If you install heat pumps, replace roofs or put solar on houses in California, the permit inspection is often the slowest part of the job. AB 1738, signed in September 2026, requires most cities and counties to offer remote inspections for common work on one- and two-family homes. This guide covers AB 1738 for contractors: what qualifies, what you need from the homeowner, and how to prepare evidence an inspector can actually use. It’s a plain-language summary, not legal advice; your building department’s protocol has the final word.
What work is covered
The law applies to permitted work on single-family and two-family homes in these categories:
- heat pump HVAC and heat pump water heaters, with the electrical work that supports them;
- residential reroofs;
- rooftop solar up to 15 kW AC, and energy storage;
- smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
A new or upgraded main electrical service isn’t covered, though a department may still choose to inspect one remotely.
When your city has to offer it
Most cities over 50,000 people, and counties of 150,000 or more for their unincorporated areas, must offer remote inspections by January 1, 2028. Cities of 50,000 or fewer have until July 1, 2028. The smallest places are exempt. Many departments are writing their protocols now, so it’s worth asking yours what they plan before the deadline arrives.
The homeowner has to agree, in writing
Homeowner consent is the part contractors most often skip. A contractor can request a remote inspection only with the homeowner’s written consent. Treat it like any other paperwork on the job: get it early, keep the exact wording, and make sure it’s attached when the inspection evidence goes to the department. A consent you can’t produce later is the same as no consent.
The inspector is still in charge
Remote doesn’t mean automatic. The inspector chooses live video or recorded photos and video, can stop a remote inspection and require an in-person visit, and decides how the remaining inspections go after a failure. Departments may also set technical rules, such as image quality, camera coverage and proof of the address, often a recording that starts at the street and shows the house number. Ask for your department’s protocol and build your process around it.
Capture evidence that passes the first time
Whether your technician or the homeowner holds the phone, the same habits avoid a second trip:
- Prove the address first. Start at the street with the number in view and walk to the work without cutting.
- Follow the protocol’s order. If the department lists ten items, capture ten items, labeled.
- Show labels and nameplates up close. Model and serial numbers should be readable, not guessed.
- Measure on camera. Clearances and distances are easier to accept when the tape is in the shot.
- Review before you send. Someone in the office should look at every item before the inspector does.
How Sentra Scheduler helps
Sentra Scheduler handles remote inspections start to finish, recorded or over live video. You start from a template for the job type, with photo and video steps, directions and example pictures, and match it to your building department’s protocol before publishing it. AB 1738 templates open with a street-to-door video.
Your technician captures it in the crew app, or the homeowner does it in the Sentra Inspect app with an inspection ID and password you send them. Each file carries its location and time, and the capture is camera-only, at a minimum resolution. The homeowner’s consent can be signed in the app, on a link you email, on your technician’s phone, or recorded as already on file.
Your office reviews each item, accepts it or asks for it again, then sends the inspector one expiring link. It carries every file, the consent, a PDF and a signed manifest that shows the files haven’t changed since they were received. The inspector records the result on the same page, and you’re emailed right away.
What it doesn’t cover
If your department inspects over a live call, your office schedules it from the inspection; the inspector joins from a link, and the recording goes into the same signed package. Sentra Scheduler doesn’t file anything in the department’s own permit system; the inspector opens your link. And it doesn’t decide whether your work meets code. That’s still the inspector’s job, and yours.
Talk to your building department
The single most useful step this year is a phone call. Ask the permit counter whether they plan to accept recorded photos and video, live video or both, whether they have a written protocol yet, and how they want to receive the evidence. Ask what they consider proof of the address. Write the answers down, and revisit them when the protocol is published. Departments in neighboring cities may answer differently, so keep notes per jurisdiction rather than assuming one answer fits every job.
Getting ready this year
AB 1738 for contractors mostly comes down to process: consent collected every time, evidence captured in the department’s order, and an office review before anything leaves. Set that up now and the deadline becomes a speed-up instead of a scramble. The same tools also let you ask customers to show you things that have nothing to do with permits; see customer self-inspections.