The mission of the City of Palo Alto Building Inspection Services is to provide excellent customer service through the building inspection process by verifying minimum requirements to safeguard the public health, safety and general welfare through structural strength, means of egress, stability, access to persons with disabilities, sanitation, adequate lighting and ventilation, green building, and energy conservation; safety to life and property from fire and other hazards attributed to the built environment; and to provide safety to fire fighters and emergency responders during emergency operations.
ACCESSIBILITY The City endeavors to ensure all required construction complies with all state accessibility requirements. We currently offer a courtesy pre-walk that identifies potential plan check deficiencies prior to plan submittal. For more information please contact Robert Dunbar at Robert.Dunbar@cityofpaloalto.org. [ more ]
EMERGENCY CALL-OUT PROTOCOL Building inspector will respond to electrical and gas emergencies once repairs have been completed by licensed contractor such as gas leak and electric service repairs. Phone: (650) 329-2496 (DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS). A Whole house gas test is required prior to gas meter release. [ more ]
SAFETY BULLETINS AND ADVISORIES Safety advisory's are public information notifications for the community that the building department has become aware of, from actual occurrences in Palo Alto.[ more ]
TRAINING SCHEDULE The Building Division periodically offers training for inspectors and contractors dealing with all aspects of the building code [ more ]. If you have any questions regarding the topic or have suggestions for future training topics please email Rhonda.Parkhurst@cityofpaloalto.org.
INSPECTION In an effort to streamline and simplify inspection requests the City offers a variety of tools to help our customers. Guidelines have been prepared for both residential and commercial construction to help customers understand both sequencing and requirements inspections will be looking for. See below for helpful information.
HELPFUL RESOURCES AND WEBSITES The following links provide helpful resources for the construction trades. Please be advised they will take you out of the current city website.
