The usual electrical permit in Raleigh, the biggest trade with a completion date, takes 91 days from issue to the city's final inspection or closeout (16,812 permits, October 2023 through September 2026). Electrical is also the quickest trade here; plumbing the slowest at 133 days. This is the turnaround to finish the work and close the permit, not 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. Raleigh'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.
Speed: How long electrical, plumbing and HVAC permits take to reach final, compared with other Raleigh contractors in the trade. Shown for firms with 10+ permits.
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. A dash means the Raleigh record has no completion date for that trade (new home, deck, swimming pool, backyard unit (ADU)), so there is nothing to count days from; it does not mean those permits are slow.
| Trade | Permits | Usual days to finish | Firms with 10+ permits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical | 16,812 | 91 | 283 |
| HVAC | 10,761 | 121 | 136 |
| Plumbing | 9,188 | 133 | 146 |
| New Home | 1,703 | — | 32 |
| Deck | 1,101 | — | 20 |
| Swimming Pool | 328 | — | 10 |
| Backyard Unit (ADU) | 139 | — | 0 |
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 usual electrical permit in Raleigh takes 91 days from issue to the city's final inspection or closeout (16,812 permits, October 2023 through September 2026). The quickest quarter of firms usually finish in 0.9 months, the slowest quarter in 4.2 months. The wait for approval before issue is not in Raleigh's file.
275 firms with enough permits to measure, each firm's usual months to finish, weighted by its permits. Compare Raleigh electrical contractors →
The usual HVAC permit in Raleigh takes 121 days from issue to the city's final inspection or closeout (10,761 permits, October 2023 through September 2026). The quickest quarter of firms usually finish in 3.3 months, the slowest quarter in 4.8 months. The wait for approval before issue is not in Raleigh's file.
130 firms with enough permits to measure, each firm's usual months to finish, weighted by its permits. Compare Raleigh HVAC contractors →
The usual plumbing permit in Raleigh takes 133 days from issue to the city's final inspection or closeout (9,188 permits, October 2023 through September 2026). The quickest quarter of firms usually finish in 3.4 months, the slowest quarter in 5.1 months. The wait for approval before issue is not in Raleigh's file.
144 firms with enough permits to measure, each firm's usual months to finish, weighted by its permits. Compare Raleigh plumbing contractors →
No completion date or closeout on record for new home, deck, swimming pool, backyard unit (ADU), so no answer for those trades.
Source: City of Raleigh building permits. The window is October 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 Raleigh →
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