Which addresses this covers
Gaston County Building Inspections permits construction across the county, including Gastonia. The City of Gastonia says "Construction Permits are issued by Gaston County Permitting", effective August 29, 2022, after a City zoning permit (Gastonia Permits & Inspections, read 24 October 2026). The City's CityView portal is for that zoning step.
| Tool | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Citizen's Self Service | The county's permit portal: applications, permits and inspections |
| Building Department Records (link on the Building Inspections page) | The county's online document archive |
| BuildingPermits_2026 (open data) | 2025 new-home permits only; our source |
How to look up the permits on a Gaston County address
- Open Citizen's Self Service from the county's Building Inspections page.
- Use the portal's search with the street address, or the permit number from your paperwork.
- Open each permit. In the county's file a new-home permit carries the general contractor plus columns for the electrical, mechanical and plumbing contractors.
- Read the status and the inspections. COMPLETE means the county closed it.
- If the portal will not show the address, call 704-866-3155. The office is at 128 W Main Avenue, Gastonia.
What the statuses mean
The county's file uses four statuses. This is how our pages count them:
| Status in the county file | What it means | How we count it |
|---|---|---|
| COMPLETE | The county marked the permit complete | Finished |
| ISSUED | Active; the house is under way | Open |
| EXPIRED | Lapsed before completion | Expired |
| VOID | Cancelled | Left out |
In the 2025 file as read 21 October 2026, 84.6% of rows were COMPLETE, 13.1% ISSUED, 1.7% EXPIRED and 0.7% VOID. The file has no final inspection date, so we show no time to finish.
When the record is not online
Two routes, both linked from the Building Inspections page: Building Department Records, the county's online document archive (it needs cookies enabled), and the county's public records request portal. North Carolina's public records law is G.S. 132.
What our Gaston County pages add
The portal answers "what was permitted at this address". Our Gaston County page counts the county's 2025 new-home file:
| ZIP code | Permits (Jan–Dec 2025) | New homes (Jan–Dec 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| 28012 | 433 | 424 |
| 28052 | 420 | 414 |
| 28056 | 269 | 269 |
| 28032 | 184 | 184 |
| 28054 | 179 | 157 |
See new-home permits for the builders named on the most permits (volume, not quality), permits by ZIP code for the rest of the county, the permit statistics page for the months, and browse permits for the rows without owner names or street addresses. To check a builder's license, use How to check a contractor's license in North Carolina.
What this does not tell you
The county publishes one calendar year of new-home permits only. Re-roofs, remodels, additions, trade permits and commercial work are not in it, and there is no year-on-year comparison. Town names and ZIP codes are mailing addresses, so a Gastonia mailing address may lie outside Gastonia. We have not matched builders to state license records, so we count their permits but do not rate them.
How we know this
Portal and records links were read on Gaston County's Building Inspections page and the City of Gastonia's Permits & Inspections page on 24 October 2026. Our counts and status shares are the county's BuildingPermits_2026 layer, read 21 October 2026: residential permits issued January to December 2025, countywide.
Numbers come from public permit records in 57 cities, data through October 21, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.
Questions
- How do I find out if a permit was pulled on my house in Gaston County?
Start at the county's Citizen's Self Service portal, linked from the Building Inspections page, and look the address up there. If you cannot find it, call Building & Development Services at 704-866-3155. The county issues construction permits for Gastonia too, so a Gastonia house is a county search.
- Who issues building permits in Gastonia?
Gaston County. The City of Gastonia says construction permits are issued by Gaston County Permitting, effective August 29, 2022. You still need a City of Gastonia zoning permit first; the city's CityView portal handles that.
- How do I get an old Gaston County permit file?
The Building Inspections page links Building Department Records, an online document archive, and a public records request portal at gastongov.justfoia.com. North Carolina's public records law is G.S. 132.
- What does COMPLETE mean on a Gaston County permit?
The county marked the permit complete, which is how we count a permit as finished. In the county's 2025 new-home file, read 21 October 2026, 84.6% of rows were COMPLETE, 13.1% ISSUED, 1.7% EXPIRED and 0.7% VOID.
- How many new homes were permitted in Gaston County in 2025?
1,931 new-home permits in the county's published file for January to December 2025, out of 1,970 permits in it. ZIP 28012 led with 433 permits.
Build your own list
Pick your city and the kind of work. Every firm with a permit on record, sorted by what you value.
Related guides
- Adams County, CO building permit search: the e-Permit Center, statuses and CORA
- Alachua County building permit search: Citizenserve, statuses and old records
- Anaheim building permit search: Anaheim NEXT and the Building Permit Report
- Arlington, VA building permit search: Permit Arlington lookups and FOIA requests
- Las Cruces building permit search: how to look up permits in Las Cruces, NM
- Lincoln, NE building permit search: Lincoln/Lancaster County Citizen Access
- Building Inspections — Gaston County, NC (2026-10-24)
- Gaston County Citizen's Self Service (2026-10-24)
- Permits & Inspections — City of Gastonia (2026-10-24)
- Gaston County Public Portal — JustFOIA (2026-10-24)
- BuildingPermits_2026 — Gaston County GIS (ArcGIS) (2026-10-21)