Playbook · Marin County
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.
Marin County permit records with no work description (percent), Q3 2025 vs Q3 2026
What this is: the share of Marin County building permit records whose description field is empty, by the county's own permit category. What it isn't: a count of permits.
The whole path at a glance
Step by step
Check how much of the field is filled in
- Count the records with an empty description in each period. In Marin County, none were empty in Q3 2025. In Q3 2026, 963 of 1,308 (74%) were.
- The blanks begin in January 2026 (about 10% of that month's records) and reach about three quarters of records from February 2026.
Watch out: Check each period separately. A single overall rate hides when the change happened.See which records lost the description
- In Q3 2026 the blanks are almost all in two of the county's categories: Maintenance (780 of 789 records) and Minor Improvement (181 of 186). Records in the All other Construction category kept their descriptions (2 of 333 blank).
- Commercial permits of $150,000 or more have kept theirs: since February 2026, 1 of 25 has no description.
Watch out: The county's data page has no note on this change, and its field descriptions are empty.Count with fields that are still filled in
- If the description is blank, a keyword count from the description will fall for reasons that have nothing to do with the work. Don't compare it year over year.
- The county's own category fields still carry information. Our EV-charger count for Marin uses the county's construction-type field, not description text.
Say what you know and no more
- Report that the description is empty for most 2026 records and which categories are affected.
- The county has not said why, or whether it will return, and we don't guess. When a source changes without a notice, say "we don't know why yet."
Honest effort and what goes wrong
About twenty minutes: download the county's records, count empty descriptions by month and category, and note which fields are still filled in.
- Comparing keyword counts across a period when the description went blank.
- Reading an overall blank rate without checking by month and category.
- Assuming the county changed a rule when it has only said nothing.
- Dropping a city's records without telling readers.
Next steps
See this week's commercial jobs by trade
See this week's commercial jobs by trade: pickersdesk.com/permits.html
Educational only: not legal, tax or financial advice. Marin County permit data: County of Marin, made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Counts by Picker's Desk from the archive of October 21, 2026. Last checked against the sources October 22, 2026. Spot something out of date? Email roger@pickersdesk.com.