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Montgomery County, MD building permits

Data through September 2026 · updated 19 Oct 2026

57,855 building permits were issued in Montgomery County from October 2024 to September 2026, about 28,928 a year. Electrical permits lead with 22,023, then HVAC (15,557) and solar (7,854). 81% were for homes. The county's file doesn't name contractors, so we can't rank, compare or profile firms here: these pages show what was built, where, when and how fast the county signed it off.

57,855permits issued
28,928a year
81%for homes
77%finished (Oct 2024–Sep 2025 permits)
69days, usual issue to final
Sep 2026records through

What gets built here

What this page can and can't show

  • ✓Permits the county issued, by kind of work, month and ZIP code.
  • ✓How long a permit takes from issue to the county's final inspection.
  • ✓Which permits finished or are still open.
  • ✓What the job was declared at on the permit.
  • Who did the work. The county's file doesn't name contractors, so we can't rank, compare or profile firms here.
  • Street addresses or owners. We publish counts and permit rows without them.

Building, electrical and mechanical permits issued by the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services, which covers the county outside the cities that run their own building offices: Silver Spring, Bethesda, Potomac, Germantown, Clarksburg, Chevy Chase, Olney, Wheaton, Takoma Park and the rest. The cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg issue most of their own building permits, so permits inside those cities are largely missing; a Rockville or Gaithersburg mailing address in this file is usually just outside those cities. Plumbing and gas-service permits are issued by WSSC Water, not the county, and are not in the file.

Hiring someone here?

The permit file can't tell you who does good work. Ask for the contractor's license number and look it up at the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, then ask the county whether they pulled the permit for your job.

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
Electrical22,02338%11,143
HVAC15,55727%7,607
Solar7,85414%4,070
Remodels & repairs2,6735%1,458
Garages, sheds & shade structures2,5484%1,282
Additions1,7753%869
New homes1,5903%653
Pools & spas258under 1%112
ADUs & casitas229under 1%147
Other3,1785%1,614

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: fences & walls (69), plumbing (62), roofing (39).

Download this table (CSV)

Nearby permit data

Permit data for other places in Washington, DC. Each permit office keeps its own file, so the numbers are not added together.

How these numbers are made

Source: dataMontgomery: Residential Permit, Commercial Permits, Mechanical Permits and Electrical Building Permits (Department of Permitting Services), read 19 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Building, electrical and mechanical permits issued by the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services, which covers the county outside the cities that run their own building offices: Silver Spring, Bethesda, Potomac, Germantown, Clarksburg, Chevy Chase, Olney, Wheaton, Takoma Park and the rest. The cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg issue most of their own building permits, so permits inside those cities are largely missing; a Rockville or Gaithersburg mailing address in this file is usually just outside those cities. Plumbing and gas-service permits are issued by WSSC Water, not the county, and are not in the file.

  • The county's files name no contractor, so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Montgomery County.
  • Declared value is filled on building permits only; electrical and HVAC permits carry no job value, so costs are shown only for building work.
  • Plumbing permits are issued by WSSC Water, not the county, so plumbing barely appears here (a few gas-appliance jobs on mechanical permits).
  • Solar counts come from electrical permits whose description mentions solar or photovoltaic panels.
  • Decks count with garages and sheds. A final date is the county's final inspection date; a permit at Stop Work counts as open.

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, "Montgomery County, MD building permits", https://contractorrecords.com/montgomery-county-md/, data through September 2026, from Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services 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 Montgomery County issue a year?About 28,928 a year in Montgomery County: 57,855 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026, 29,026 of them in the last 12 months. That counts the permits the county issued, homes and commercial, not denied or withdrawn applications.
  • Can I find a contractor's permits in Montgomery County?Not from this file: the county publishes its permits without the contractor's name, so we can't list or rank firms. Check a license at the Maryland Home Improvement Commission and ask the contractor for the permit number of a past job.
  • What do people build most in Montgomery County?Electrical: 22,023 of the 57,855 permits (38%), then HVAC (15,557), solar (7,854), October 2024 through September 2026.
  • How long does a building permit take in Montgomery County?The usual permit took 69 days from issue to the county's final (middle half: 26 to 144 days), from 22,323 permits issued Oct 2024–Sep 2025 that reached a final. Each kind of work →
  • How do I look up a building permit in Montgomery County?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 county's own records by address or permit number; we don't publish addresses. How to look up a permit in Montgomery County →
  • How many permits were issued in Montgomery County last month?2,538 in September 2026, the last full month on file; 29,026 over the last 12 months.

Browse the permits

Browse 57,855 permits

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

The list loads as you reach it (57,855 permits).

IssuedKind of workCounty permit typeStatusZIP

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 20262,538Electrical (1,020)
Aug 20262,552Electrical (983)
Jul 20262,630Electrical (938)
Jun 20262,800Electrical (1,072)
May 20262,602Electrical (958)
Apr 20262,470Electrical (1,011)
Mar 20262,117Electrical (881)
Feb 20261,898Electrical (808)
Jan 20261,969Electrical (810)
Dec 20252,464Electrical (812)
Nov 20252,326Electrical (842)
Oct 20252,660Electrical (1,008)

Download this table (CSV)