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Read permit records and trends
How to read a permit record, and how to tell a real change in permits from a change in the record.
- How to read a permit record
The stages of a permit from filed to final, where the trades gap sits, and a glossary of the words on a record.
Explainer - Did the permit count fall, or did the record change?
Permit counts jump and drop for reasons that have nothing to do with demand: a city changes how it files or dates a record, or the wording and coverage shift. Here is a four-question check to run before you trust a big move in a permit chart.
About 2 min readAny city - EV-charger permits, Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025: how to read them city by city
Five places, one permit type, the same quarter a year apart. Each city is compared only with its own past, because cities count and date permits differently. Here is how to read the numbers without over-reading them.
About 2 min readChicago, Austin, Marin County, Campbell, San Francisco - Heat-pump permits: what the record can and can't tell you
Heat-pump permits, Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025, in four places. The count is useful, but only for what it measures: records that name heat pumps or mini-splits, which is not every HVAC job.
About 2 min readSan Francisco, Campbell, Austin, Chicago - When a permit record's description goes blank: the Marin County example
Counting permits by what the description says only works while the description is there. In Marin County, most 2026 permit records have no description. Here is what the records show, what it does to a count, and what to do about it.
About 2 min readMarin County - Building trends
Free charts of permit counts by kind of work, each place compared only with its own past.
Free charts
Other things to learn
Educational only; not legal, tax or financial advice. City and agency rules differ and change; check each official source before you act. Last checked against the sources October 22, 2026.