89.5% of Nashville electrical permits a year or more old have been closed out (50,235 permits, September 2023 through September 2026), but the city's record gives no completion date per trade, so we can't say how many days a permit takes. Across all trades the usual time from issue to closeout is 116 days. Nothing here measures the wait for approval.
“How long does a permit take?” can mean two waits. This page measures the second one.
Getting the permit (not measured): application → issue, the wait for the city to approve it. Nashville's file we read does not carry a usable application date, so we don't guess at it. Ask the permit office for its current review times.
Finishing the work (measured here): issue → completion. The day the city issued the permit to the day it recorded a final inspection or closeout. That is the contractor's part: doing the work and getting it signed off.
What “finished” means in Nashville: For trades with enough closeout data, the share of permits at least a year old that reached completion in the permit record.
Usual is the middle permit: half finish sooner, half later. Finished is the share of permits a year or more old that the city closed out.
| Trade | Permits | Finished | Firms with 10+ permits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical | 50,235 | 89.5% | 482 |
| HVAC / Gas | 29,714 | 75.6% | 270 |
| Plumbing | 26,809 | 89.7% | 226 |
| New Home | 10,208 | — | 203 |
| Demolition | 1,670 | — | 30 |
| Swimming Pool | 895 | — | 17 |
| Deck | 773 | — | 10 |
| Garage | 769 | — | 5 |
| Shed / Storage | 452 | — | 1 |
| Backyard Unit (ADU) | 407 | — | 1 |
Each trade on its own, from issue to the city's sign-off. The spread between the quickest and slowest quarter of firms is the part you can choose.
The Nashville record carries no completion date for electrical permits, so we can't count days. 89.5% of electrical permits a year or more old have been closed out. That is from 50,235 permits, September 2023 through September 2026. The wait for approval before issue is not in Nashville's file.
The Nashville record carries no completion date for HVAC / gas permits, so we can't count days. 75.6% of HVAC / gas permits a year or more old have been closed out. That is from 29,714 permits, September 2023 through September 2026. The wait for approval before issue is not in Nashville's file.
The Nashville record carries no completion date for plumbing permits, so we can't count days. 89.7% of plumbing permits a year or more old have been closed out. That is from 26,809 permits, September 2023 through September 2026. The wait for approval before issue is not in Nashville's file.
No completion date or closeout on record for new home, demolition, swimming pool, deck, garage, shed / storage, backyard unit (ADU), so no answer for those trades.
Source: public Davidson County (Metro Nashville) permit records. The window is September 2023 through September 2026; a permit filed after that isn't here yet.
A filed value is what the contractor wrote on the permit when they applied. It is not a quote and not the final bill.
Counts are permits, not jobs: one job can need several permits, and one permit can cover several visits.
Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can. How the records work in Nashville →
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