A bottom-of-footing survey ahead of the Roanoke County footing inspection
Roanoke County's Finished Floor Elevation Requirement page opens "Effective August 1, 2025" and says "All building plans submitted on or after this date must include finished floor elevations," citing section 8.1-12, subsection D, of the county's erosion and stormwater ordinance. The page also says county staff "will conduct a survey of the bottom-of-footing elevation to verify it generally conforms to the approved plans before the building footing inspection," that the survey must be requested before that inspection, and that staff perform it "within two (2) business days, excluding the day the request is made."
"Survey" and "bottom-of-footing" are the page's words; section 8.1-12(d) says the county "will verify finished floor elevations prior to building footing inspections" and confirms compliance in writing to the developer before the footing inspection. Requests go through the Office of Building Safety's main line at Extension 1; that office's number and address appear on the City of Salem permits page, and questions go to the Director of Development Services, 540-772-2080.
When the county re-enacted its erosion and stormwater chapter on September 23, 2025, section 8.1-12(d) gained a closing sentence: "The construction of single-family residences on parcels of one (1) acre or larger are exempted from the requirement to provide a field survey, unless the administrator determines that a field survey is required." The elevation page and the code leave open whether that sentence reaches the county's own footing survey or only a field survey an applicant provides, so on an acre or more, ask the Office of Building Safety first.
Where the survey applies, the footing pour waits on the request, the verification and the footing inspection. The wall and floor are built up from the footing's bottom, so a check there catches a grade error while the trench is still open; how deep that bottom sits is covered under frost depth and footing codes.
An erosion check before digging, and a setback form after the footing
Roanoke County's permit guide for a new single-family house lists its inspections in a typical order that opens with erosion control, "Initial E&S must pass before digging and calling in Footing Inspection," and it calls the slab inspection preparation before pouring. The county's detached garage guide says that initial inspection "May be needed BEFORE work begins," and both guides tie it to the amount of disturbance, so ask the Office of Building Safety which inspections a given permit carries. The utility locate comes ahead of the first dig, per the 811 and utility locate rules.
After the footing inspection, the county's Certification of Setback Compliance form adds a hold of its own: the applicant acknowledges that once the county has conducted the footing inspection, "no further inspections by the County will be conducted until such time as I complete and sign this certification," a verification of yards and setbacks. The Office of Building Safety can say which inspections that pauses; the form does not. The form also says the county encourages residential permit applicants "to secure a survey as soon as possible," and for the concrete, layout is the moment to settle setbacks, before the trench is opened and the steel is set.
Roanoke County's zoning gate, its yard rules and its expansive soils list
Where Roanoke County's zoning ordinance requires a zoning permit, the building permit waits for it; the ordinance says "No building permit for the extension, erection, or alteration of any building or structure shall be issued before an application has been made, and a zoning permit issued." The ordinance covers the unincorporated county, lists patios and conforming fences as exceptions to its zoning permit, and, where no site development plan is needed, asks at a minimum for a plot plan. We found no driveway named in that requirement or its exceptions, so ask County Planning, 540-772-2068, about a driveway on its own. The county's yard rules let patios and stoops sit "within all required setback areas" and driveways and parking areas anywhere in a required yard, as long as the sight triangle where two public streets meet stays clear.
For a new house, the county's guide lists a Health Department well or septic permit or a Western Virginia Water Authority availability letter, a shrink-swell letter from a hired soil scientist, and a VDOT land use permit for an entrance from a state-maintained road, explained on the VDOT entrance permits page; the county's Engineering page says VDOT maintains the county roads in the state system.
The county's Expansive Soils Policy, revised February 2025, requires a soils test report before a permit for new construction or an expansion on parcels whose county tax ID begins with listed numbers, and a registered professional engineer's foundation design where expansive soils are confirmed. Testing is not required for detached accessory structures, or for additions "provided there has been no evidence of soils-related damage to the existing structure," though the building department may require it, and the policy describes the damage: "Significant cracks often appear at the corners of windows and doors, in walls, garage slabs, walkways, and driveways." The new-house guide treats a retaining wall as a separate permit, and when a retaining wall needs an engineer quotes the county's wall policy.
Disturbed ground, not slab area, sets Roanoke County's erosion tier
Roanoke County's erosion and stormwater chapter measures disturbed ground, not slab area. Section 8.1-5(a)(1) regulates land-disturbing activity that disturbs "two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet or more" and is less than an acre, and the chapter's definition of land disturbance includes "the clearing, grading, excavating, or filling of land." The chapter still catches smaller jobs: under 2,500 square feet, a lot in a residential development is not exempt once the development's total reaches 2,500, and work under an acre in a larger common plan of an acre or more has no square-foot floor. Development Review, 540-772-2190, says whether a lot sits in either.
The county's residential plans checklist, marked effective February 2025, prints these tiers for a house site: up to 2,500 square feet disturbed, no erosion control plan but a plot plan showing measures to control stormwater runoff to adjoining properties; 2,500 to 5,000, a signed agreement in lieu of a plan and a plot plan; 5,000 to 10,000, a certified responsible land disturber and an erosion and sediment control plan; 10,000 and over, a separate development application. A garage with a new drive disturbs ground well past the slab's outline, so measure the dirt work first.
The county's Building Permit Fees page bases building permit fees on the estimated cost of construction, the county's FY 2026-2027 Fee Compendium carries the building and erosion review lines, and under section 7-18 of the county code, starting work before obtaining a required permit costs "twice the normal permit fee." The Office of Building Safety gives the amounts.
The City of Roanoke counts a patio and a parking area as structures
The City of Roanoke's zoning code lists "patios, parking areas and loading areas" in its definition of a structure. Section 36.2-522 requires a zoning permit for the erection or construction of any structure, including the "construction or creation of parking and loading areas," and its listed exemptions include accessory structures, walls or swimming pools "otherwise exempt from permit requirements pursuant to the Virginia Construction Code," and fences, arbors and trellises. Whether a patio or driveway fits one is the Zoning Administrator's call, Room 166 South, 215 Church Avenue SW, 540-853-1730, as listed in October 2026.
The city's patio and driveway project page, read October 2026, splits the job at 2,500 square feet of disturbed land. Below that line the city takes a Zoning and Basic Development Plan Application with a plan showing the hardscape's material, location and dimensions, and the zoning permit expires if work has not begun within 6 months; at 2,500 or more the job goes through the comprehensive development plan and land disturbance permit process, and the Land Disturbance page says that permit must be issued before the zoning and building permit when applicable. A Special Flood Hazard Area adds a Floodplain Elevation Certificate, and an H-1 or H-2 historic district a Certificate of Appropriateness.
We found no building permit step on the patio page, so whether a particular slab needs one is City Building Safety's call. A driveway connection can add the Right-of-Way Excavation permit, which the patio page says "may be required if the project involves work in a right-of-way, such as driveway connections," and which the city's Right-of-Way Excavation page says is submitted to the Permit Center and administered by the Transportation Division.
Table 654-1: surface, width and slope for a City of Roanoke house driveway
Table 654-1 of the city's zoning code sets driveway standards for lots containing buildings with eight or fewer dwellings. The surface must be improved, which the code defines as "concrete, asphalt, bituminous pavement, brick or stone pavers, or a permeable pavement system," with exceptions for concrete ribbon driveways with a vegetated center and edge strips, gravel behind the building line where access is off an alley, and gravel in the RA District.
The table puts driveways and parking predominantly toward one side of the house, with no parking spaces in the middle third of the front facade, garages, circular driveways and townhouse buildings aside, and caps their coverage at 30 percent of the lot area between the right-of-way and the building line, permeable paver areas aside; corner and through lots get frontage rules of their own. Table 654-1 measures house driveway width between the right-of-way and the building line: at least 7 feet, and at most 20 feet or half the front lot line, whichever is less, or 30 feet on a lot with 90 feet or more of primary street frontage. The table sets a house driveway's entrance at least 20 feet from a street intersection and holds its cross slope where it crosses a sidewalk to 2 percent. The code keeps a one-dwelling lot's garage flare no wider than the garage entrance plus two feet, and lets the Zoning Administrator approve a wider driveway in writing on listed criteria.
Those lines set the forms before the first stake: the width, the garage flare and the cross slope at the sidewalk. Concrete work in Roanoke turns to the base and the mix for that drive.
The city's erosion chapter, its inspection desk and its fee pages
The City of Roanoke's erosion chapter, chapter 11.7, leaves out disturbed areas under 2,500 square feet "but not including disturbed land areas of less than two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet associated with the construction of any type of dwelling," so a new house is not excused by size. Under a construction contract, the chapter makes preparing, submitting and getting the erosion plan approved "the responsibility of the owner," and the city's agreement in lieu form asks for a maintained construction entrance that keeps sediment from leaving on vehicle traffic, the ready-mix truck's way in and out.
City Building Safety and the Permit Center share Room 170 South at 215 Church Avenue SW, 540-853-1090, as listed in October 2026. The city's Inspections page, read October 2026, says requests placed before 4:00 p.m. are scheduled for the following business day and later ones for the second working day, with automated phone scheduling at 540-208-5431; footing and foundation inspections get priority when requested to help with pours, and work has to be ready before the inspector's visit to avoid possible re-inspection fees.
For a new house or addition, the city's May 2026 plan review checklist, a guide, not all inclusive by its own account, carries the line "Garage Slab Strength (min. 3,500psi)," so that minimum belongs on the concrete order. The city's Fees page, headed "Fees effective July 1, 2023," doubles the calculated permit fees for work done without a permit, the FY2026-2027 Electronic Fee Compendium took effect July 1, 2026, and the Permit Center gives current amounts.
Vinton's own zoning desk, one-year permits and town-approved curb cuts
The Town of Vinton issues its own zoning permit: the town's Building Permits page sends work that needs one to Vinton Planning and Zoning, 540-983-0605, before any other permit, and that permit may not be applied for through the county's online portal. We found no driveway named in the town's zoning permit rule, so ask that office, at 311 South Pollard Street as listed in October 2026, about one. The town's Permits and Inspections page sends residential permits that need a review to Roanoke County Community Development and says "Roanoke County inspectors perform all building inspections within the Town of Vinton," scheduled at least 24 hours ahead.
Vinton's zoning ordinance makes a zoning permit valid for one year and void if no building permit issues in that year, or, where none is needed, if the authorized feature is not established within it. The county's erosion chapter applies inside the town, though neither the county's elevation page nor Vinton's permit pages mention a footing survey on a Vinton lot; ask the Office of Building Safety. Vinton's zoning ordinance says curb cuts and entrance and exit driveways connecting with public streets "shall conform to the standards of the Virginia Department of Transportation and shall be approved by the town engineer." Vinton Public Works, 804 3rd Street, 540-983-0646, maintains town streets and sidewalks, and the town lists a Residential Entrance Permit form; ask Public Works and Planning and Zoning what that form asks for before an apron is formed.
Where the city, the county and Vinton part ways on a patio
The City of Roanoke, Roanoke County and Vinton treat a patio differently: the city's zoning code counts a patio as a structure. Roanoke County's zoning ordinance lists patios among the exceptions to its zoning permit and defines one narrowly, as "A level surfaced area directly adjacent to a principal building which has an average elevation of not more than thirty (30) inches from finished grade, and without walls or a roof," though in a county floodplain area all development "shall be undertaken only upon the issuance of a permit." Vinton's zoning ordinance says "A zoning permit shall not be required for any fence, wall, deck or patio for which a building permit is not required under the provisions of the uniform statewide building code," except in its floodplain overlay district, where all development, paving included, takes a zoning permit.
Whether a patio needs a building permit is the building official's call in each place; the statewide exemption list sits in the Virginia concrete permits guide, and whether a patio needs a permit takes up when a patio counts as a structure. Under the county's wording, a level slab against the house at patio height qualifies, while a pad out in the yard or one averaging more than 30 inches above finished grade does not, and a roofless structure against the house averaging 30 inches or more above finished grade is a deck, which must meet the district's setbacks. Any other locality starts at the concrete permits hub.