Whether you're buying a home, vetting a contractor, or researching a property, the building permit history at an address tells you what work has been done — and whether it was done with the proper approvals. Here's how to find building permits by address, from a single lookup to data at scale.
Why look up permits by address
- Home buyers confirm that additions, roofs, pools, or electrical work were permitted and finaled — unpermitted work can become your problem at closing.
- Contractors and inspectors check prior work and open permits before quoting or starting a job.
- Researchers and investors gauge how much has been invested in a property or a neighborhood.
Option 1 — The jurisdiction's permit portal
Most cities and counties let you search permits by address on their online portal (Accela, Tyler EnerGov, and similar). Enter the street address and you'll typically see permit numbers, types, dates, contractors, and status. It's free, but limited to that one jurisdiction and often clunky.
Option 2 — County or assessor records
The county building department or property appraiser may list permit history tied to the parcel (APN). Useful when the work was permitted at the county rather than the city level.
Option 3 — A normalized dataset (at scale)
Looking up one address is easy. Looking up thousands — across many jurisdictions, joined to parcels — is where a standardized dataset wins. PermitData keeps the formatted_address, parcel_id_apn, and source_id on every record, geocoded where available, so you can match permits to addresses in bulk. See the full record schema.
What you'll learn from a permit
A single record tells you the work type (trade), the dates it was applied for and issued, the licensed contractor and license number, the reported value, and the current status. Preview real records in the free live demo.
Need address-level data for many properties?
Browse coverage by county, then request a quote scoped to your area — delivered as one normalized file with address and parcel fields intact.