Los Angeles County Building and Safety, managed by LA County Public Works, has been providing services to ensure safe building design, construction, approval of completed building projects and providing code enforcement since the adoption of County building codes and standards in March 1933.

Building services are provided to unincorporated communities at the Public Works headquarters, at one of the 10 Building and Safety District Offices serving unincorporated communities and at the 10 Contract City Offices serving incorporated cities. These offices are staffed by highly professional, knowledgeable and customer service-oriented staff.

Building and Safety provides building permits, review and monitoring of the design, construction, installation, demolition, and maintenance of privately-owned buildings and structures through the enforcement of the County’s building codes and regulations.

To get started in obtaining permits, please follow these steps:

  1. Create an account on Los Angeles County, Building and Safety Online Portal (if the link isn’t functional, search “LA County BSOP”)
  2. Enter the property address of the location where work is to be done in the search box at the top left of the page. It will take you through a couple of different screens before it prompts you to log in/create an account.
  3. Apply for a building permit, fill in all information and upload plans (if applicable) directly to the project that you applied for in BSOP (it’s a part of the process; it’ll prompt you to upload the plans).
  4. If any mechanical, electrical or plumbing work is requested (even if it’s removing a fixture and then putting the same one back in the same place) a permit for the relevant trade must be applied for through BSOP so that it can be screened and, if needed, go through plan check as well.
  5. After you request a permit, the County process is as follows:
    • Screening: estimated 2-3 weeks
    • After screening is complete, you will be prompted to pay the “Plan Review Fees” (not the issuance fees, just the plan check fees) for the process to move to the next step (plan review).
    • Plan review: estimated 6-8 weeks
      • *Please note that these are our best estimates in regards to the timeframes
  6. After plan review is complete, you’ll either receive comments from your plan reviewer or you will receive approval and an email from one of the three permit technicians with the issuance fee amount and the additional documentation required to issue the permit (please wait for an email from one of the permit techs as it will have the next steps).
  7. When revisions to the plans based on the corrections have been completed, you will then upload the revisions and response letter directly to the project in our online system. At that point, you can reach out to your plan reviewer, who will be able to give you an estimated timeframe for rechecking.