Longview building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Longview, Washington.
Last verified 2026-09-16 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- 1525 Broadway, Longview, WA 98632
- Phone
- (360) 442-5004
- Website
- Official site
Codes adopted
The State Building Code is in effect in every county and city in Washington, and its minimum performance standards may not be diminished locally. A local amendment that affects single-family or multifamily residential buildings is not effective unless the State Building Code Council approves it; amendments to non-residential provisions carry no such approval requirement.
THE WAC IS NAMED FIRST AND THE MODEL CODE IS PARENTHETICAL — the inverse of every other city in this set, which names the code and then cites the WAC. Show full textShow less
THE WAC IS NAMED FIRST AND THE MODEL CODE IS PARENTHETICAL — the inverse of every other city in this set, which names the code and then cites the WAC. LMC 16.02.010: “Chapters 51-11R and 51-11C WAC (2021 International Energy Conservation Code), Chapter 51-50 WAC (2021 International Building Code), including the Appendix Chapters E, as further amended by Chapter 51-50 WAC, I and J, Chapter 51-51 WAC (2021 International Residential Code), including the Appendix Chapters G and H, Chapter 51-52 WAC (2021 International Mechanical Code), and Chapter 51-56 WAC (2021 Uniform Plumbing Code and Uniform Plumbing Code Standards), together with amendments thereof and additions thereto, one copy of each of which is on file in the office of the city clerk of the city of Longview, shall be and are hereby adopted as the building code of the city of Longview…”
- Editions are NAMED: 2021 for the IECC, IBC, IRC, IMC and UPC. IBC Appendix Chapters E, I and J are adopted; IRC Appendix Chapters G and H are adopted.
AN APPLICANT-ELECTED ALTERNATE PLUMBING CODE, which is unusual anywhere in this corpus. Show full textShow less
AN APPLICANT-ELECTED ALTERNATE PLUMBING CODE, which is unusual anywhere in this corpus. LMC 16.02.020 amends IBC Section 101.4.3 and adds: “Exception: When requested in writing by the permit applicant, on the permit application, the 2021 International Plumbing Code shall be considered an approved alternate for plumbing installations governed under the Uniform Plumbing Code. When approved Alternate plumbing codes are utilized, the entire plumbing installation shall be installed and governed under the provisions of the alternate code.” So the governing plumbing code is chosen by the applicant, in writing, at application.
ELECTRICAL IS BEING WITHDRAWN, AND THE CODE SHOWS THAT MID-FLIGHT. Show full textShow less
ELECTRICAL IS BEING WITHDRAWN, AND THE CODE SHOWS THAT MID-FLIGHT. LMC 16.02.020 already deletes IBC “Section 101.4.8, Electrical”. Separately, LMC Chapter 16.24 ELECTRICAL CODE is still published in full — Article I Adoption By Reference (§ 16.24.010), Article II General Provisions (§§ 16.24.020–.120), Article III Authority (§§ 16.24.200–.220), Article IV Permits And Approvals (§§ 16.24.300–.390) and Article V Plan Review (§ 16.24.400) — while the publisher's New Laws panel on that same chapter lists “Ord. 3577 — Adopted 2026-04-09 — Buildings and Construction: Repeals Electrical Code — Affects Ch 16.24”. BOTH ARE RECORDED AND NEITHER IS SUPPRESSED: the codified text is live, the repeal is adopted and not yet codified.
- Property maintenance runs through two documents at once: IBC Section 101.4.4 is amended so that “the International Property Maintenance Code and Longview Municipal Code Chapter 16.32 (Unfit Dwellings and Structures) shall apply to all structures and premises…”
NOT OPENED FOR THIS ENTRY: LMC 16.12 (Historic Preservation), 16.13 (Uniform Sign Code), 16.28 (Building Numbering), 16.30 (Property Maintenance Code), 16.32 (Unfit Dwellings), 16.36 (Mobile Homes), 16.38 (Manufactured… Show full textShow less
NOT OPENED FOR THIS ENTRY: LMC 16.12 (Historic Preservation), 16.13 (Uniform Sign Code), 16.28 (Building Numbering), 16.30 (Property Maintenance Code), 16.32 (Unfit Dwellings), 16.36 (Mobile Homes), 16.38 (Manufactured Homes), 16.40 (Advertising Structures), 16.46 (Hedges), 16.48 (Fences), 16.56 (Condominium Conversions), 16.60 (Property Tax Incentives), 16.75 (Wireless), 16.80 (Eligible Facilities Modifications), the body of 16.24, LMC Title 18 (Fire Prevention) and LMC Chapter 19.12 (Appeal Board of Adjustment).
- ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF TITLE 16 ARE NAMED “REPEALED” IN THE CONTENTS — 16.01, 16.03, 16.04, 16.05, 16.06, 16.07, 16.14, 16.23, 16.44, 16.53 and 16.54 — which is readable without opening them, the same rendering Lynnwood uses and the opposite of Puyallup's and Lake Stevens'.
Permit types & fees
Residential Building Permit (New Construction)
Required for new one- and two-family dwellings in Longview, reviewed under the 2021 International Residential Code as adopted through Chapter 51-51 WAC.
See fee scheduleCommercial Building Permit
Required for commercial construction, alteration and occupancy in Longview, under the 2021 International Building Code adopted through Chapter 51-50 WAC.
See fee schedulePlumbing Permit
Plumbing work in Longview is governed by the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code — unless the applicant elects the 2021 International Plumbing Code in writing at application.
See fee scheduleMechanical Permit
Mechanical work in Longview is reviewed under the 2021 International Mechanical Code adopted through Chapter 51-52 WAC.
See fee scheduleElectrical Permit
Electrical regulation in Longview is in transition: the codified electrical chapter is still published in full while an adopted ordinance repealing it has not yet been codified.
See fee schedule
Longview's permit history isn't searchable here yet
This page covers what the permit requires. What we don't have for Longview yet is the record of permits actually issued — the history you'd search by street address. That is a gap in our coverage, not a statement about any particular property.
Your email, and the place — never an address. We only use it to tell you when Longview lands. Privacy.
Tips & gotchas
- YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR PLUMBING CODE, BUT ONLY IN WRITING AND ONLY UP FRONT. LMC 16.02.020 makes the 2021 International Plumbing Code “an approved alternate” to the Uniform Plumbing Code “when requested in writing by the permit applicant, on the permit application” — and then requires the ENTIRE plumbing installation to follow whichever code you elected. There is no mixing, and the election is made at application rather than during construction.
- PLAN REVIEW IS 65 OR 70 PERCENT OF THE PERMIT FEE, ON TOP OF IT. One- and two-family reviews under the IRC are 65 percent; everything else is 70 percent; and the code says plainly that these are “separate fees from the permit fees … and are in addition to” them. If you budgeted the permit fee alone you have budgeted roughly three-fifths of the total.
- Building the same house more than once in one subdivision is materially cheaper. A “Same As” master plan drops repeat plan review to 30 percent of the building permit fee — but only within the same subdivision, only within the code cycle the master plan was approved under, and only if the subsequent plans do not deviate from it.
- FIVE OF THE MODEL CODE'S PERMIT EXEMPTIONS ARE DELETED HERE (IBC Section 105.2 subsections 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12), and subsection 11 is narrowed to “Swings and other playground equipment.” Do not assume an exemption you have relied on elsewhere in Washington survives in Longview — check 105.2 as amended before deciding you need no permit.
- THE ELECTRICAL CODE IS IN AN IN-BETWEEN STATE AND THIS GUIDE WILL NOT PRETEND OTHERWISE. LMC Chapter 16.24 still publishes a complete electrical code, and the publisher lists Ord. 3577, adopted 2026-04-09, as repealing that chapter. The codified text and the adopted ordinance disagree. Ask the city which applies before filing an electrical permit.
- A supporting signal, in case it helps you read that situation: LMC 16.02.020 already deletes IBC Section 101.4.8, the section that would otherwise apply the building code to electrical work. The city was stepping back from electrical before Ord. 3577 was adopted.
- Refunds are capped at 80 percent and time-barred at 180 days from the date you PAID, not from the date you gave up on the project. A full refund is available only where the fee “was erroneously paid or collected”.
- Two inspections are separately priced that most codes fold into the permit: manufactured housing situated in a mobile home park, and free-standing wood stoves. Both sit in the community and economic development department master fee schedule rather than in the code.
- Appeals do not go to a building board. IBC Section 113 is amended to send them to the Appeal Board of Adjustment under LMC Chapter 19.12, which is a land use body — so the procedure is the one in Title 19, not one written into the building chapter.
- Building without a permit is a MISDEMEANOR here, not a civil infraction: Section 114.1 as amended makes it a misdemeanor to erect, alter, move, demolish or occupy any regulated building or equipment in violation of the code.
- The city exempts itself from its own Title 16 permit fees — except for the sewer and water departments, sanitation, the water filter plant, public transit, the Mint Valley Racquet Complex and the Mint Valley Golf Course (LMC 16.70.010). The exceptions are the operations that charge their own customers.
- THE CODE MOVED PUBLISHERS RECENTLY AND THE OLD LINK STILL WORKS. codepublishing.com/WA/Longview/ now redirects to ecode360, General Code's platform. Follow the redirect rather than bookmarking the old host — and note that this ecode360 tenant, unlike Puyallup's and Lake Stevens', displays NO “Includes legislation through” currency line at all.