How building permits work in Philadelphia

Most building work in Philadelphia needs a permit from L&I, the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Applications, plan-review comments and approvals all run through eCLIPSE, the City’s online permit system.

Zoning and building

Work that adds space, units or a roof deck, changes the use or changes the footprint usually needs a zoning permit as well as a building permit. How the two fit together depends on the size of the project:

• Smaller projects — an addition to a single-family house, for example — can have zoning and building reviewed at the same time, when both applications are filed.
• Larger projects — apartment and mixed-use buildings — should finish zoning before the building permit application goes in.
• New one- and two-family houses are filed as a combination permit, which the City requires for them. Zoning approval is still needed before the building permit can be issued.

Either way, the building drawings have to match the approved zoning plan. If the design needs something the zoning code doesn’t allow by right — more height, less rear yard, more units — L&I issues a refusal (or, for a special exception, a referral), and the next step is an appeal to the Zoning Board. The appeal has to be filed within 30 days. See Zoning variances in Philadelphia.

Since July 1, 2026, new applications are reviewed under the 2021 International Codes with Philadelphia’s amendments.

Approvals to get before you apply

Some reviews have to be finished, or at least started, before L&I will take the application:

• Historical Commission, for a historically designated building or a property in a historic district. L&I refuses applications without it.
• Streets Department, for work in the right-of-way — a curb cut, driveway, steps, window wells. Apply to Streets before the L&I permit. It often comes up late, so we flag it early.
• Water Department, for new water or sewer service: the utility plan goes to PWD before the permit application.

Who files and who builds

Any owner, or the owner’s authorized agent — a contractor, an expediter, an attorney or a design professional — can file. We don’t file permit applications ourselves: usually your contractor or an expediter files with our drawings, and some owners file themselves. If you don’t have someone, we work closely with Permit Philly, a permit expediting firm, whose fees are separate from ours.

A Philadelphia-licensed contractor has to do the work, with exceptions for existing one- and two-family houses — for example, an owner who lives there.

Fees and review times

A nonrefundable filing fee — $25 for one- and two-family houses, $100 for other buildings — is paid with the application and counts toward the permit fee. The balance is paid once the permit is approved. The City publishes the full fee schedule.

L&I’s published review targets are 15 business days for one- and two-family work and 20 business days for other projects, with a paid accelerated review of 5 business days. Comments and resubmissions add time: when the examiner has comments, forward them to us right away. We revise the drawings and write a response, usually within a few business days, and whoever filed resubmits.

What most often holds an application up

• The owner’s name on the application has to match the deed exactly.
• Special inspections. When the engineer’s design calls for them, the application needs a Statement of Special Inspections, an agreement signed by every party and a named inspection agency. Missing signatures are a common reason these come back.
• Work next to a neighboring building — excavation, underpinning, demolition — can bring extra requirements, such as notice to the adjoining owner and a survey of the neighboring building before work starts.
• Missing approvals from the reviews above.

What this means for your project

Most of these are known on day one. We list the ones that apply in your project’s portal under “What we need from you”, with who provides each item, so nothing is a surprise at filing.

Permit rules change. This guide summarizes the City’s published guidance and our own experience; it isn’t a determination about your property. Check the City pages linked here for current fees and forms, and ask us what your building or lot allows.