The Portland Permit Metric Dashboard provides permit customers with a brief overview of the lengths of different phases of the permit review process. The data is updated each Monday.
Residential and commercial permits are divided into four work types:
- Addition: These are permits for work that involves an extension or increase in the floor area, number of stories or height of a building or structure.
- Alteration: These are permits for any construction or renovation of an existing structure other than repair or addition.
- Demolition: As the name indicates, these are permits for the demolition of an existing building.
- New construction: These are permits for the development of new structures.
The dashboard provides information on the average numbers of days taken for each type of permit during the following periods of review:
Application Submittal to First Scan: This illustrates the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application in Development Hub PDX (the City’s online permit application portal) to when it receives its first scan for completeness by City staff.
Application Submittal to Permit Setup: This indicates the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application to when a permit is set up for technical screening by zoning and structural reviewers. The permit moves to “Under Review” status upon the payment of intake fees by the applicant.
Application Submittal to Approved to Issue: This highlights the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application through the completion of all required reviews. Once a permit achieves “Approved to Issue” status, it awaits final payment of permit fees by the applicant before the permit can be issued.
Application Submittal to Permit Issuance: This illuminates the average number of business days from the submittal of a permit application to when the permit is issued, including payment of all fees. The issuance of a permit allows construction to begin.
For the permits that achieve “Approved to Issue” or “Issued” status, the dashboard indicates the average time that City review groups take to review permit plans. It also indicates the average time customers take to respond to requests for more information to ensure that permits meet code requirements before they are issued.
The dashboard also illustrates the average amounts of time taken throughout the permit process from when a permit applicant pays their initial fees to when a permit enters a final quality control review before final fees are assessed:
- Intake Fees Paid to Final Review: This illustrates the average number of business days from the time a customer pays the initial permit intake fees through the completion of all mandatory reviews and when a permit enters the final review process.
Final Review to Approved to Issue: This shows the average number of business days it takes for the final quality control process to be completed and a final bill to be calculated and provided to the applicant for payment.
The dashboard also provides year-by-year comparisons, since 2021, of the numbers of residential and commercial building permits set up each year. It also includes the number of permit application submittals through Development Hub PDX that remain in pending status.
The Portland Permit Metric Dashboard does not include permits submitted through the following programs, which are tailored to specific types of customers and often have more streamlined permit review processes:
- Facility Permit Program, which serves commercial customers that often have frequent improvements for tenant space or other ongoing maintenance and upgrade needs
- Process Management Program, which works with larger commercial clients, such as hospitals and educational institutions, to manage each stage of a permit’s process
- Field Issuance Remodel Program that provides one-point-of-contact service for residential remodelers
View the Portland Permit Metric Dashboard
Have suggestions on how to improve the dashboard? Please submit your ideas here.