How to Get a Building Permit: A Contractor's Guide

What a building permit is and when you need one

A building permit is official authorization from the local authority having jurisdiction — usually a city or county building department — to perform construction work. Its purpose is to ensure the work meets adopted building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and zoning codes, verified through plan review and inspections.

As a general rule, you need a permit for new structures, additions, structural alterations, and changes to electrical, plumbing, or mechanical systems. Smaller cosmetic work — painting, flooring, minor repairs — often doesn't require one. The thresholds vary by jurisdiction, so the safe move is to check with the local building department before starting anything structural. Working without a required permit can trigger stop-work orders, fines, and problems at resale, so it's rarely worth the shortcut.

The application process, step by step

The process generally follows a consistent arc, even if the details differ by city. First, prepare your documents: construction plans or drawings, a site plan, and supporting details about the scope of work, structural elements, and the systems involved. For anything beyond simple work, stamped plans from a licensed design professional may be required.

Next, submit the application to the building department — increasingly through an online portal — along with the plans and the required information about the property and contractor. You'll pay submission and plan-review fees at this stage. After submission the application enters review, and the department may come back with correction requests (often called plan-check comments) that you address and resubmit. Once the plans are approved and fees are paid, the permit is issued and work can begin.

Plan review, inspections, and timelines

Plan review is where the building department checks your submittal against code. Simple, over-the-counter permits can sometimes be issued the same day, while complex projects go through multiple rounds of comments and can take weeks or months. Responding quickly and completely to plan-check comments is the single biggest thing you control in keeping the timeline short.

Once work is underway, inspections verify that construction matches the approved plans and code at key stages — foundation, framing, rough electrical/plumbing/mechanical, and a final inspection before occupancy or sign-off. You schedule each inspection at the appropriate phase, and work generally can't proceed past a stage until it passes. Timelines vary widely by jurisdiction and project complexity, so build realistic review and inspection windows into your schedule rather than assuming the fastest case.

How permit fees generally work

Permit costs vary by jurisdiction and are commonly tied to the project's valuation — the estimated cost of construction — so larger projects pay more. On top of the base building-permit fee you may see plan-review fees, and separately, impact or development fees that fund infrastructure and can be substantial for new units.

It's worth knowing which fees you pay and when. Plan-review and submission fees are typically due up front at application; the issuance fee is paid when the permit is granted; and impact fees, where they apply, often come due before issuance or before final sign-off. Some jurisdictions also charge separately for electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permits tied to the same project, and resubmittals after plan-check comments can carry additional review fees.

Because every city sets its own fee schedule, there's no universal number. Treat published fee schedules and a call to the building department as the only reliable way to estimate costs for a specific project. Budgeting fees accurately up front avoids unpleasant surprises and helps you price work correctly. (General information only — confirm actual fees with the local jurisdiction.)

Tracking permit activity as a competitive edge

Permits aren't just paperwork you file — they're a public record of where construction is happening, who's building, and what kind of work is in motion across your market. For contractors and suppliers, that data is a map of demand. Knowing which neighborhoods are seeing new ADUs, additions, or remodels lets you focus marketing, staffing, and bids where the work actually is.

The catch is that this data is spread across each jurisdiction's own system and goes stale quickly. Igni ingests permit records from official open-data portals across 60 cities in 37 states with sub-24-hour freshness, normalizes them into one format, and classifies ADU activity by type — turning scattered public records into a clean, current view of your market. You can browse coverage on the state hub or drill into a market like Seattle permit data. If you want this for the markets you work in, request access.

Frequently asked questions