Do I need a permit for electrical work in Spokane?

The list below is general guidance, not a ruling on your specific project. Requirements turn on details: the scope, the location, and how the existing wiring is configured. Confirm with the permitting agency for your address, or ask us and we'll confirm it for you.

• New circuits of any kind
• Panel replacements and service changes
• Sub-panels
• EV charger circuits
• Hot tub and spa circuits
• Rewiring, whole or partial
• Adding outlets, switches, or lighting outlets
• Generator transfer switches and interlocks
• Solar and battery systems
• Remodels that open walls and alter wiring

Like-for-like replacement falls under what's called a B permit. Replacing a receptacle needs one, technically even swapping an ivory receptacle for a different color.

Aaron asked his inspector about exactly that, and the answer was: "Are people actually gonna get a permit for that?" Which tells you what you need to know. The rule is the rule, and nobody is knocking on doors over a receptacle color. What matters is the work that changes something.

Changing a light fixture does not need a permit. And in Washington, extending a circuit more than six feet has to be marked.

• Replacing a switch or receptacle with the same type in the same box
• Replacing a light fixture on an existing outlet
• Replacing a breaker of the same rating in the same panel
• Changing a cover plate or a lamp

The common thread is like-for-like replacement in an existing, properly installed location. The moment you extend a circuit, add a device where there wasn't one, or change the service, you're outside that category.

Currently about four days. Around 2020 it was closer to two weeks, so it has improved a great deal. It's no longer the thing that holds a job up.

Three things come up more than everything else combined: grounding, bonding, and physical protection.

Bonding, in plain English, means connecting the metal parts of a house that could become energized (metal piping, metal drains) back to the main service, so that if something goes wrong the fault has a path and the breaker operates. It's a common gap in older homes, because it wasn't done the same way when they were built, and it's frequently the correction on an older service.

Physical protection is the simpler one: cable and conduit have to be protected where they can be hit, kicked, or drilled through.

The City of Spokane has its own electrical department. Everything else in the region is Labor & Industries.

That affects how the inspection happens, not just who issues the paperwork. City inspections are all in person. The County offers both in-person and virtual inspections, and we use virtual in the County. It's faster and it means fewer scheduling windows to sit through.

More detail on where we work and how each jurisdiction handles permits is on our Spokane service area page.

People assume one permit covers the job. On anything structural (a remodel, an addition, a garage conversion) you're usually dealing with two agencies. The electrical permit comes from Labor & Industries (or the City of Spokane inside city limits) and covers the wiring, devices, and service. The building permit comes from your city or county and covers framing, egress, insulation, and the rest of the structure.

They're inspected separately by different inspectors on different schedules. Skipping one because you have the other is the most common permitting mistake we see.

Nothing, until it matters. Then it matters all at once. Unpermitted work shows up when a home inspector opens the panel during a sale, and the buyer asks for corrections with a closing date attached. It shows up when an insurer reviews a claim and finds work with no record behind it. It shows up when the next electrician has to guess at what's in the walls.

Correcting it after the fact is almost always more expensive than permitting it in the first place, because now someone has to open things up to prove what was done. If you're already in that position, our inspection repair page covers how we document corrections for a real estate deadline.

In Washington, yes. A homeowner can obtain a permit for electrical work on their own residence under certain conditions. We're deliberately not going to lay out those conditions here, because they're specific and they change, and getting them wrong means a failed inspection or an unpermitted job.

Check with Washington State Labor & Industries directly, or the City of Spokane if you're inside city limits, before you start. Ask specifically about your scope of work and your property. It's a short call and it saves a lot of trouble.

It comes up often in older houses, and it's less of a problem than people fear. Inspectors are there to inspect our work. They aren't unreasonable, and they won't flag pre-existing work that isn't dangerous.

The exception is when we're connecting to something that isn't right. If our new circuit lands on a panel or a splice that shouldn't be there, that gets flagged, and it has to be dealt with as part of the job. We'll tell you if we see that coming rather than discover it at inspection.

On work we perform, we pull the electrical permit with the correct agency for your address, schedule the inspection, and meet the inspector. On a service change we also coordinate the Avista disconnect and reconnect. Avista requires 48-hour notice, only Avista removes the meter seal, and reconnection happens after the inspection sticker is on the meter socket.

That process is described in more detail on the panel upgrade page.