[PermitNotebook](https://permitnotebook.com/)

# About PermitNotebook

PermitNotebook answers one question for one kind of reader: does this project, in this city or county, need a building permit, and what does the local office actually say about it. We are not a government agency and we are not affiliated with any permit office.

Permit rules are local. The building code most jurisdictions start from exempts a shed under 200 square feet, so that is the number the internet repeats. In our data the real answer ranges from 36 square feet to 600, and a majority of jurisdictions publish something other than 200. That gap is the reason this site exists, and it is why every figure here is tied to a named jurisdiction rather than to a national rule of thumb.

## What we have read

**Verified rules**

1,665

**Jurisdictions**

156

**States**

35

**Project types**

13

Latest verification 23 Oct 2026. All 1,665 rules cite the official government source they were read from, and the 1,621 that state a verdict were accepted only alongside a verbatim quotation of the sentence that settles it. Every permit page shows the date it was last checked.

## How a rule gets onto this site

1. **A researcher reads the jurisdiction's own source.** Not a contractor blog, not an SEO article, not a summary of the model code. The jurisdiction's own website, its adopted code on Municode or American Legal, or its published fee schedule.
2. **The rule is recorded with the sentence that states it.** A verdict is only accepted alongside a verbatim quotation from the page it was read on, plus the URL of that page. If a jurisdiction's exemption list is what settles the question, we quote the list so you can read it and check us.
3. **It is reviewed before it is published.** Automated checks catch fee tiers recorded as size thresholds, verdicts that contradict their own quote, and units that measure the wrong thing. A person reads whatever those checks flag.
4. **It carries its date.** Rules change. Every page states when we last checked, so you can judge how much to trust it, and so a stale figure is visible rather than hidden.

The full method, including what we have deliberately not done, is on [how we verify](https://permitnotebook.com/how-we-verify/).

## What we do when we cannot verify something

We publish the gap. 44 of our 1,665 rules are recorded as unverified rather than guessed, because the jurisdiction genuinely does not publish an answer. Those pages say so, name what we checked, and point you at the office to call. They are also excluded from search results, so an unanswered question cannot masquerade as an answer.

The remaining 1,621 carry a verdict we can show you the source for. We would rather lose a page than fill it with a plausible number, and the same rule governs fees: where a jurisdiction publishes no fee schedule, the field stays empty instead of borrowing a neighbour's.

## Original research

Some questions cannot be answered by reading a code at all, so we measure them. Three datasets on this site are computed from official open government records rather than quoted from anyone:

- [How long permits actually take](https://permitnotebook.com/permit-turnaround-times/), from 128,021 real permit records.
- [First-time inspection pass rates](https://permitnotebook.com/inspection-pass-rates/), from 641,062 graded inspection decisions. We could find no other public, multi-jurisdiction, residential version of this figure.
- [What permits cost](https://permitnotebook.com/permit-costs/), read line by line off official fee schedules.

All three are published as downloadable CSVs under a [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) licence, with the source and verification date on every row, so anyone can check our arithmetic or reuse the data with credit.

## Who is behind it

PermitNotebook is founded, researched and edited by [Mario Bailey](https://permitnotebook.com/about/mario-bailey/). Research published under the PermitNotebook Research byline is collective work; editorial responsibility for all of it rests with the founder, as described on our [research page](https://permitnotebook.com/about/research/).

**Corrections.** If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and re-date the page. We especially want to hear from permit office staff: send the official link and we will match it. Use the [correction form](https://permitnotebook.com/report/) or [contact us](https://permitnotebook.com/contact/).

**How we pay for it.** Some pages carry advertising, and some carry clearly labelled sponsored links where we may earn a fee. Neither ever influences a verdict, a threshold or a fee on this site, and the official government office is named on every page as the free path. See our [disclaimer](https://permitnotebook.com/disclaimer/) and [privacy policy](https://permitnotebook.com/privacy/).

PermitNotebook is not legal advice and not code interpretation. Always confirm current requirements with the permit office before starting work.