US construction permits
Find the desk.
Miami, FL
City of Miami Building Department
Miami-Dade County, FL
Miami-Dade County RER — Building
New York City, NY
NYC Department of Buildings
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety
Houston, TX
Houston Permitting Center
Chicago, IL
Chicago Department of Buildings
Seattle, WA
Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Department of City Planning — Office of Buildings
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections
Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Planning & Development
Denver, CO
Denver Community Planning and Development
Washington, DC
DC Department of Buildings
16,165
Desks
56
Packs
14
Guides
Playbooks
AllHow to name the AHJ4 steps
01 · Owner or GC
Use the job address, not the mailing city
A Miami mailing address can sit in Coral Gables, Miami Beach, or unincorporated Miami-Dade. The folio / parcel / city-limits line decides the desk — not the post office.
02 · Owner or GC
Decide city limits vs. unincorporated county
Inside a city, the municipal building department usually issues. Outside, it is often the county. Consolidated governments (Jacksonville, Nashville, Indianapolis, Denver, New Orleans) collapse that split — still confirm.
03 · Designer
Name the extra desks
Floodplain, historic, zoning, fire, health, and right-of-way are frequently separate counters. A building permit does not automatically clear them.
04 · Applicant
Confirm in writing if two portals look plausible
Call or email both departments with the address and folio. Ask: “Which office issues the building permit for this parcel?” Keep the answer in the job file.
Honest statusVerified
- Unique IDs
- Verified
- Core portals
- Higher confidence — Batch 1 repairs
- Factory URLs
- Provisional research seeds
- ROW map
- Partial — national + selected major cities
Always confirm the current portal and city vs county with the local office.
Full statusNational references8
- ICC public codes
Read-only model codes. Confirm the edition your AHJ adopted.
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center
Check whether the parcel sits in a mapped flood zone before you design.
- Call 811 before you dig
Utility locate. Separate from the building permit — still required.
- OSHA construction standards
Federal jobsite safety — a different lane from the building official.
- ADA Standards
Federal accessibility. Many AHJs also enforce a local accessibility path.
- EPA construction stormwater
Federal CGP overview. Check your state construction general permit.
- DOE Building Energy Codes
Status of state energy-code adoption. Confirm the local path.
- NFPA free access
Index of fire standards. Free-access terms set by NFPA.