Is a permit check free?

Running a check is free and needs no account. Saving the project — with the permit roadmap, the documents and the application prep — is what a plan covers, and the Starter plan is free and includes three checks a month.

Does this replace my building department?

No. GovCodex organizes and cites the rules your building department enforces. Permits are issued, reviewed and inspected by the local authority having jurisdiction.

What if my jurisdiction is not covered yet?

The check says so rather than guessing. Where a parcel record or a permit catalog is missing, the result labels the gap, shows what it could resolve, and points you at the office that decides.

Permit Check

See What Your Project Needs Before You Spend a Dollar

Describe the project and the property. GovCodex resolves the parcel, the governing authorities, the district standards, the overlays and the permit path — and labels the evidence behind every line.

What are you planning?

Property address

Know your setbacks or building footprint? Add measurements

Leave unknown values blank. Distances are from the proposed structure to property lines, not the curb.

Front property-line distance (ft)Smaller interior side distance (ft)Other interior side distance (ft)Rear property-line distance (ft)Proposed height (ft)Lot width (ft)Total impervious area after construction (sq ft)District code from your zoning office or map (optional)Used for conditional guidance only when the district cannot be resolved; it never overrides an official district.

Check combined side yards

Both side distances are needed to check a combined minimum. Use the property lines designated on your survey or site plan.

Lot configurationMy survey or site plan identifies these yard lines and the ordinance measurement origin; any projections are accounted for.

Check remaining building coverage

Use a complete total from your site plan or measurements. A proposed addition alone does not establish total coverage.

Total building and structure footprint after the project (sq ft)

Have separate existing and added areas?

Leave total above blank to sum these areas. Count retained structures plus net added footprint, without overlaps.

Existing footprint retained (sq ft)Net added footprint (sq ft)

Zoning-lot area sourceThe record confirms this is the complete zoning lot for this project.The total includes principal and accessory buildings and structures, including classified porches/decks, and excludes driveways, walks and paved patios. No component classification is unresolved.

This coverage definition is used only where supported by the cited ordinance. Building coverage and impervious surface are checked separately.

Residential use for these checksZero-lot-line or common-lot-line development?

Dimensions — optional

Running a check is free and needs no account. Data-backed coverage today: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Maryland.

READYAWAITING INPUT

ILLUSTRATION · NOT YOUR PARCEL

Enter a project and an address, then run the check. Nothing is saved until you create a project.

What a Permit Check Resolves

01The parcel, not the pinYour address is matched to a county parcel record with geometry, area and frontage. Where no such record exists, the result says so instead of drawing a box around a geocode.

02Every authority in playZoning, building, sanitary and environmental review are often different offices. Each is resolved per regulatory function, not per city name.

03Rules met by geometryDistrict standards and overlays are measured against the footprint you described, so conflicts show up as distances rather than as warnings.

04A permit path you can checkPermits are ordered with the reviewing authority and the required documents, and each finding carries the evidence tier behind it — cited ordinance, catalog default, or gap.

Permit Check Questions

A permit check resolves an address to a parcel, identifies the governing authorities, applies the zoning district standards and overlays, measures your proposed structure against the buildable envelope, and returns the permits required in the order they are filed.

See What Your Project Needs Before You Spend a Dollar

What a Permit Check Resolves

Permit Check Questions

What is a permit check?–

Is a permit check free?+

Does this replace my building department?+

What if my jurisdiction is not covered yet?+