How to Read a Building Permit Record

The Core Fields

Issue date

The day the city approved the permit and work could legally begin.

Application date

When the request was filed. The gap between application and issue is the city's processing time; we report the median where cities publish both dates.

Work description

Free text written by the applicant or the city, such as "replace gas furnace".

Valuation

The estimated cost of the work as declared by the applicant. It is often an underestimate.

Fee

What the city charged, where published (Chicago and Raleigh publish fees).

What a Record Does Not Tell You

• Whether the work passed final inspection, unless a status field says so.
• The quality of the work.
• Whether the applicant is the contractor who actually did it.

How We Use Permit Records

We count permits whose type or description matches a project, so counts are approximate. Data Sources and Methodology explains the filters city by city.

Status Fields Decoded

Cities use different words, but most permit statuses fall into these groups:

Applied, in review or pending

The application is in process; work should not have started.

Issued or active

Work is authorized; inspections may be under way.

Finaled, completed or closed

The final inspection passed and the permit is closed. This is the status you want to see.

Expired

The permit lapsed before a final inspection. See How Long Is a Building Permit Good For? Permit Expiration Rules.

Cancelled, withdrawn or void

The permit was never used. The work may not have happened, or may have happened without a permit.

Permit Types and Subtypes

Records usually include a permit type (building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing) and sometimes a subtype or work class such as "alteration", "repair" or "new". Express and no-plans permits often carry their own labels; Philadelphia records, for example, start with labels like "EZ PERMIT DECKS". When counting permits for our city pages we match these types and descriptions to each project, which is why our counts are approximate.

Reading Dates Correctly

• Application date: when the request was filed.
• Issue date: when work was authorized.
• Expiration date: when the permit lapses without activity.
• Final or completed date: when the last inspection passed.

The gap between application and issue is processing time; How Long Does a Building Permit Take? Real Timelines from 10 Cities shows the medians for 15 cities. A long gap between issue and final can mean a large project, or a permit that stalled.

Valuation and Fees

Valuation is what the applicant declared the work would cost. Cities use it to calculate some fees, so applicants sometimes declare low values. Treat it as a rough indicator, not a price. Some cities publish the fee charged; where they do, our city pages show the median fee paid. For fee schedules we have verified, see How Much Does a Building Permit Cost? Verified Fee Examples.

Inspection History

Where available, inspection results are the most useful part of the record: they show which stages passed, which failed and were corrected, and whether the final was approved. Building Permit Inspections: What Inspectors Check and When explains the stages. If an inspection history shows a failed final with no later pass, ask about it.

A Worked Example

Imagine a record that reads: type "Mechanical", description "Replace gas furnace and AC condenser, same location", status "Issued", issued in March, no final date. It tells you a licensed contractor was authorized to replace the system, but the permit has not been closed. Before relying on it, check the portal for inspection results and ask the owner whether a final was ever scheduled. If not, the permit may expire and need to be reopened.

Red Flags in a Permit Record

• Issued years ago, never finaled. The work may be unfinished or uninspected.
• Repeated failed inspections without a final pass.
• Cancelled permit for work that clearly happened. The job may have gone ahead without one.
• "Legalize" or "as-built" in the description. The work was done first and permitted later. That can be fine if the final passed.
• Valuation far below what the work would cost. Not a violation, but worth noting.
• A stop work order or violation record attached to the address.

None of these is proof of a problem on its own, but each is worth a question to the owner or the building department before you rely on the record. If you are buying, ask your agent to include the permit history in your due diligence and see Selling a House with Unpermitted Work: Risks and Options for how these issues are typically resolved.

Building Departments in the Cities We Cover

Rules in this guide vary by jurisdiction. These are the official departments that issue residential permits in the 15 cities we track, with the city's open-data source for permit records. Each city page shows the rules for roofing, HVAC, solar, fence and deck work.

Before relying on any rule, read the department's current page or call its permit desk. Model-code sections cited here (such as IRC R105) are adopted locally, often with amendments.

Frequently Asked Questions