Building permits in Austin
Every permit we hold for Austin, what gets built, and how long the city actually takes to issue one.
How long a permit takes in Austin
Measured from the application date to the issue date on 3,000 permits that carry both. The city publishes both dates and joins neither.
The slowest few run to years — a permit left dormant rather than a queue — so the median and the 90th percentile are the honest summary, not the average.
How long each kind of permit takes
The city-wide figure hides the spread — mechanical permit runs 9 days here while driveway / sidewalks runs 103 days. Slowest first.
| Permit type | Typical | 9 in 10 within | Fastest | Permits measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driveway / Sidewalks | 103 days | 512 days | 10 days | 109 |
| Building Permit | 32 days | 177 days | same day | 563 |
| Plumbing Permit | 27 days | 448 days | same day | 770 |
| Electrical Permit | 14 days | 272 days | same day | 932 |
| Mechanical Permit | 9 days | 219 days | same day | 626 |
Types with fewer than eight measurable permits are left out: a median over three permits is an anecdote, not a typical duration.
What gets permitted in Austin
Permit types as the city classifies them.
| Value | permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical Permit | 932 | 31.1% |
| Plumbing Permit | 770 | 25.7% |
| Mechanical Permit | 626 | 20.9% |
| Building Permit | 563 | 18.8% |
| Driveway / Sidewalks | 109 | 3.6% |
Where those permits stand
| Value | permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Active | 2,671 | 89.0% |
| Final | 320 | 10.7% |
| Withdrawn | 3 | 0.1% |
| VOID | 3 | 0.1% |
| Inactive Pending Revision | 3 | 0.1% |
Recently issued
- 1 1411 LARKWOOD DR 2026-09-05
- 2 5713 MARCHMONT LN 2026-09-05
- 3 1801 W ST JOHNS AVE UNIT A 2026-09-05
- 4 8105 CRISWOOD PL 2026-09-05
- 5 6547 FAIR VALLEY TRL 2026-09-05
- 6 13208 LAMPLIGHT VILLAGE AVE 2026-09-05
- 7 7012 YATES AVE 2026-09-05
- 8 4612 DUSIK LN 2026-09-05
Look up an address
Search Austin permits by address, contractor or permit number, or compare against every city we cover.
Permit records come from Austin’s own open-data publication. The city’s record is authoritative and we link it on every permit page.