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Detroit, MI building permits

Data through September 2026 · updated 18 Oct 2026

51,876 building permits were issued in Detroit from October 2024 to September 2026, about 25,938 a year. Plumbing permits lead with 13,739, then HVAC (12,989) and electrical (9,705). 77% were for homes. The city's file names contractors, but only on trade and demolition permits, as a contact business that is not always the licensed contractor of record, and never on building permits, so we don't rate, rank or count firms from it: these pages show what was built, where and when.

51,876permits issued
25,938a year
77%for homes
Sep 2026records through

What gets built here

Plumbing

13,739permits
4,715last 12 mo

HVAC

12,989permits
5,488last 12 mo

Electrical

9,705permits
4,462last 12 mo

Remodels & repairs

7,119permits
3,624last 12 mo

Demolition

2,125permits
612last 12 mo

Roofing

1,820permits
809last 12 mo

Solar

398permits
219last 12 mo

New homes

212permits
107last 12 mo

What this page can and can't show

  • ✓Permits the city issued, by kind of work, month and ZIP code.
  • ✓What the job was declared at on the permit.
  • Who does good work. The city's file names contractors, but only on trade and demolition permits, as a contact business that is not always the licensed contractor of record, and never on building permits, so we don't rate, rank or count firms from it.
  • Which permits were finished. The city's public permit layers carry an issue date but no permit status and no final inspection or closed date.
  • Street addresses or owners. We publish counts and permit rows without them.

Building, trades (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, elevator, fire alarm, boiler, generator) and demolition permits the City of Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) issues inside city limits. Revisions of an earlier permit are not counted again. Hamtramck, Highland Park, Dearborn and the rest of Wayne County run their own permit offices and are not in this file.

Guides for this kind of work

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Permits by kind of work

Permits issued October 2024 through September 2026, every kind of work with 100 or more. Last 12 months is Oct 2025–Sep 2026. Homes is the share issued as residential permits.

Kind of workPermitsShareLast 12 mo
Plumbing13,73926%4,715
HVAC12,98925%5,488
Electrical9,70519%4,462
Remodels & repairs7,11914%3,624
Demolition2,1254%612
Roofing1,8204%809
Solar398under 1%219
New homes212under 1%107
Garages, sheds & shade structures130under 1%67
Additions102under 1%44
Other3,4987%1,552

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: fences & walls (30), pools & spas (8), ADUs & casitas (1).

Download this table (CSV)

Detroit permit statistics →Detroit permits by ZIP code →Detroit building permit search: BSEED's Accela site and the open permit files →

How these numbers are made

Source: City of Detroit Open Data, BSEED Building Permits, Trades Permits and Demolition Permits layers, read 18 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out. The city's public permit layers carry an issue date but no permit status and no final inspection or closed date, so no finished share is shown.

Building, trades (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, elevator, fire alarm, boiler, generator) and demolition permits the City of Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) issues inside city limits. Revisions of an earlier permit are not counted again. Hamtramck, Highland Park, Dearborn and the rest of Wayne County run their own permit offices and are not in this file.

  • The city's file has no permit status and no final inspection date, so we show neither a finished share nor time to final.
  • Only building permits carry a value: the estimated contractor cost written on the application, not the final cost. Trade and demolition permits have no value, so the HVAC, electrical, plumbing and demolition figures carry none.
  • Detroit issues electrical, plumbing and mechanical work as separate trades permits, so one house job can count several times, once under each kind of work. A building alteration that mentions trade work stays a remodel.
  • Plumbing counts include the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's lead service line and water main replacement programmes, which file thousands of plumbing permits a year.
  • Homes are told apart by the building permit's use group and use type and, for trade and demolition permits, by the property class on the city assessor's parcel file.

Counts are permits, not jobs: one job can need several permits. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can. Sources and definitions →

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Please credit Contractor Records and link to this page. Suggested citation:

Contractor Records, "Detroit, MI building permits", https://contractorrecords.com/detroit/, data through September 2026, from the City of Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department building-permit records.

Link to a table: By kind of work · Browse the permits · Permits each month.

Download the tables (CSV): Permits by kind of work · Permits in the last 12 months.

Common questions

  • How many building permits does Detroit issue a year?About 25,938 a year in Detroit: 51,876 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026, 21,722 of them in the last 12 months. That counts the permits the city issued, homes and commercial, not denied or withdrawn applications.
  • Can I find a contractor's permits in Detroit?The city's file names contractors, but only on trade and demolition permits, as a contact business that is not always the licensed contractor of record, and never on building permits, so we don't rate, rank or count firms from it. Ask the contractor for the permit number of a past job.
  • What do people build most in Detroit?Plumbing: 13,739 of the 51,876 permits (26%), then HVAC (12,989), electrical (9,705), October 2024 through September 2026.
  • How do I look up a building permit in Detroit?Filter the permit list on this page by month, kind of work and ZIP code to see what was issued. For one property's permits, search the city's own records by address or permit number; we don't publish addresses. How to look up a permit in Detroit →
  • How many permits were issued in Detroit last month?2,164 in September 2026, the last full month on file; 21,722 over the last 12 months.

Browse the permits

Browse 51,876 permits

Every permit in the file issued October 2024 through September 2026, newest first. Pick a month, a kind of work or a ZIP code. Each row is one permit: no street address, no names.

The list loads as you reach it (51,876 permits).

IssuedKind of workCity permit typeZIP

Permits each month, the last 12 months

Permits issued each month and the kind of work with the most. A month opens its permits in the list above.

MonthPermitsTop kind of work
Sep 20262,164Plumbing (812)
Aug 20261,527HVAC (373)
Jul 20261,611Remodels & repairs (402)
Jun 20261,881Electrical (478)
May 20261,445HVAC (378)
Apr 20261,887HVAC (472)
Mar 20261,795HVAC (546)
Feb 20261,861Plumbing (629)
Jan 20261,503HVAC (458)
Dec 20251,857HVAC (538)
Nov 20251,768HVAC (410)
Oct 20252,423HVAC (585)

Download this table (CSV)