Plumbing permits in Washington, DC

How these numbers are made

Source: DC Department of Buildings, Building Permits in 2009 to 2026 (DC GIS FEEDS/DCRA FeatureServer, Open Data DC), read 19 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out. The file carries no usable permit status, so it can't say which permits were finished, so no finished share is shown.

Building, trade and post-card permits the DC Department of Buildings issues across the whole District of Columbia. Home occupation permits, elevator shop drawings, civil plans, variances and after-hours work permits are left out. Arlington, Alexandria and the Maryland suburbs run their own permit offices and are not in this file.

• The District's permit file names no contractor (the applicant is usually the person who filed), so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Washington.
• The file has no declared job value, only the fees paid, so we show no costs.
• The Department of Buildings seldom updates a permit's status once the work is done, and the file has no final dates, so we show no finished share and no time to final.
• Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work is filed as separate supplemental or post-card permits, so one job can count several times.
• Homes are permits on land zoned for houses, rowhouses and flats (the R and RF zones). Apartment, downtown and mixed-use zones count as other.
• Home occupation permits, elevator shop drawings, civil plans, variances, sheeting and shoring, and after-hours, soil-boring, scaffolding and tent permits are left out.

Counts are permits, not jobs: one job can need several permits. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can. Sources and definitions →