Building Permit in Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica requires a building permit for: THE CITY TELLS YOU IT IS BEHIND, WHICH IS RARE AND USEFUL: "Plan review timelines are currently delayed beyond the estimated timeframes." Two reads of the page under different framings returned that sentence identically.; BUT THE SENTENCE CARRIES NO DATE, AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH IT. There is no posting date, no review date and no expiry on the notice, so a reader cannot tell whether "currently" means this week or eighteen months ago. It is a true statement with no shelf life attached.; AND THERE IS NO PUBLISHED FIGURE FOR IT TO BE LATE AGAINST. The page refers to "the estimated timeframes" as though they are stated somewhere, but no first-review or recheck figure appears on the pages read. The delay is announced relative to a number the reader has not been given.; A COMPLETE SUBMITTAL IS A CONDITION, NOT AN ASPIRATION: "submittals must be complete with all required supporting documentation and fee payments at the time of submission." Fee payment is part of completeness here - an application with documents but without payment is not a submittal.; THERE IS A COUNTER ROUTE FOR SMALL WORK: "Same-Day Review - for certain minor projects such as reroofs, mechanical installations, facade remodels/repairs that can be reviewed and approved at the public counter." Note the words "such as" - the three named are examples and the eligible set is not enumerated on the page, so ask rather than assume your scope qualifies.; OVER TWO THOUSAND BUILDINGS ARE IN THE SEISMIC PROGRAMME. If the property is commercial or multi-family, check whether it carries an "Order to Structurally Analyze Potentially Seismically Vulnerable Building" before planning other work, because a retrofit obligation changes the scope of anything else.. If your project isn't listed, confirm with City of Santa Monica Building and Safety Division at NOT PUBLISHED on the pages read for this record. Neither the Permit Services Center page nor the plan review page carries a telephone number for Building and Safety; the published route in is the appointment booking address below. before starting work.

In Santa Monica, the published Permit fees is: NOT PUBLISHED on the pages read for this record.. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Santa Monica does not publish a figure, and it says it is running behind the one it has not published: "Plan review timelines are currently delayed beyond the estimated timeframes." That sentence carries no date of any kind, so there is no way to tell whether it was written last week or two years ago. Treat it as a warning of unknown vintage. The only fast route the city does publish is Same-Day Review at the counter for certain minor projects.

Apply through City of Santa Monica Building and Safety Division at The Permit Services Center is at "1685 Main Street, South Entrance, access from Olympic Dr., Santa Monica, CA 90401". The entrance instruction is part of the published address, not an aside - the counter is not reached from the Main Street frontage.. Phone: NOT PUBLISHED on the pages read for this record. Neither the Permit Services Center page nor the plan review page carries a telephone number for Building and Safety; the published route in is the appointment booking address below., email: NOT ESTABLISHED. A seismic-specific address was reported by a search summary but did not appear on either city page read directly for this record, so it is not asserted here. Treat the counter and the booking system as the published channels.. Office hours: A FOUR-DAY COUNTER WEEK, SEVEN HOURS A DAY: "The Permit Services Center is open 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday" - twenty-eight hours a week, with the building closed to permit business on Fridays. Appointments are booked at checkin.smgov.net.. Official information: https://www.santamonica.gov/plan-review.

Applications are evaluated under the "2025 California Standards Code (Title 24), effective January 1, 2026". Title 24 is the container for the whole California suite, so that one statement covers Building, Residential, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Energy and Green Building together. Santa Monica does not publish a code-by-code list with municipal-code chapters on the pages read, and no local amendment list was found, so what the city changes on top of the state code is not established here.

For some small work, yes: "Same-Day Review - for certain minor projects such as reroofs, mechanical installations, facade remodels/repairs that can be reviewed and approved at the public counter." The wording is "such as", so those three are examples rather than the whole eligible list. Since the set is not enumerated on the page, confirm your specific scope before planning around it.

Four days a week, seven hours a day: "The Permit Services Center is open 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday." That is twenty-eight hours a week with no Friday service. A four-day week itself is common - 171 of the 691 records in this corpus describe one, measured 2026-09-21 - so it is the seven-hour day, not the missing Friday, that is worth planning around. It is at 1685 Main Street, South Entrance, access from Olympic Dr. - the entrance instruction matters, the counter is not reached from the Main Street frontage. Appointments are booked at checkin.smgov.net.

Santa Monica runs a mandatory retrofit programme covering a large share of its building stock: "Over 2,000 commercial and multi-family residential buildings in the City were identified as potentially seismically vulnerable", across five construction types. Affected owners receive an "Order to Structurally Analyze Potentially Seismically Vulnerable Building". The compliance deadlines sit in a separate compliance table, and the How to Comply explainer could not be read for this record, so go to the city for the schedule and for who may perform the analysis rather than relying on a summary.