Durham building department

Durham has one building department for both the city and the county. The City-County Building & Safety Department (also called the City-County Inspections Department) handles permits, plan review, and inspections for the City of Durham and Durham County. It enforces the North Carolina State Building Code and the zoning ordinances of both governments. Whether your address is inside or outside city limits, the building permit comes from the same office. The department reviews building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and fire permit applications and issues Certificates of Compliance. It also covers manufactured homes, family care homes, day cares, floodplain management, and impact fees. The office at 101 City Hall Plaza is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The customer service lobby on the ground floor of City Hall is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Two systems: Dplans and LDO

• Dplans is the digital plan-submission site. All commercial and residential plan reviews go through it, and paper plans are no longer accepted. Commercial contractors with established accounts also request stocking and partial-occupancy permits there.
• The Land Development Office (LDO) portal handles trade permit applications, fee payments, permit tracking, and inspection requests. Anyone can search it without logging in, by building permit number, parcel ID or PIN, address, or owner name. Records go back to October 2007.

You can’t create an LDO account yourself. Staff must first set up a Client Identification Account (CID). To request one for building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, or city fire protection permits, email [email protected] with the subject “CID Permitting Account Needed.” Include your contact details and any construction licenses.

What needs a permit

The department’s project guidelines cover common residential work:

Project	Durham rule
Fences and walls	No permit inside city or county limits unless the property is in a floodplain or the fence is a pool barrier for a single-family home. Retaining walls do need a permit. Fences can be up to 8 feet in side and rear yards and 4 feet in front yards, with tighter limits on corner lots.
Accessory structures (sheds, carports, garages, pool houses)	Building permit required. Not allowed in front yards. Over 12 feet on a side, you also need structural drawings and a plot plan. Under 15 feet tall, they can sit 5 feet from the rear line. Over 15 feet, the minimum is 10 feet.
Pools and spas	Building permit required for in-ground and above-ground pools. A licensed electrician must get the electrical permit.

Plot plans are required for any improvement that changes the footprint of a home, duplex, or townhouse. That includes additions, new homes, decks, garages, retaining walls, sheds, and pools. You may draw your own plot plan to scale if you sign and date it. It must show property lines, easements, streams, flood zones, impervious surface, and a north arrow.

Plan review

Small Project Review covers single-family parcels that aren’t new construction. That includes renovations, additions, porches and decks, accessory structures, repairs, pools and hot tubs, solar arrays, mobile home installs, and demolitions. Applicants use the Small Project Review application with numbered checklists for renovations, additions, decks and porches, accessory structures, and pools. You’ll need scaled plans, a plot plan with setbacks, a detailed scope of work, and a realistic market-value cost. Projects of $30,000 or more also need a general contractor license or Homeowners’ Exemption form, a lien agent form, and proof of workers’ compensation coverage. Lots in a floodplain or a local historic district get extra reviews that may take longer.

Full plan reviews require a complete, signed application with no line left blank or “TBD.” Plans must be split into separate PDFs by trade, up to 200 MB each, with security protection removed. New residential plans that change the footprint need a scaled plot plan sealed by a registered surveyor. Plan review fees are due at submittal and credited toward the permit. If an application sits six months without activity, it’s voided and the fee isn’t refunded.

Fees

The building permit fee schedule the department posts is dated July 1, 2018, and includes a technology surcharge. It sets new one- and two-family dwelling fees by size. Fees run from $146 up to 1,200 square feet to $810 over 5,000 square feet, plus a $146 plan review fee. Residential decks are $100. Accessory buildings are $50 without a footing or $100 with one. Re-inspections start at $100, and starting work without a permit doubles the fee. The Planning Department adds a $104 building permit review fee, effective July 1, 2024.

Inspections

Schedule building, electrical, plumbing, and standard mechanical inspections in the LDO portal. Only the permit applicant can schedule, using their own login. The cutoff is 11:59 p.m. the night before. The old automated phone line, 919-560-1500, has been retired. Planning Department sign-off for a certificate of occupancy is scheduled separately. Since October 1, 2023, residential temporary power permits are only issued when linked to an active building permit.

For homes, duplexes, and townhouses, the building inspections are footing, foundation or slab, framing, insulation, and final. Optional open-floor and sheathing courtesy inspections are also available. A foundation survey is due at full framing. The impervious survey, concrete tickets, and termite treatment report are due at final. See also inspection stages.