B&S Appeals and Customer Feedback

We appreciate your feedback on the services you received from B&S.  Your feedback and thoughts on how we can improve our services, or what we are doing right, will help us improve our service delivery to ensure our services are most expeditious and that they meet your permitting needs for your project and your future projects in Ventura County.  To fill out a Customer Service Opinion form click here. 

You can also write an email or letter addressed to:

County Building Official
800 S. Victoria Ave
Ventura, CA 93009

or by email to…

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Code requirements may not be waived.  But if you feel that your Building Inspector, Plan Review Engineer, or other B&S employee is incorrectly applying or interpreting a referenced Code section(s) to your project, the interpretation may be appealed for review by a B&S supervisor or by the County Building Official.

Generally, the best course of action is to first discuss the interpretation in question with the B&S employee who can give you detailed information about the reasoning behind his/her interpretation and why it applies to your project.  If needed, feel free to request the referenced code section being used so that you can review or research the pertinent requirements and the context under which the requirement(s) is being used. 

For State code provisions, you can review the code section(s) at  https://www.dgs.ca.gov/BSC/Codes.

For local amendments, and local Code requirements, you can review the pertinent code sections at https://vcrma.org/en/building-codes-and-permits. Remember to use the correct edition of the code that is applicable to your project, and not a newer or older edition that may be different and not applicable.

If, after you have reviewed and discussed the interpretation in question with our staff and you feel we are still interpreting the Code section incorrectly then you may appeal the decision as follows:

1. Appeals to the Section supervisor. Interpretations made by our Inspection or Plan Review staff can be appealed further by discussing the matter with the section supervisor. The name and contact information for the section supervisor with whom you can discuss your appeal further, can be found here under Phone Directory.

2. Appeals to the District Manager. Interpretations made by a Section Supervisor can be appealed further by discussing the matter with the District Manager for the permit issuing office for your project. The name and contact information for the District Manager with whom you can discuss your appeal further, can be found here under Phone Directory.

3. Appeals to the County Building Official. Interpretations made by a District Manager can be appealed further by submitting your appeal, in writing, to the County Building Official. Please send a letter with a detailed description of your appeal and reasoning behind it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or you can mail it to

Ruben Barrera, County Building Official
County of Ventura Building and Safety Division
800 S. Victoria Ave
Ventura, CA 93009

4. Appeals to the Building Appeals Board. Interpretations made by a County Building Official can be appealed further by submitting your formal request for an Appeals Hearing by the Ventura County Board of Appeals. Such requests must be made using the appropriate B&S form, “Request for Hearing by the Board of Appeals.” The appeal must be accompanied by the reasoning and justification outlining your position in detail, to be presented to the Board of Appeals during the hearing. The request for appeal must be accompanied by a non-refundable fee in the amount listed in the most current County Fee Schedule, and submitted in person at the Building and Safety public counter, at the Hall of Administration (third floor), 800 S. Victoria Ave, in Ventura. The Board of Appeals does not have authority to waive code requirements.  See VCBC section 113.2 for more information regarding the limitations of authority for the Board of Appeals. Decisions made by the Board of Appeals are final.

Alternatively, if you feel the requested code requirement is correct, but the circumstances of your project make the adherence to the strict letter of the Code difficult to achieve, and you would like to receive consideration for the use of an alternate material, alternate design, or alternate method of construction, which you feel will achieve the intended result required by the code, in lieu of appealing a code interpretation, then please submit your request by filling out the appropriate form and submitting your request for review here.  There is a non-refundable fee for this review based on the hourly rate for B&S staff involved in evaluating your request/proposal.

To file a complaint about Permit or Building Inspection services received, please call or send an email or written statement explaining the nature of your complaint to the District Manager of the permit issuance office for your project at

• Simi Valley (East County) office
  • Mr. Jason DeLaTorre, District Manager
  • 805-654-3094
  • This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • 3855-F Alamo St, Room 2019A, Simi Valley, CA, 93063
• Ventura (West County) office
  • Mrs. Stephanie Silva, District Manager
  • 805-654-3527
  • This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • 800 S. Victoria Ave, Ventura, CA 93009

To file a complaint about Plan Review services received, please call or send an email or written statement explaining the nature of your complaint to the Plan Review Section Manager at

• Mrs. Catherine Wilson
• 805-654-3192
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• 800 S. Victoria Ave, Ventura, CA 93009

Your feedback on how we can improve our services is valued and very helpful to us for improving our services.

Please include your name, contact information, and permit record reference.  Anonymous complaints cannot be processed.