Skip to main content

Newport News vs Virginia Beach Building Permit Fees (2026)

Side-by-side comparison of two Hampton Roads cities, using official fee schedule data verified from both nnva.gov and planning.virginiabeach.gov. Newport News bills a value-based 0.44% of construction value with a $56.10 minimum and no plan-review or technology add-on. Virginia Beach stacks a base fee plus a per-$1,000 (or per-sq-ft) rate, a $100 full plan review, and a $10 technology fee. Both cities collect the same Virginia 2% state levy - but Virginia Beach's stacked fixed fees keep it higher across residential building permits.

Calculate Your Project Newport News Fees Virginia Beach Fees

Evidence and Source Confidence

Both jurisdictions in this comparison have official, current PermitPrice fee verifications. The math below uses verified inputs from each city's published fee schedule. Where one schedule carries a source-age caveat, that is disclosed below.

Newport News City

Verified

Source: City of Newport News Permit Fee Schedule (City Code Section 13-26). Extracted via pdfplumber from nnva.gov and verified June 8, 2026.

Source-age caveat: The Newport News schedule is printed "Effective July 1, 2009" and is still published as the current rate sheet on nnva.gov. The value-based rates (0.44%/0.48%), the $56.10 minimum, and the 2% levy are exact; the square-foot cost table for new construction (Table 13-26) is held separately. Verify with the Department of Codes Compliance at (757) 926-8861 before filing.

Virginia Beach City

Verified

Source: Virginia Beach Residential Permit Fees PDF (revision Jul-2025). Extracted via authenticated Playwright fetch from the Virginia Beach S3 bucket and verified for the Virginia Beach jurisdiction page.

Currency: Virginia Beach's schedule is current and recently revised (Jul-2025). Virginia Beach Permits and Inspections phone: (757) 385-4211. Email: PermInsp@vbgov.com.

Fee Structure Side-by-Side

The fundamental difference: Newport News ties the building permit to declared value (0.44% for residential) with no separate plan-review or technology line. Virginia Beach uses a base fee plus a per-$1,000 or per-sq-ft rate, then adds a $100 full plan review (or $25 counter review for small decks) and a $10 technology fee. Both cities collect the 2% Virginia state levy on the building permit fee component.

Project Type Newport News City Virginia Beach City
Residential alterations / repairs 0.44% of value
$56.10 minimum		 $50 + $5 per $1,000 of value
In-ground / above-ground pool 0.44% of value
$56.10 minimum		 $50 + $5 per $1,000 of value
Uncovered deck (one-story) 0.44% of value (min $56.10) $50 + $4 per 100 sq ft
New construction (heated) SF table × 0.88 × 0.44%
Table 13-26 not in fee PDF		 $50 + $7 per 100 sq ft
Plan review None (no separate line) $100 (full)
$25 (counter / decks under 500 sq ft)
Technology fee None $10 per permit
Minimum permit fee $56.10 $50 base + add-ons
Virginia 2% state levy Applied to permit fee Applied to building permit fee
Work without permit Double fee $250 + standard permit

Sources: City of Newport News Permit Fee Schedule (Section 13-26, eff. July 1, 2009) and Virginia Beach Residential Permit Fees PDF (rev. Jul-2025). Trade permits (electrical, mechanical, plumbing) are itemized in separate fee categories not modeled in this comparison. New construction is not compared head-to-head because Newport News's square-foot cost table (Table 13-26) is held separately from the published fee PDF.

Three Worked Examples - Same Project, Both Cities

Each example uses identical project assumptions and walks through the building permit math from each city's official schedule. All arithmetic is reproducible from the verified inputs and matches the worked examples published on each city's individual jurisdiction page.

Example 1: $30,000 residential alteration (kitchen remodel)

A homeowner gut-renovates a kitchen for a declared construction value of $30,000.

Newport News City

  • Building permit (0.44% × $30,000): $132.00
  • Plan review / technology: none
  • 2% Virginia state levy on $132: $2.64

Total: $134.64

Virginia Beach City

  • Building permit ($50 + $5 x 30): $200.00
  • Plan review (full review): $100.00
  • Technology fee: $10.00
  • 2% Virginia state levy on $200: $4.00

Total: $314.00

Newport News wins by $179.36. Newport News's permit fee ($132) is lower than Virginia Beach's $200 base, and Newport News adds nothing else, while Virginia Beach stacks a $100 full plan review and a $10 technology fee. Because Newport News's slope (0.44%) is also lower than Virginia Beach's effective rate, Newport News stays cheaper at every alteration value.

Example 2: $15,000 / 200 sq ft uncovered deck

A homeowner builds a 200 sq ft uncovered deck with a declared construction value of $15,000. Note the basis difference: Newport News prices the deck off value; Virginia Beach prices it off area.

Newport News City

  • Building permit (0.44% × $15,000): $66.00
  • Plan review / technology: none
  • 2% Virginia state levy on $66: $1.32

Total: $67.32

Virginia Beach City

  • Building permit ($50 + $4 x 2): $58.00
  • Plan review (counter, deck under 500 sq ft): $25.00
  • Technology fee: $10.00
  • 2% Virginia state levy on $58: $1.16

Total: $94.16

Newport News wins by $26.84. This is the closest race - Virginia Beach's per-sq-ft deck formula is one of its cheapest project types, and the $25 counter plan review keeps the total modest. But Newport News's value-based 0.44% deck fee, with no add-ons, still comes out ahead at typical residential sizes. See the dedicated Newport News deck permit guide and Virginia Beach deck permit guide for full deck math.

Example 3: $30,000 in-ground swimming pool

A homeowner installs a 16 x 32 fiberglass in-ground pool with a declared construction value of $30,000 (excluding the separate pool barrier/electrical permits).

Newport News City

  • Building permit (0.44% × $30,000): $132.00
  • Plan review / technology: none
  • 2% Virginia state levy on $132: $2.64

Total: $134.64

Virginia Beach City

  • Building permit ($50 + $5 x 30): $200.00
  • Plan review (full review): $100.00
  • Technology fee: $10.00
  • 2% Virginia state levy on $200: $4.00

Total: $314.00

Newport News wins by $179.36. Both cities treat an in-ground pool as value-based, but Virginia Beach's $50-plus-$5-per-$1,000 base, $100 full plan review, and $10 technology fee stack up to more than double Newport News's lean 0.44% fee. The gap holds at higher pool values too: a $60,000 pool is $269.28 in Newport News versus $568.20 in Virginia Beach.

When Each City Is Cheaper

For the residential project types both cities price off value or area, Newport News is consistently cheaper - its 0.44%-of-value fee with no add-ons undercuts Virginia Beach's base-plus-rate fee, $100 plan review, and $10 technology fee at every size. Virginia Beach's relative strength is large heated new construction, where its slow $7-per-100-sq-ft rate scales gently - but that head-to-head cannot be priced here because Newport News's new-construction square-foot table is unpublished. This table summarizes the comparable categories.

Project Type Cheaper City Why
Residential alteration / kitchen / bath remodel Newport News 0.44% of value with no add-ons beats VB's $50 + $5/$1,000 base plus $100 plan review and $10 technology fee at every value.
Uncovered deck (typical residential) Newport News Value-based 0.44% (min $56.10) edges out VB's $50 + $4/100 sq ft plus $25 counter review and $10 technology fee.
In-ground / above-ground pool Newport News 0.44% of value is roughly half VB's $50 + $5/$1,000 base plus $100 full plan review and $10 technology fee.
Small job at the minimum fee Newport News $57.22 all-in at the $56.10 minimum, vs VB's $50 base plus mandatory plan review and technology fee.
Large heated new construction Not compared VB uses $50 + $7/100 sq ft; Newport News uses an unpublished square-foot table (Table 13-26). No verified head-to-head is possible.

Caveat: this comparison covers building permit fees only. Trade permits (electrical, mechanical, plumbing), zoning approvals, stormwater fees, and Health Department fees are separate from the building permit and are not modeled here. Both cities also charge the 2% Virginia state levy. The deck row compares a value-based fee (Newport News) against an area-based fee (Virginia Beach) using a typical 200 sq ft / $15,000 deck.

Frequently Asked Questions

Newport News is cheaper for the residential project types both cities price off value or area - alterations, decks, and pools - at every size. Its lean 0.44%-of-value permit fee, with no plan-review or technology add-on, undercuts Virginia Beach's base fee plus its $100 full plan review and $10 technology fee. The one category that cannot be compared is large heated new construction: Virginia Beach uses $50 + $7 per 100 sq ft, while Newport News uses an unpublished square-foot cost table (Table 13-26).
At $30,000, Newport News's permit fee is 0.44% × $30,000 = $132, plus a 2% levy ($2.64) = $134.64, with nothing else. Virginia Beach charges $50 + $5 per $1,000 = $200 building permit, then adds a $100 full plan review, a $10 technology fee, and the 2% levy ($4) on the $200, for $314.00. The $179.36 gap comes from two things: Virginia Beach's higher base fee and its stacked fixed plan-review and technology charges that Newport News simply does not have.
Not among the value-based and area-based residential categories we can verify on both sides - Newport News wins alterations, decks, and pools at every size because its 0.44% rate is lower and it has no stacked plan-review or technology fee. Virginia Beach's relative strength is large heated new construction, where its slow $7-per-100-sq-ft rate scales gently. But that head-to-head cannot be priced, because Newport News's new-construction square-foot cost table (Table 13-26) is not in its published fee PDF. We disclose that gap rather than guess.
The two cities price decks on different bases. Newport News bills a deck at 0.44% of declared construction value, so a $15,000 deck is $67.32. Virginia Beach bills a deck off area at $50 + $4 per 100 sq ft, so a 200 sq ft deck is $58 building permit plus a $25 counter plan review, $10 technology fee, and 2% levy = $94.16. We hold both a typical value ($15,000) and a typical area (200 sq ft) constant so the example is realistic, but the underlying basis differs - read it as a real-world deck, not a like-for-like formula match.
The published Newport News Permit Fee Schedule (City Code Section 13-26) does not list a separate residential plan-review line or a technology fee for the value-based building permit - the all-in cost is the 0.44% permit fee (subject to the $56.10 minimum) plus the 2% state levy. Virginia Beach, by contrast, adds a $100 full plan review (or $25 counter review for small decks) and a $10 technology fee to every permit. That structural difference is the main reason Newport News comes out cheaper across the board.
The 2% state levy is a Virginia statewide surcharge authorized under Code of Virginia Section 36-137. Both Newport News and Virginia Beach collect it on the building permit fee component and remit it to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to fund statewide construction-code enforcement. The levy applies to the building permit fee only - not Virginia Beach's plan review or technology fee. So 2% on Newport News's $132 permit fee is $2.64; on Virginia Beach's $200 alteration permit fee it is $4.00. Both cities are mandatory collectors.
Just the city building permit fee. The $134.64 Newport News alteration and $314.00 Virginia Beach alteration cover the building permit application and (in Virginia Beach) the plan review and technology fee. They do not cover trade permits (electrical, mechanical, plumbing - separate applications in both cities), contractor labor, materials, zoning approvals, stormwater fees, or any other site-specific permits. PermitPrice tracks the city building permit fee component only. Your contractor's quote is the source of truth for total project cost.
Virginia Beach's Residential Permit Fees PDF is footer-labeled rev. Jul-2025 - the schedule is recent. Newport News's Permit Fee Schedule is printed "Effective July 1, 2009" and is still published as the current rate sheet on nnva.gov; the city confirms the $56.10 minimum and value-based structure remain in force. PermitPrice has not located a more recent Newport News revision. Verify current rates with Newport News Codes Compliance at (757) 926-8861 and Virginia Beach Permits and Inspections at (757) 385-4211 before filing.

Calculate Your Specific Project

The PermitPrice fee calculator supports both Newport News and Virginia Beach for the project types where each city's formula maps cleanly to a cost-only input. Pick the jurisdiction and project type, enter your construction value, and the calculator returns the all-in permit cost broken down by component.

Sources

Official .gov Sources - Verified June 2026
Next Step

Get the full fee schedule for either city, run your specific project through the calculator, or check more Hampton Roads comparisons.

Verify current fees with both jurisdictions before relying on this comparison for filing. Newport News Department of Codes Compliance: (757) 926-8861. Virginia Beach Permits and Inspections: (757) 385-4211 / PermInsp@vbgov.com. The Newport News schedule on nnva.gov is printed effective July 1, 2009 and is older than the Virginia Beach Jul-2025 schedule; it is the current published sheet, but always confirm current rates and project classification before submitting an application in either city.
Disclaimer: All fee information on PermitPrice is for informational purposes only and is not an official permit quotation. Actual permit fees are determined by Newport News Codes Compliance or Virginia Beach Permits and Inspections at the time of application. Newport News's new-construction valuation (Table 13-26) is held separately and is not modeled here, so large heated new construction is not compared. Trade permits (electrical, mechanical, plumbing), zoning approvals, and stormwater fees are separate from the building permit and are not modeled in this comparison.

Written by: Munib Ur Rehman

Data verified against official fee schedule documents.