⚠️ Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, professional, engineering, construction, or code-compliance advice. Permit requirements, timelines, fees, procedures, interpretations, and enforcement practices vary by jurisdiction and may change without notice. Always verify current requirements with your local building department and, when appropriate, consult a licensed contractor, architect, engineer, attorney, or other qualified professional before starting any project.
Permit Process · Plan Review · Inspections
You gathered the documents, filled out the application, paid the initial fees, and submitted everything to your local building department. Now you wait. But for what, exactly?
After submission, it can be hard to tell what is happening. Understanding the steps helps you follow up, respond to corrections, and prepare for what comes next.
The process generally follows a series of steps, although requirements and timing vary by jurisdiction (the responsible city or county). Here is what you can expect, step by step.
Submitting the application starts the process; it is not permission to build.
Step by step: what happens after you submit
1
Application intake and completeness check
The first thing the building department does is check whether your application is complete. Not whether it is approved, just whether all the required pieces are there. This can happen the same day or within a few business days depending on the jurisdiction. If something is missing, such as a signature, a required form, or the fee, you will typically receive a notice asking for it. In many places the review timeline doesn’t really start until the application is complete, so answering quickly keeps your project moving.
2
Routing to plan review departments
Once your application is accepted as complete, it gets routed, often to several departments at the same time. Depending on your project, this can include the Building and Safety division, the Planning or Zoning division, Engineering, Fire, and sometimes Public Works. Each department reviews your plans for compliance with their specific set of requirements. Building checks code compliance. Planning checks zoning. Fire checks life safety requirements. Engineering checks drainage, parking, and infrastructure. They may all run concurrently, or the process may be sequential depending on your jurisdiction.
3
Plan review: the waiting period
This is where most of the time goes. Plan reviewers check your drawings, specifications, and supporting documents against local building codes and ordinances. There is no single national timeline. Review times depend on the jurisdiction, the type of project, and how complete your application is, and the first review, any re-reviews after corrections, and permit issuance can each take their own time. Some jurisdictions issue simple permits at the counter the same day, while busy or understaffed departments, or those dealing with post-disaster rebuilding, can take much longer. Many building departments publish their current review times online, so check your department’s website for a realistic estimate.
🌴 Florida: statutory review deadlines
In Florida, state law sets the review deadlines. The time to approve, approve with conditions, or deny your application starts when it is complete and has the information needed for review:
- Completeness: within 5 business days of receiving your application, the department must tell you in writing what is missing. If it doesn’t, the application is treated as complete and accepted (not approved).
- 5 business days: for certain permits on an existing single-family home, when the work is under $15,000 and a local-government plans reviewer handles it.
- 30 business days: for structures under 7,500 square feet in the listed categories, such as single-family homes, accessory structures, and alarm, electrical, irrigation, landscaping, mechanical, plumbing, or roofing permits, when a local-government plans reviewer reviews the application.
- Corrections: you generally have 10 business days from receiving the notice to submit corrections. The notice must warn that failing to respond on time will result in denial. If you respond on time, the department has 10 business days from receiving the revisions to approve or deny the application, unless you agree in writing to a longer review.
- Missed deadlines: the law generally reduces the permit fee for each business day the department is late (10% per day under the general rule and 20% per day in the revision process).
Larger projects have other deadlines, and the fee reduction has exceptions, such as a reasonable extension agreed to in writing, delays caused by the applicant, or extraordinary circumstances. Outside Florida, check your state and local rules.
4
The outcome: approval, corrections, or denial
At the end of plan review, your application is usually approved (sometimes with conditions) or sent back with a correction letter, also called plan check comments or redlines, listing everything that needs to be addressed before approval can be granted. An application can also be denied, for example when the project doesn’t meet zoning or code requirements. Corrections are very common and do not mean your project was rejected. They mean the reviewer found items that need to be clarified, revised, or documented differently. If your application is denied, ask the department what would need to change before you reapply.
5
Responding to corrections
If you receive a correction letter, your job is to address every comment (not most of them, all of them) and resubmit. Speed matters here. The reviewer can’t look at your revisions until you send them, and some jurisdictions set a deadline for your response. In Florida, the law sets a response deadline for certain permits (see the Florida box above). Read the correction letter carefully. Some comments require revised drawings. Others require additional documentation or a specific form. Some can be resolved with a written response. If a comment is unclear, call the plan reviewer directly. Most building departments have a contact on the correction letter and are willing to clarify before you resubmit incorrectly.
6
Permit issuance and fees
Once all corrections are resolved and all departments have signed off, the permit is ready for issuance. You will typically be notified to pay the final permit fees before the permit is issued. In some jurisdictions, fees are paid upfront. In others, the final fee is calculated based on the approved scope and collected at issuance. Once the permit is issued, you can generally begin the work it covers, as long as you follow the permit’s conditions and have any other approvals your project needs (for example, from your homeowners association (HOA) or another agency). Keep the permit (or a copy) accessible at the job site. Check the department’s instructions for displaying the permit and approved plans.
In Florida, depending on the price of the project, you may also need to record a Notice of Commencement (NOC) before work starts. The NOC is a form that tells the public the work is about to begin. Ask the building department if your project needs one. You can read Florida’s NOC rules on the official Florida Senate website.
7
Inspections during construction
A permit is not just permission to build. It is also a commitment to inspections at specific stages. Most projects require inspections at defined milestones before work can continue. For a structural addition, for example, you might need a foundation inspection before pouring concrete, a framing inspection before closing walls, and rough-in inspections for electrical and plumbing before covering them. Schedule inspections as soon as each phase is complete. Do not cover work that has not been inspected. If you cover work before a required inspection, the department may ask you to uncover it for review. And if you need to change the approved plans during construction, check with the building department before you build the change. Many departments require a revision first; Seattle, for example, requires approval before you change approved work.
8
Final inspection and permit closeout
The last inspection is the final, and it matters as much as any other step. Once the final inspection passes and all required approvals are in place, the permit can be closed. How that looks depends on the project and the jurisdiction: some projects end with a Certificate of Occupancy or a Certificate of Completion, while many smaller permits simply show a final or closed status in the permit portal. An open permit on your property (one that was issued but never closed) shows up in public records and can create serious complications when you sell. Before treating it as closed, confirm with the department that no inspections, documents, payments, or related permits remain outstanding. Do not consider the project done until the permit is officially closed, not just until construction is finished.
How to check your permit status
Look on your city or county building department’s website for a permit search or status tool. If there is a portal, check the status and any outstanding comments. Have your application or permit number and property address ready.
If your jurisdiction does not have an online portal, you can call the building department directly. When you call, have your permit number or application number ready. It makes the conversation much faster.
⚡ From experience
When following up on a permit, be specific. “What is the current status of permit #XXXXX, and is there anything outstanding?” gets a much better response than “I’m just checking in.” And if your permit has been in review longer than the typical timeline for your jurisdiction, it is completely appropriate to ask where it is in the queue.
What can delay a permit
Issues that can delay your application
- Incomplete application at submission: missing documents, unsigned forms, or unpaid fees can hold up the review until the application is complete.
- Slow response to correction letters: the review can’t move forward until you resubmit, and some jurisdictions set a deadline for your response.
- Plans that don’t match the scope described in the application: inconsistencies between documents trigger more review.
- Missing product approvals or specifications: especially for windows, doors, roofing, and fire-rated assemblies.
- Waiting on HOA approval: the HOA review and the building permit are separate processes, and you may need both before work starts. In Florida, an HOA can’t require you to have a building permit before it reviews your project (Florida’s HOA review rules). You can request HOA review before the permit is issued; confirm the HOA’s requirements and the building department’s requirements separately.
- Starting work before the permit is issued: depending on the jurisdiction, this can lead to stop-work orders, extra fees, or other enforcement. Miami-Dade County, for example, charges an additional fee equal to 100% of the permit fee when a violation notice has been issued for work done without a permit.
Stay organized: tools that help
Managing a permit application means keeping track of multiple documents, deadlines, correction letters, and inspection dates. These are the tools I recommend for staying organized through the process:
📋 Recommended organizational tools
📁
Expanding File Organizer / Accordion Folder
Keep your permit application, correction letters, approved plans, and inspection records in one place, separated by category and easy to access when the inspector arrives or the reviewer calls.
🏷️
Label Maker
Label your document sets clearly: original submission, resubmission 1, approved plans, correction letter. When you are managing multiple projects or a complex revision process, clear labeling prevents costly mix-ups.
🖨️
Portable Compact Printer
When a correction comes back and you need to reprint revised pages or generate a quick document at home, a compact printer saves a trip to the office supply store at the worst possible moment.
🛡️
Waterproof Document Sleeves
Approved plans posted at the job site need to stay legible through rain and dust. Protective sleeves keep your permit documents intact from submission day through final inspection.
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Related guides
📘 Want the full permit guide?
How to Get a Construction Permit in Florida
The complete step-by-step guide for homeowners: from identifying your jurisdiction and gathering documents to navigating corrections, inspections, and permit closeout.
