California’s AB 1738 is now law, and it gives building departments a firm deadline. By July 1, 2027, every city and county must offer homeowners and contractors the option to request a remote inspection for a defined list of residential projects in single-family and two-family homes. The remote option must cost no more and cause no more delay than an in-person visit.
That is a significant shift. According to the Assembly committee analysis of the bill, only about 19 of California’s 540 jurisdictions allow any remote inspections today. For most permit offices, this is a new program rather than an upgrade.
The good news is that you have months, not weeks, to prepare. Remote video inspection is a proven method that other departments already use to cut travel time and clear backlogs, and the requirements break down into a manageable checklist.
Use this guide as a self-assessment. If you can check off every item, your office is ready. If not, you will know exactly where to focus. The details below follow the committee analysis of the bill, so confirm final language with your city attorney or county counsel before adopting policy.
First, the mandate covers a long list of permit types, from water heaters and reroofs to solar and small ADUs. Demand may arrive all at once when the law takes effect.
Second, the law requires parity. If your remote queue is slower or costlier than your in-person queue, you are out of compliance.
Third, departments must report on their programs to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, starting with the report due April 1, 2028. That report includes remote and in-person inspection counts, failure rates and audits.
Fourth, procurement, training and policy updates take time, especially for government customers working through budget cycles and IT review.
Starting now gives your team time to pilot, learn and adjust before the deadline.
Start with the scope of the law. The bill requires a remote option for water heaters, HVAC systems, reroofs, minor electrical and plumbing work, solar and energy storage systems, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, ADUs and JADUs under 800 square feet, and home hardening and defensible space work.
A second group stays at the inspector’s discretion. It includes drywall, siding, insulation, window replacements, light foundations, fireplace inserts, patios and decks, temporary power poles, demolition, gas line removal, and additions or sheds under 800 square feet.
A clear written policy protects your inspectors and gives contractors predictable rules. The bill leaves several decisions to the local inspector, including whether to use live video or recorded photos and video, so your policy should explain how those choices get made.
Technology is where most remote programs succeed or fail. An inspector cannot approve what they cannot see, and an applicant cannot fix a connection problem on a roof. Look for these capabilities:
Blitzz Inspect is the Blitzz platform built for this kind of guided remote video inspection, and you can review its pricing before you start a pilot.
A remote inspection is a skill. The inspector has to direct a person who may have never been on a video inspection, and the quality of the footage depends on the quality of the instructions. Look for tools that make guidance simple:
Audits and failure-rate reporting both depend on records. Every remote inspection should leave behind enough evidence to show what the inspector saw and why they approved or failed the work.
Records should not come only from your side. Contractors who document their work as they build make every inspection smoother. BlitzzCam field photo documentation stamps every photo with a GPS location and timestamp and files it under the right job and phase automatically. A contractor who can show verified rough-in and pre-cover photos gives your inspector far more confidence than a loose set of images from a camera roll.
The bill lets cities and counties set up onsite audits to confirm that work matches what was shown remotely. If a homeowner or contractor willfully misrepresents the work, the jurisdiction may temporarily ban them from using remote inspections, and neighboring jurisdictions may enforce each other’s bans.
A remote program only works if people use it correctly. Failed inspections caused by poor camera work will frustrate applicants and eat into your own efficiency gains.
Count the boxes you can check. If you have completed most of Steps 1 through 3, you have the foundation in place. If you are missing the policy, the technology or the permit type map, start there, because everything else depends on them. Aim to finish your pilot at least two months before July 1, 2027.
AB 1738 will change how California permit offices work, and the offices that prepare early will have the smoothest launch. A clear policy, the right technology, trained inspectors and a reliable evidence trail turn a mandate into a faster, more predictable inspection process.
Explore the full set of Blitzz features or schedule a demo to see how remote video inspection and BlitzzCam field photo documentation can fit your department’s workflow.
AB 1738 puts a date on a change many building departments have debated for years. By July 1, 2027, California cities and counties must offer remote inspections for specified residential projects, and by April 1, 2028 they must begin reporting results to the state. Nine months from now, applicants will be able to ask for a remote inspection and expect a real answer.
This checklist takes a different approach from a general readiness review. It walks through the bill’s requirements one at a time, explains what each one means in practice and lists what your department should have in place. It follows the Assembly committee analysis of the bill, so confirm final language with your counsel before you finalize policy.
If your department already offers some form of remote video inspection, use this as a gap analysis. If you are starting from zero, treat it as a project plan.
| Milestone | Date | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Law signed | 2026 | Planning, budgeting and procurement can begin |
| Remote option available | By July 1, 2027 | Offer remote inspections for covered projects |
| First state report | April 1, 2028 | Report remote and in-person counts, failure rates and audits |
For many government customers, the hardest part of this timeline is not the technology. It is budget approval, procurement and training. Working backward from July 1, 2027, most departments should select a tool by early 2027 and finish a pilot by spring.
Departments must offer a remote inspection, on request, for specific work in single-family and two-family homes. The must-offer list includes water heaters, HVAC systems, reroofs, minor electrical and plumbing, solar and energy storage, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, ADUs and JADUs under 800 square feet, and home hardening and defensible space work. A second list, including drywall, siding, windows, decks and demolition, remains at the inspector’s discretion.
The bill requires remote inspections to be conducted offsite, using videoconferencing or recorded photos and videos, at the inspector’s discretion. That means your tools need to handle both modes.
The law requires remote inspections at no greater cost and no greater delay than in-person inspections. This is the requirement departments are most likely to overlook, because it is about operations rather than technology.
The bill allows cities and counties to keep a digital record of each remote inspection for later review, training or compliance. Although the record is optional under the bill, it is practically essential for audits and reporting.
The bill applies the same liabilities and immunities to remote inspections as to in-person inspections. It does not change your legal exposure, but your records and your security practices will matter if a decision is ever challenged.
Departments may set up onsite audits to confirm that work matches what an applicant showed remotely. A person found to have willfully misrepresented the work may be temporarily banned from remote inspections, and jurisdictions may agree to enforce each other’s bans.
Verification is easier when the evidence is strong. Features like OCR text extraction can capture serial and model numbers from equipment data plates during a live session, so you can later confirm that the equipment shown is the equipment installed.
On the applicant side, BlitzzCam field photo documentation stamps every photo with a GPS location and timestamp and files it by job and phase. Contractors who use it can show a verified progress record, which helps your inspectors and protects honest contractors from unfair suspicion.
Beginning with the report due April 1, 2028, local governments must include information about their remote inspection programs in their annual progress reports to the Department of Housing and Community Development. The report must confirm implementation and include the number of remote and in-person inspections by permit type, failure rates for each, and the number of audits.
Next 90 days
Months 4 through 6
Months 7 through 9
Understanding your applicants helps you design a better program. Contractors working in construction, real estate and property management and utilities and energy already use remote video inspection in their own workflows, and many will expect the same convenience from your office. For a broader look at the tools on the market and what to evaluate, read Blitzz’s guide to the best remote video inspection software, and see how other teams have put the technology to work in these case studies.
AB 1738 does not ask building departments to abandon in-person inspections. It asks them to add a reliable, equal alternative for routine work, and to prove with data that it works. Departments that start early can pilot, train and refine, so July 1, 2027 feels like a launch rather than a scramble.
To see how remote video inspection and BlitzzCam field photo documentation can support your compliance plan, schedule a demo with the Blitzz team.