The Best Way to Track Building Permits in 2026

If you’ve ever refreshed a city permit portal for the fifteenth time this week hoping for an update, you already know the problem. Building permits move slowly, unpredictably, and across different systems depending on the jurisdiction. The question isn’t whether you need a tracking system — it’s which one actually works.

The Three Ways People Track Permits Today

1. Manual Portal Checks

The default for most contractors and homeowners. You bookmark the city portal — LADBS, Accela Citizen Access, EPIC-LA — and check it when you remember. Maybe daily, maybe weekly, maybe when a client calls asking for an update.

Pros: Free, no setup required.

Cons: You forget. Portals go down. Different cities use different systems. You waste 10-20 minutes per permit, per check. Multiply that by a dozen active permits and you’ve lost half a morning every week.

2. Spreadsheets and Calendar Reminders

The next step up. You log permit numbers, issue dates, and expiration dates in a spreadsheet. You set calendar reminders for key dates.

Pros: Better than nothing. Gives you a single view of all permits.

Cons: Data goes stale immediately. You still have to manually check portals to see if status changed. Expiration reminders only work if you entered the right date. No automatic updates when a permit moves from plan check to approved.

3. Automated Permit Tracking Software

Purpose-built tools that connect to city portals and pull status updates automatically. You enter a permit number, the software identifies the jurisdiction, scrapes the latest status, and alerts you when something changes.

Pros: Set it and forget it. Covers multiple jurisdictions in one dashboard. Sends email alerts for status changes and upcoming expirations. No daily portal visits.

Cons: Monthly cost. Only works for supported jurisdictions (though coverage is expanding fast).

What to Look For in Permit Tracking Software

Not all tracking tools are equal. Here’s what actually matters:

Auto-Detection

You shouldn’t have to know which portal system a city uses. Enter the permit number, and the software should figure out the jurisdiction — whether it’s LADBS, San Diego DSD, an Accela portal, or something else entirely.

Multi-Jurisdiction Support

If you work across city lines (and most contractors in metro areas do), your tool needs to handle multiple portals from a single dashboard. Checking one tool instead of five is the whole point.

Expiration Alerts

The most expensive mistake in permit tracking is letting a permit expire. Good software sends reminders at 60, 30, and 14 days before expiration — not just a single notification the day before.

Status Change Notifications

Plan check complete? Inspection scheduled? Corrections required? You should hear about it via email without having to check manually.

If you’re a GC with a project manager and a field superintendent, everyone needs to see the same permit data. Look for shared dashboards or team accounts.

Why We Built SignedOff

We built SignedOff because we were the spreadsheet people. Tracking permits across LA, San Diego, Sacramento, and a handful of Accela cities meant logging into different portals every day. We missed an expiration once — the reinstatement cost more than a year of any software subscription.

SignedOff auto-detects your jurisdiction from the permit number, syncs status nightly from city portals, and sends email alerts before anything expires. It covers LADBS, EPIC-LA, San Diego DSD, and Accela-powered cities across California, North Carolina, Colorado, and Florida — with more being added regularly.

The Real Cost of Not Tracking

A missed expiration means reinstatement fees (often 50-100% of the original permit cost), potential re-inspections, and project delays. A missed status change — like corrections posted that you didn’t see for two weeks — adds unnecessary lag to your timeline.

The math is simple: if tracking software saves you from one missed expiration per year, it pays for itself many times over.