The Greensboro rule
The City's Permits & Licenses page lists a "Driveway Permit for driveway access to City streets" (read 23 October 2026). In the City's own records it is a trade permit: the Trade Permits dataset says "Trade Permits comprise Driveway, Electrical, Mechanical, and Plumbing Permits", issued "from 1998 to the Present Date."
What that covers, in our reading of the records: the driveway apron in the street right of way, between the street and your lot, pulled by concrete contractors. The City's Residential Construction page does not list driveways among building permit work, so a driveway on your own lot with no new street access is not a building permit job on that page's terms; zoning limits on paving still apply.
| Driveway job | What applies |
|---|---|
| New driveway or apron onto a City street | Driveway permit |
| Widening or replacing the apron at the curb | Driveway permit (it is the access) |
| Driveway onto a state-maintained road | Ask Development Services which agency issues it |
| Paving entirely inside your lot | No building permit on the Residential Construction page; ask about zoning |
The City pages we could read do not publish the fee, the specification or a homeowner rule for this permit. Ask Development Services at 300 W. Washington Street, 336-373-2155, before the forms go in.
Who pulls it
Concrete contractors, in practice. North Carolina's general contractor license starts at $40,000 (G.S. 87-1), far above a driveway, so there is no state license to check for most of these jobs. The permit history is the record: 134 firms filed driveway permits in our three years.
How to check it
Search your address on the City's GSO BI Scheduler; a finished permit shows Final Inspection Made. Check that the permit names the contractor you hired and that it was finaled before you pay the last invoice.
What 1,664 Greensboro driveway permits show
| Measure | Greensboro driveways |
|---|---|
| Permits on homes, October 2023 to September 2026 | 1,664 |
| Firms | 134 |
| Firms with exactly one permit | 65 (48.5%) |
| Firms with a permit in the last 12 months of the file | 71 |
| Share held by the busiest firm / five busiest | 31.7% / 69.9% |
| Final inspection made (permits a year or more old) | 98.1% |
| Usual days from entry to final | 7 |
| 10th / 90th-percentile firm (10+ permits) | 91.5% / 100.0% |
| Busiest / quietest month | August (125) / February (71) |
Driveway permits are the quickest record in Greensboro: a usual 7 days to final, and 98.1% get there; even the 10th-percentile busy firm finals 91.5%. A driveway permit still open a month after the pour is out of line. The market is concentrated: the busiest firm alone filed 31.7% of permits. Look for a firm with a steady run of permits on the compare page rather than one with a single job here.
See every Greensboro driveway contractor →
Related
Other cities' driveway rules: do I need a permit for a driveway. Permit records: Greensboro building permit search; license checks: Greensboro contractor license lookup; prices for other Greensboro jobs: Greensboro home improvement costs; counts by month: Greensboro permit statistics.
What this does not tell you
Driveway permits carry no job value, only a fee, so this page cannot price a driveway. The fee, the apron specification and whether a homeowner may pull the permit are not on the City pages we could read. The file covers City of Greensboro permits; houses outside city limits are permitted by Guilford County.
How we know this
The permit name and the trade-permit definition are quoted from the City of Greensboro's Permits & Licenses page and its Trade Permits open dataset, read 23 October 2026. Counts are City of Greensboro driveway trade permits on residential addresses, October 2023 to September 2026; finished share uses permits a year or more old, and days run from entry (trade permits are issued at entry) to the final inspection.
Numbers come from City of Greensboro building and trade permits, data through October 18, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.
Questions
- Do I need a permit to pour a driveway in Greensboro?
If the driveway connects to a City street, yes: the City lists a 'Driveway Permit for driveway access to City streets' among its permits, and it is one of the four trade permit types (Driveway, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing) in the City's records.
- How long does a driveway permit take in Greensboro?
Quickly. Trade permits are issued at entry, and the usual Greensboro driveway permit in our file reached its final inspection 7 days later; 98.1% of those a year or more old did.
- How much is a driveway permit in Greensboro?
The City pages we could read do not give the amount. Development Services (336-373-2155) quotes it; the fee is the only money figure on these permits, since driveway permits carry no job value.
- Who pulls driveway permits in Greensboro?
Mostly concrete contractors: 134 firms filed the 1,664 driveway permits in our file, and the five busiest filed 69.9% of them.
- Can I widen my driveway in Greensboro without a permit?
Not where the new concrete reaches the City street or right of way: that is the driveway access the permit covers. Work entirely on your own lot is a zoning and site question; ask Development Services before you pour.
Build your own list
Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.
Related guides
- Do I need a driveway permit in Austin? The right-of-way line, the DS permit and the $220 review fee
- Do I need a permit for a driveway? The rule in 12 cities, and where the curb changes it
- Do I need a driveway permit in Miami? Usually yes: pavers, the flood-zone catch in the $7,500 exemption, and the swale
- Do I need a driveway permit in Naperville? The concrete season, width limits, decorative aprons and the $88 fee
- Do I need a plumbing permit in Washington, DC? The one-fixture instant permit, gas fitting, and 26,820 permits
- Do I need a permit to remodel in Washington, DC? The no-permit list, instant permits, and 9,349 permits
For one city
- Permits & Licenses — City of Greensboro (accessed 2026-10-23)
- Engineering & Inspections — Trade Permits (open data) — City of Greensboro (accessed 2026-10-23)
- Residential Construction — City of Greensboro Engineering & Inspections (accessed 2026-10-23)
- GSO BI Scheduler permit search — City of Greensboro (accessed 2026-10-23)