Permit Fees in Virginia

City	Bathroom	Kitchen	Roof	HVAC	Status
Richmond	$144.75	$206.66	$126.17	$101.41	✓

Virginia runs one uniform code everywhere: the 2021 Uniform Statewide Building Code, effective January 18, 2024, with the 2021 Virginia Residential Code inside it. Localities can't write their own technical rules; they enforce the state's, through their own building departments, and they set their own fee schedules to cover enforcement costs. Every permit fee also quietly carries a state levy of up to 2 percent that funds the Building Code Academy, the training program for the state's inspectors.

Our verified Richmond numbers are among the lowest in our 29-city index: $144.75 for a bathroom remodel permit, $206.66 for a kitchen, $126.17 for a roof, and $101.41 for an HVAC changeout.

The exemption list is unusually generous and worth reading before you apply. Under the construction code's Section 108.2: one-story detached sheds up to 256 square feet need no permit, fences of any height are exempt unless they guard a pool or protect pedestrians, retaining walls under 3 feet of unbalanced fill are exempt, and ordinary repairs, including window and door replacement and up to 100 square feet of roof covering, skip the counter entirely.

One formality at permit time: Va. Code 54.1-1111 requires the applicant to either show the contractor's license or file a written statement that the work isn't subject to licensure. Owners doing their own work sign that statement, which is the state's way of making sure you said it out loud.

Sources: Virginia DHCD on the USBC · 13VAC5-63-80 (permit exemptions) · Va. Code 54.1-1111 · Va. Code 36-137 (permit levy) · verified 2026-06