Foundation repair permit finder for any US address

How to find the building permits for a house

To find the permits for a house, start with the office that issues permits at that exact address, then search that office's records by street address. The finder above does the first part for any US address, and it lists the permits themselves for the cities whose open permit data we have connected, about fifteen so far. For a foundation repair or a new roof, though, the papers that matter most are the ones the seller keeps, meaning the engineer's letter, the pier layout, the floor elevation surveys and a warranty that transfers to you.

Which office issues permits for a house

Inside city limits, the city issues building permits almost every time. Outside them, it depends on the state. In parts of the Northeast and Midwest, townships, towns and boroughs run their own permit offices. Elsewhere the county does. In parts of rural Texas no office issues permits for repair work at all, so a sound repair there can have no permit behind it.

Do not trust the city name in a mailing address. Plenty of houses with a city's name on the envelope sit outside its limits, which is why the finder goes by the Census Bureau's boundary match.

Value and taxes run through other offices. In Texas, each county has an appraisal district that sets values and a tax assessor-collector that sends the bills, and the Texas Comptroller's county directory lists both. Most other states use a county, city or town assessor. Deeds, liens and recorded plats sit with the county clerk or recorder.

How to read a permit record and its status

A permit record is the short history of one job. The type and description say what the office approved. The contractor field names the company that pulled the permit, which is the fastest lead on who did the work. The valuation is the job value declared on the application, usually a rough number and never the value of the house. The status tells you how it ended.

• Applied or in review. Filed and waiting for approval.
• Issued or active. Approved and still open. On work that finished years ago, this usually means nobody called for the final inspection.
• Finaled, completed or closed. The work passed its last inspection. On some foundation permits, San Antonio's among them, a letter from the engineer of record clears the permit. Closed can also mean the file was shut for another reason, so look for a final inspection date.
• Expired. The permit lapsed before a final. Under the model residential code, a permit lapses when work does not start within 180 days of issue or stops for 180 days.
• Withdrawn, cancelled or void. The job was dropped or permitted again under a new number. Look for the replacement.

An open or expired permit is not a verdict on the work. It is an unanswered question that stays with the address, and lenders, insurers and the next buyer may ask about it. To clear it, the seller or the original contractor calls the permit office, reopens the permit and schedules the final. Ask for that before closing, while the seller still has a reason to do it.

How to search a permit portal by address

When the finder only has a link, search the portal yourself. Enter the house number and the street name only. Leave off St or Ave, the direction letter and the unit, then add them back if the list is too long. Clear the date filter, because many portals start with recent years.

If nothing comes back, call or email the permit office and ask for the permit history of the address. And an empty search never proves no permit was pulled. Cities publish what their systems hold, often from a certain year forward and sometimes for only some permit types.

When foundation and roof work need a permit

Most US cities and counties that regulate houses base their rules on the International Residential Code, adopted with local changes. Its first chapter requires a permit to alter or repair a house or replace its plumbing, electrical, gas or mechanical systems. Ordinary repairs are exempt, but the code excludes removing or cutting a load-bearing support, and building officials treat piers and underpinning as structural work, so a city that follows the model code will usually want a permit for them.

Local rules settle the details. San Antonio requires a foundation repair permit and a Texas-licensed engineer who designs or guides the work and clears the permit, which our San Antonio foundation permit guide walks through. Other cities issue a plain building permit with a city inspection, and a few require nothing. Roofs follow the same pattern. Many cities want a permit to replace a roof and none for a small patch, and the code limits how many layers can stack before the old roofing has to come off.

Documents that show a foundation repair was done right

A permit with a final proves an inspector or engineer accepted the work. It does not tell you what went under the slab or how the floor measured. The job file does. Ask the seller, and if pages are missing, ask the company that did the work, since most keep copies. Our guide to finding past foundation repair records covers where else to look.

• The engineer's letter or report. Signed and sealed by a licensed professional engineer, with the cause found and the repair recommended or inspected. Where a letter exists, check that the invoice covers everything it asked for.
• The repair plan and pier layout. Where each pier went, how deep it reached and the pressure it took. Warranties usually follow those locations, so this page defines what you would inherit.
• Before and after floor elevation surveys. Few slabs are poured dead level, so a single survey only shows the shape of the floor. Two surveys show change. Engineers care more about how sharply the floor drops over a short distance than about the total difference end to end. A new survey during your inspection period, laid over the after survey, shows whether the repair held.
• The warranty with its transfer section. Every page, including the terms on the back.
• The invoice. The scope, the pier count, and any drainage or plumbing work done at the same time.

The full set is on our page about the documents a foundation repair should produce.

Papers that cover the rest of the house

The seller's disclosure is the seller's written account of what they know, and the rules differ by state. In Texas, the state's Seller's Disclosure Notice asks directly about previous structural or roof repair, soil movement, improper drainage, work done without permits, violation notices and flood claims. A yes on any of those should come with paperwork.

An insurance claim history, called a CLUE report, lists claims filed on the property over the past seven years with the loss type and the amount paid. The Texas Department of Insurance explains that an owner can get a free copy each year, so a buyer asks the seller for it. Match every roof, water or foundation claim to a repair record.

Why a documented foundation repair can be a plus

On clay soil, a house with a documented foundation repair is often the better known quantity on the street. Clay swells when it gets wet and shrinks as it dries, and nearly every older slab on it has moved some. In the repaired house, somebody measured that movement, found the cause, carried the moving section down to firmer soil on piers and wrote it all down. The house next door has moved too, and nobody knows by how much.

It stops being a plus when the trail breaks. Watch for no permit where the city required one, a permit that never got its final, or a warranty that lapsed, cannot transfer or came from a company that has closed. Watch hardest for a scope that ignored the cause. Piers carry weight. They do not move water. If a downspout still empties against the slab or a leak under it was never fixed, the repair only bought time. Downspouts should empty at least five feet from the wall onto ground that slopes away. More on that decision is in our guide to buying a house that already had foundation repair.

Measuring the floor settles it. In Central Texas we do free pre-purchase foundation inspections and second opinions in Bexar, Travis, Williamson, Hays, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina, Bastrop and Caldwell counties. We are ICC-certified and inspector-led, and we work alongside independent Texas-licensed engineers when a job needs a sealed letter. About a third of our inspections end with no repair needed. Anywhere else, a licensed engineer or home inspector in your state can take the same measurements.

How to confirm a warranty is valid and transferable

Call the company that issued it. Give the property address, ask whether the warranty is active, whose name it is registered to and what a transfer requires, and get the answer by email or letter.

Then read the document. Foundation warranties usually cover the piers that were installed and the areas they support rather than the whole slab, and they often exclude plumbing leaks, drainage problems and cosmetic cracks. The transfer section sets any deadline after closing, fee, form and limit on the number of transfers. The address, the pier layout and the dates should agree with the permit record.

A warranty does not ride along with the deed. Transferable means the terms allow it. Transferred means the company changed its records to your name, and only that one protects you. Motmot's moves with a short form and no fee, and the steps for any company are in how a foundation warranty transfer works in Texas. If the company is gone, no form revives its promise, and the practical path is a warranty takeover by a contractor who re-inspects the house and stands behind its own work.

How to confirm a reliable company did the work

Start with the state business registry, usually run by the secretary of state, and confirm the company's legal name is active. Then check the license where the state licenses the trade. Most states license plumbers and electricians, many license contractors, and some license roofers. Texas has no state license for foundation repair, which puts more weight on the engineer, the permit history and the company's record. The finder's state section links each official lookup. To see what a contractor must hold in each city and state, use our contractor licensing guide.

A firm with permits in its name at many addresses over many years is a real, working business. Ask for a certificate of liability insurance sent by its insurance agent, and ask the state attorney general or consumer protection office whether complaints are on file against the company. Some states show them online, and others answer a public records request. The same license and insurance checks the Federal Trade Commission gives for avoiding home improvement scams work just as well on a company that already did the work.

Roof, plumbing, electrical, HVAC and the rest of the house

A roof carries two warranties. The manufacturer covers the materials, often at full strength only when a certified installer registered the job. The roofer covers the installation, and that promise lasts only as long as the roofer stays in business. Compare the roof's age with the permit date and with any hail or wind claim on the claim history.

A plumbing repair under a slab should come with a permit and a pressure test afterward. A new electrical panel, a service upgrade or new circuits need a permit and a licensed electrician. A full heating and cooling replacement usually needs a mechanical permit, and longer parts coverage often depends on registering the equipment soon after the install.

Additions, garage conversions and pools almost always need permits. Compare the living area in the listing with the appraisal district or assessor record, since a gap can point to space that was never permitted. For solar, ask whether the panels are owned, leased or financed, and check the county records for a financing statement filed against them.

How to read the area facts for value, taxes and flood

The finder never estimates what a house is worth. Its Census figures are ZIP code statistics from the American Community Survey five-year estimates. The median home value is what owners told the survey their homes would sell for, so it is neither a sale price nor an appraisal. Median taxes are what owners reported paying. For the real numbers on this house, use the appraisal district or assessor link.

The flood zone comes from FEMA's flood maps at the point the Census matched, which can fall at the street rather than the house. Zones that start with A or V are Special Flood Hazard Areas, and a mortgage there from a federally regulated or insured lender requires flood insurance. Confirm the zone on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county against every other county for 18 natural hazards. It does not rate shrink-swell clay, which is why the finder adds our soil score from USDA soil survey data, explained on the foundation risk map.

More on buying a house with a repaired foundation

If the finder turns up a foundation permit, these pages go deeper. Our guide to buying a house with a previous foundation repair covers what to ask before you make an offer, and how a foundation warranty transfers in Texas walks through the paperwork. For a house inside San Antonio or Austin city limits, read foundation repair permits in San Antonio or foundation repair permits in Austin. Before you close, see why a foundation inspection before buying a house pays for itself, and how to check that a foundation repair company is licensed. The soil under the ZIP is on our foundation risk map, and if you already have a report you're unsure about, ask for a foundation second opinion.

Where the data comes from

Every record in the finder comes from a government source or an openly licensed dataset, and each result names its source. Address suggestions come from Google Maps. The city and county come from the US Census Bureau, and for Texas addresses also from the Texas Comptroller's city limits map, which follows annexations more closely. Contractor license status comes from the state boards' own published license lists, with the board and date shown next to it. ZIP medians come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The flood zone comes from FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer, and county hazard ratings from FEMA's National Risk Index. The soil score is ours, built from USDA soil survey data. Permit records appear only for cities that publish them as open data under terms that allow reuse and that we have connected so far, and the license is shown with the records. Permit portals, appraisal districts, assessors, county clerks and state licensing boards are linked, never copied. Each link shows how well we could confirm it, and checked links show the date.

The finder is not an appraisal, a broker price opinion, a survey, a title search, or legal, tax or financial advice. It is not a consumer report and must not be used to decide credit, insurance, employment or rentals. It reports on the property and the area's physical hazards only. Confirm anything that matters with the office that keeps the record.