Every electrical, plumbing and mechanical permit is a job for a licensed tradesperson. Count them by county and you have a direct, monthly measure of where skilled-labor demand is — useful to staffing firms, trade schools, apprenticeship programs, unions and the contractors competing for the same crews.
Two Virginia markets, 2025
Permits by the department’s own permit type:
Virginia Beach city
| Permit type | 2025 permits |
|---|---|
| Building | 6,036 |
| Electrical | 4,895 |
| Mechanical | 4,601 |
| Plumbing | 3,339 |
| Gas | 1,644 |
| Elevator | 1,285 |
Loudoun County
| Permit type | 2025 permits |
|---|---|
| Gas (Residential) | 1,657 |
| Electrical (Residential) | 1,466 |
| Building (Residential) | 1,191 |
| Electrical (Commercial) | 1,111 |
| Mechanical (Residential) | 997 |
| Building (Commercial) | 741 |
| Fire Protection (Commercial) | 509 |
| Plumbing (Residential) | 495 |
In Virginia Beach, electrical, mechanical, plumbing and gas permits together outnumber building permits more than two to one — a market of service, replacement and upgrade work. Loudoun splits its types into residential and commercial, and commercial electrical work alone ran over 1,100 permits in a county known for its data-center corridor.
Trends worth watching
Virginia Beach’s mechanical and HVAC permits rose 19% from 2023 to 2025, while electrical permits fell 8%. A staffing firm that tracks those lines monthly sees the swing in demand for HVAC techs before job postings do.
Add the property, add the context
- Residential or commercial? Old or new? Join permits to Land Records parcels for land use, year built and building size — the difference between a service call on a 1970s house and a fit-out in a new office building.
- Where can the next project go? ZoneOptics reads Loudoun’s zoning ordinance into districts and permitted uses, so you can see where commercial and industrial development is allowed — and where the next wave of trade work will come from.
Get the data
Loudoun County and Virginia Beach city are available now, or take all of Virginia in one statewide file. Subscribe monthly to keep the trailing 12 months current.