How to read a building permit

A permit record is a compressed story about money, timing, and people. Municipalities format them differently, but the fields below appear almost everywhere — and a few of them are routinely misread.

The fields that matter

Filed / applied date

When the application entered the system. The earliest signal — the project is real enough that someone paid a filing fee. BuildMapper ingests permits from municipal portals typically within 6–24 hours of this moment.

Issued date

When the municipality approved it. Work can legally start; mobilization is usually imminent. Trade windows run from here — and the filed→issued gap tells you how fast this municipality (and this builder) moves.

In review

Filed but not yet issued. For big projects this is the spec stage — the best possible moment for early-phase trades and suppliers to get in, before the sub list exists.

Declared / construction value

The applicant's own estimate of construction cost, declared to calculate the permit fee. Treat it as a floor, not a ceiling — it's routinely conservative since fees scale with it, and it excludes land, soft costs, and often finishes.

Permit class / type

New construction, addition, alteration/tenant improvement, or demolition — plus a use class like single-family, multifamily, or commercial. The fastest read on whether a project fits your book.

Applicant vs. owner vs. contractor

Three names that may or may not match. A contractor-as-applicant means the team is already assembled; owner-as-applicant often means subs haven't been chosen — better news for you.

Units and floors

Scale signals. Twenty units of anything is a different sale than a laneway house at any declared value — and bigger projects run longer schedules, so their trade windows stretch.

Reads by role

• Trades: the description keywords are your fit signal — re-roof, TI, addition each imply a totally different scope. Then check the date against your trade window.
• Suppliers: permit class + units tells you take-off size; the issue date starts the ordering clock, about two weeks ahead of the trade mobilizing.
• Realtors: owner-builder permits and major renovations are leading indicators of a future listing — often 12–18 months out.
• Demolition permits are the earliest possible signal of new construction on infill lots — the rebuild permit usually follows within months.