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Unincorporated Wake County and the towns of Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon and Rolesville, NC building permits

Data through September 2026 · updated 20 Oct 2026

11,002 building permits were issued in unincorporated Wake County and the towns of Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon and Rolesville from October 2024 to September 2026, about 5,501 a year. New home permits lead with 5,757, then remodels & repairs (1,524) and garages, sheds & shade structures (929). 90% 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.

11,002permits issued
5,501a year
90%for homes
87%finished (Oct 2024–Sep 2025 permits)
163days, usual issue to final
Sep 2026records through

What gets built here

New homes

5,757permits
3,085last 12 mo
172days to final

Remodels & repairs

1,524permits
746last 12 mo
115days to final

Garages, sheds & shade structures

929permits
509last 12 mo
138days to final

Additions

588permits
306last 12 mo
171days to final

Pools & spas

461permits
235last 12 mo
202days to final

Solar

420permits
202last 12 mo
113days to final

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, are still open or expired.
  • ✓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 permits Wake County Permits and Inspections issues: unincorporated Wake County, plus the towns of Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon and Rolesville, which use the county's inspections office. Raleigh and Cary run their own permit offices and have their own pages on this site; the few county-inspected parcels inside them are left out. Apex, Wake Forest, Garner, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina and Morrisville also issue their own permits and appear here only for a handful of county-inspected parcels.

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 North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, then ask the county whether they pulled the permit for your job.

How to check a contractor's license in North Carolina →

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
New homes5,75752%3,085
Remodels & repairs1,52414%746
Garages, sheds & shade structures9298%509
Additions5885%306
Pools & spas4614%235
Solar4204%202
Demolition1732%94
Other1,06910%546

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: ADUs & casitas (44), fences & walls (21), roofing (16).

Download this table (CSV)

Wake County permit statistics →How long permits take in Wake County →Wake County permits by ZIP code →Wake County building permit search: the Permit Portal and the older records search →

Before you start a project

All guides →

Guides for Wake County

Local permit rules and lookups, each with Wake County's own permit numbers.

Nearby permit data

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

Raleigh, NCCary, NCDurham, NCHolly Springs, NC

How these numbers are made

Source: Wake County Inspections, Development & Permits, Building Permits (ArcGIS MapServer, Wake County Open Data), read 20 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Building permits Wake County Permits and Inspections issues: unincorporated Wake County, plus the towns of Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon and Rolesville, which use the county's inspections office. Raleigh and Cary run their own permit offices and have their own pages on this site; the few county-inspected parcels inside them are left out. Apex, Wake Forest, Garner, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina and Morrisville also issue their own permits and appear here only for a handful of county-inspected parcels.

  • The county's file has a contractor column but it is empty on every permit, so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Wake County.
  • The county publishes building permits only: new homes, additions, alterations, accessory buildings, pools, decks and commercial work. Separate electrical, plumbing, HVAC and roofing permits are not in the file, so those kinds of work do not appear here.
  • The value is the construction valuation declared on the permit, which sets the fee. It is not a final cost.
  • Garages, sheds and decks are counted together. Home alterations are counted as remodels and repairs unless the description says solar or a reroof.
  • A final date is the date the permit was finaled.

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, "Unincorporated Wake County and the towns of Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon and Rolesville, NC building permits", https://contractorrecords.com/wake-county/, data through September 2026, from Wake County Permits and Inspections 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 Wake County issue a year?About 5,501 a year in unincorporated Wake County and the towns of Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon and Rolesville: 11,002 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026, 5,762 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 Wake 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 North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors and ask the contractor for the permit number of a past job.
  • What do people build most in Wake County?New homes: 5,757 of the 11,002 permits (52%), then remodels & repairs (1,524), garages, sheds & shade structures (929), October 2024 through September 2026.
  • How long does a building permit take in Wake County?The usual permit took 163 days from issue to the county's final (middle half: 112 to 239 days), from 4,548 permits issued Oct 2024–Sep 2025 that reached a final. Each kind of work →
  • How do I look up a building permit in Wake 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 Wake County →
  • How many permits were issued in Wake County last month?444 in September 2026, the last full month on file; 5,762 over the last 12 months.

Browse the permits

Browse 11,002 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 (11,002 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 2026444New homes (195)
Aug 2026456New homes (237)
Jul 2026608New homes (322)
Jun 2026583New homes (319)
May 2026590New homes (327)
Apr 2026573New homes (321)
Mar 2026479New homes (269)
Feb 2026416New homes (244)
Jan 2026432New homes (222)
Dec 2025455New homes (283)
Nov 2025320New homes (141)
Oct 2025406New homes (205)

Download this table (CSV)