South Los Angeles, CA · November – December 2024 · LADWP / LADBS

South Los Angeles: the correction had a queue of its own.

Filing the answer took two days. Getting it in front of an engineer took another nineteen.

Written by the Cali Energy project team · California contractor license 1032379 · Updated September 2026

When a correction at the final cannot be closed on site, the project goes back through plan check — and plan check is a separate queue with its own stages: a completeness review, a fee, an assignment to an engineer, and then either approval or a further set of corrections. Each stage arrives as a status rather than a conversation. On this South Los Angeles project the correction came in mid-November, the new application was filed two days later and deemed complete within four, and it was still the third of December before an engineer had it. Cali Energy ran the inspection request and the drawing review side by side.

At a glance

First final

Correction issued

New application filed

Two days later

Deemed complete

Four days after filing

Reached an engineer

Nineteen days after filing

Then

A second set of corrections, against the drawings

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

Some corrections at the final are an hour of work. A label in the wrong place, a cover not fitted, a conductor that needs clipping up. The inspector writes it, somebody fixes it, the permit closes.

And some corrections cannot be answered on the roof at all, because what is being questioned is not the work but the description of it. Those go back through plan check, and plan check runs on a different calendar.

The distinction matters more than it sounds. An inspection compares the installation against the approved drawings. Plan check compares the drawings against the code. Different people, different departments, different queues — and being in one of them does not move you along the other.

Here is what the second queue actually looks like from inside, because it is mostly invisible from outside.

The application goes in with its documents and enters a completeness review. This is not a technical review: somebody checks that what was filed is a whole submission. The department's stated target is two business days. On this project it took four.

Then the application is deemed complete, and — for a project classified as small, which a residential solar job normally is — it qualifies for a virtual counter appointment. That is worth knowing, and worth not over-reading: the appointment makes the conversation easier, it does not change your place in the line.

Then the fee. Until the plan check fee is paid the application is complete but not accepted, and an unaccepted application is not in the queue at all. This is the cheapest day to lose and the easiest one to lose.

Then assignment. The file goes to a plan check engineer, and this is where the time actually goes. Four days to be called complete; another fifteen before anyone was looking at it.

And then, on the same day it was assigned, the answer: corrections issued. Not against the work this time — against the plans.

Meanwhile we had a second final inspection booked for the beginning of December. That was the right thing to do and it did not speed anything up. Until the revised set is approved there is nothing for an inspector to compare the roof against; the booking only saves the days between approval and the next available slot.

What happens from there is fixed in order, even when the dates are not. The corrections get answered and the revised set goes back in. The set is approved. Only at that point does an inspection mean anything, because only then is there a drawing for the roof to match. And permission to operate sits behind all of it: the utility does not switch on a system whose permit has not closed.

What an owner should take from this is a better question to ask. Not «when is the inspection» — that answer is available and usually misleading. The question is which queue the project is in right now, and what the next status will be. Complete, accepted, assigned, corrected, approved: five words that describe where a file really is.

Cali Energy permitted this project and carried both queues in South Los Angeles.

How it ran

Two queues on one project: one for the work, one for the paper, and only one of them was moving.

What we did

• Filed the new application two days after the correction rather than waiting.
• Paid the plan check fee the day the application was accepted, so the file could enter the queue.
• Kept a second inspection request booked while the drawings were in review.
• Tracked the file by its status rather than by telephone.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• Your final came back with a correction and the fix is not on the roof.
• You have been told to file a new application after an inspection.
• Your project is in plan check and the statuses mean nothing to you.
• You want to know where the waiting actually happens.

Cali Energy in South Los Angeles

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between plan check and inspection?

Plan check is an engineer comparing the drawings against the code, normally before the work. Inspection is an inspector comparing the work against the approved drawings, after it. Different departments and different queues, and progress in one does not move the other.

Can a correction at the final send a project back to plan check?

Yes, when the item questioned is the description rather than the workmanship — the installed arrangement is not what the approved set shows. The fix is then to the drawings, which means a new application, a fee, a queue and possibly a further round of corrections.

What do the plan check statuses mean?

Submitted means the paperwork is being checked for completeness, not reviewed. Complete means the submission is whole. Accepted means the fee has been paid and it is in the queue. Assigned means an engineer has it. After that comes either approval or corrections.

Does booking another inspection speed things up?

No. Until the revised drawings are approved there is nothing for the inspector to compare the installation against. Booking ahead saves only the gap between approval and the next free slot, which is worth having but is not the delay.

Does Cali Energy handle solar permits in South Los Angeles?

Yes, including around Vermont Knolls and the blocks either side of it. Projects here go through LADBS for permitting and LADWP for interconnection, the same as the rest of the city. Where a job ends up in plan check after an inspection, the part that needs managing is the order of the statuses rather than the phone calls.

What this would look like on your roof

Related

• The inspector sent it back to plan check Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles · garage sub panel · unfused conductors Solar
• The inspections nobody tells you about Palms, Los Angeles · rough, then service release and final · one correction Solar
• The correction came after the inspection was booked Westchester, Los Angeles · solar and storage · two permits, two plan checks Solar
• The final failed over three feet Granada Hills, CA · 31 modules · appeal or rebuild, and why rebuild won Solar
• The final inspection was a fifteen-minute video call Glassell Park, Los Angeles · a correction closed on photographs Solar

This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path. Updated September 2026.