Project Check

What permits does your project need?

Answer three questions. Every verdict comes from our hand-verified permit data, with the official source and a last checked date behind it, the same records that power every page on this site.

Step 1 of 3

What are you building?

Pick the closest match. It decides which rule we read.

How this works

Every verdict this tool shows is a record a person verified against an official government source: the locality's own code, fee schedule, or permit office page, dated the day it was checked. Where we have not verified an answer for your area, the tool says so instead of guessing. Read more about the process on how we verify.

The answer is assembled in your browser. Nothing you select is sent to us, there is no account, and the full result is free. We built it because the question "does my project need a permit" almost never has one answer: a kitchen renovation can be four separate permits from three different offices, and the parts that need one are rarely the parts people expect.

What it can and cannot tell you

It tells you what your city or county publishes about the building permit for each part of your project, the size or scope threshold where the answer changes, what your state says about work already done without a permit, and which office to contact.

It cannot tell you about zoning. Setbacks, lot coverage and height limits apply whether or not a building permit is required, they are set per district rather than per jurisdiction, and a permit exemption has never been a zoning exemption. It also cannot account for a flood or wind zone, a historic district, a homeowners association, or what a plans examiner concludes when they read your drawings.

Where your locality publishes no answer, the tool says we do not know rather than filling the gap from a neighbouring county. That happens most often with patios, which are the least consistently documented project type in our data.

Permit help

Want this reviewed for your specific project?

Tell us where your project stands. Where we have a vetted local pro who handles permits in your area, we connect you; otherwise we reply with the exact steps and office links for your situation. Free to ask; no obligation.

PermitNotebook is not a government agency and does not file permits. This is a free referral request; we may earn a fee if you hire a pro we introduce. Partners never influence our permit data. Privacy policy.