The Inspections Division is responsible for the enforcement of the City’s building, plumbing, electrical, housing, solid waste and land use codes. Enforcement is crucial to protect the health, safety and welfare of all Portland residents. Each year, the Inspection Division’s Permitting Team reviews thousands of building plans, and field staff conducts thousands of inspections to ensure quality construction, the safety of Portland’s housing and the proper use of the land. The Division has a staff of nine which last year performed more than 4500 field inspections. Last year, building permits were issued for more than $120 million in construction activity.
| Numbers | No. of Permits | $ Value | |
| Permit Highlights* | |||
| Commercial/Indus. | 327 | $ 76,370,844 | |
| Multi-family | 107 | $ 14,709,042 | |
| Single & Two Family | 502 | $ 25,490,760 | |
| Swimming Pools | 15 | $ 197,528 | |
| Signs | 152 | $ 18,000 | |
| Total | 3,372 | $123,919,022 | |
| *Includes new construction, additions and alterations | |||
Field inspections are the best way to ensure quality construction and safe conditions on all commercial and large residential building projects. For greater efficiency, the Code Enforcement Officers are cross-trained to perform all types of field inspections including building location, foundation, framing, mechanical and final inspections. Each year, all of Portland’s food service establishments are inspected under a performance-based system. Those that receive marginal or unsatisfactory scores are re-inspected until a satisfactory score is achieved. To ensure the safety of some of our most vulnerable citizens, Code Officers perform pre-qualification housing inspections on all dwelling units receiving assistance through General Assistance rental vouchers. In addition to this regular work, hundreds of complaints are investigated and resolved each year.
| Type | No. of Inspections Performed |
| Building Permits | 3433 |
| Electrical | 1210 |
| Housing and GA | 571 |
| Food Service | 882 |
| General Complaints | 1319 |
| Total | 7414 |
