Building permits in Durham, NC
5,286 permits were filed in Durham in the last 12 months, and 377 in the last 30 days. The most common work: new build (44%), residential (13%) and alteration / remodel (12%).
Durham's joint City-County inspections department issues building permits for the City of Durham and Durham County.
- Last 30 days
- 377
- Last 90 days
- 1,336
- Last 12 months
- 5,286
- New single-family home
- $502K
- median construction cost on permits
Permits by month
What's being permitted
Every permit filed in Durham in the last 12 months, by type of work.
- New Build2,313 (44%)
- Residential678 (13%)
- Alteration / Remodel613 (12%)
- Deck / Porch458 (9%)
- Electrical299 (6%)
- Demolition265 (5%)
- Roofing105 (2%)
- Garage / Carport103 (2%)
Most active contractors in Durham
Ranked by permits pulled in the last 12 months. Placeholder names like “owner” and “TBD” are left out.
Recent permits in Durham
The latest filings. Permit Search has every one, with the contractor behind it.
Durham building permits: common questions
- How many building permits are filed in Durham?
- 5,286 in the last 12 months and 377 in the last 30 days, counting every permit type the office files.
- What kind of construction is most common in Durham?
- By permit count over the last 12 months: new homes (44%), other residential work (13%) and alterations and remodels (12%).
- Who pulls the most building permits in Durham?
- Over the last 12 months: Lennar Carolinas, LLC (360 permits), Pulte Home Company, LLC (336 permits) and Clayton Properties Group, Inc., T/A Mungo Homes (315 permits). Placeholder names such as "owner" are left out of the ranking.
- What does a new home cost to build in Durham, going by permits?
- The median construction cost builders declared on new single-family home permits over the last 12 months was $502K, and $371K for townhomes. That is the cost of the building as written on the permit: it leaves out the land, site work and the builder's margin, so it runs well below what a new home sells for.
- How do I look up a building permit in Durham?
- Search by address, ZIP code or contractor in TarSignal's Permit Search, which covers every permit Durham has filed in our records. Each property shows its full permit history.
- How often is this page updated?
- Every day. New permits are collected from public records several times a day, and the numbers on this page are rebuilt each morning.
Get the permits, not just the totals
Permit Search has every permit filed in Durham: the address, the contractor behind it and the permit history of each property. Or get new Durham permits emailed to you each morning.
From public building permit records, most recent October 1, 2026. Updated daily. Counts include every permit type a jurisdiction files — trade permits (electrical, plumbing, mechanical) as well as building permits — so one project can appear more than once. Values are what the applicant declared, where the jurisdiction records one. We keep improving how we collect each office's permits, so a count that steps up suddenly usually means more complete records, not more construction.