on the project.

What the application itself asks for

The Valley’s Residential Construction Permit Application opens with the site address and parcel number, then a checkbox for new construction, addition or remodel, or accessory building. It asks for the owner block with an “owner build” checkbox, a contractor block carrying the Labor & Industries licence number and UBI, and a scope section covering construction type, building height, storeys, total habitable space, main-floor square footage and whether the site sits in a special flood hazard area.

The applicant signs a disclaimer that names three routes under RCW 18.27 — a contractor registered and licensed under that chapter, the registered or legal owner or authorised agent who is not a licensed contractor, or a person otherwise exempt — and confirms that any plans the city requests will be submitted and approved before the application is processed.

Behind that form sits a submittal checklist by project type:

The form also tells applicants to ask the counter for the Residential Code Construction Handout and, on the deck row, for the Deck Building Guide — the Valley’s own documents, worth requesting by name.

Inspections and closing the permit out

Inspection requests made through the portal or the request line before 7 a.m. will generally be performed the same business day; requests after 7 a.m. are scheduled for the next business day. That single cut-off is the city’s own published rule and the field most likely to move a project’s schedule.

A Certificate of Occupancy does not have to be requested: for eligible permits the city states it is generated automatically within 24 hours of the completion of all inspections and conditions, is available in the portal or by email, and carries no additional fee. Occupancy before every condition is finished is a different route. A Temporary Certificate of Occupancy is requested through the building inspector, may need final sign-off from Engineering, Planning, Spokane Valley Fire Department and Spokane Regional Health District, is requested in writing with the permit number and an estimated completion date, and carries a fee set in the Master Fee Schedule. The city’s own wording is blunt: a building is not authorised for occupancy until a certificate signed by the building official is in hand.

Where the Valley’s counter stops

• The permit set is the counter’s call, not this page’s. Staff determine which permits a scope triggers and which submittal checklist applies. Bring the address, parcel, scope and drawings, and ask.
• Design and trade work stay with licensed professionals. Electrical, gas, structural and roof work belongs with people licensed or certified for it; this page gives no code requirement as advice about your property. The City of Spokane inquiry guide shows the same boundary across the city line.
• Contractors need a Valley business licence. The city’s own business-resources pages state that a contractor pulling permits must hold one in addition to Labor & Industries registration.
• Use the telephone, not the mailbox. The Valley’s own pages link two different Permit Center email addresses — one ending spokanevalley.org in the page text and one ending spokanevalleywa.gov in the footer and on every handout. Until the city settles that, 509-720-5240 and the online portal are the reliable routes; the Building Official is listed at 509-720-5305.
• A portal notice is not an approval. Only an issued permit and a signed certificate of occupancy are.

Next step

Write the site address, parcel number, project type, scope in plain words, valuation basis and the drawings you already hold onto one page, then submit through the Valley’s portal or put it in front of Permit Center staff. The cluster overview routes the other offices; the permit-history guide shows what is already on record for the address before you file anything new.

Sources

All pages, handouts and forms opened and read 3 October 2026, except where noted.

Report an error or a change you have spotted: use our contact page.