Every building permit in Arizona is a public record — the work, the dates, the status, and the contractor who pulled it. The catch is that each city publishes its own records its own way. Here are the three ways to search, fastest first, and how to read what you find.
Over 1 million AZ permits searchable; ~113,000 added in the last 12 months
Way 1: one statewide search (fastest)
Type the address into a statewide permit search and read the property’s full history in one place. PlumbIntel’s free lookup covers over a million Arizona permits — about 113,000 added in the last 12 months — unified across the city and county portals that publish, refreshed on each source’s real cadence, and joined to the parcel record so the ownership and the APN sit next to the permit history. You can also search by APN or by contractor name.
One honest caveat that applies to EVERY method: not every Arizona jurisdiction publishes permits online. We list the ones that don’t — with the reason — on the coverage page, so you know when “no results” means “no permits” versus “this city doesn’t publish.”
Way 2: the city’s own portal
Every publishing city runs its own search — Phoenix’s SHAPE PHX, Mesa’s data portal, Tucson and Yuma on their vendors’ systems, and so on. The city portal is authoritative for that city and sometimes exposes extra detail (inspection line items, plan documents). The tradeoffs: one city at a time, a dozen different interfaces, and search quality that varies widely — some only search by permit number.
Way 3: a public records request
For jurisdictions that publish nothing online, Arizona’s public records law (A.R.S. §39-121) still applies — the records exist; you request them from the city clerk or building department. Turnaround runs days to weeks. This is the only route for a handful of Arizona towns; our coverage page names them.
How to read a permit history
Four things to read off any property’s history: SCOPE (do the permits match the improvements you can see — is the addition, the remodel, the AC changeout on file?), STATUS (“finaled” means inspected and closed; a years-old permit still sitting “issued” means the final inspection never happened), DATES (the renovation timeline of the house), and CONTRACTORS (who did the work — and on our records, a link to their license status and history). Gaps between visible improvements and the paper trail are the red flag; that is the unpermitted-work signal.
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Frequently asked questions
Are building permits public record in Arizona?+
Yes — permits, their statuses, and the contractors who pulled them are public records under Arizona law. Most cities publish them online; the rest respond to records requests.
How do I look up permits on a house for free?+
Search the address on PlumbIntel’s free lookup — the property’s full permit history across every publishing Arizona jurisdiction, no signup. City portals are the free per-city alternative.
Can I search permits by APN or contractor instead of address?+
Yes — the parcel number resolves to the property’s record, and contractor search shows every permit a business has pulled statewide.
Why does a house show no permits?+
Three possibilities: genuinely no permitted work in the covered window, work done unpermitted, or the jurisdiction doesn’t publish records online. Check the coverage page to rule out the third before assuming the second.
What does "finaled" mean on a permit?+
The work passed final inspection and the permit is closed — the clean end state. "Issued" means work was authorized; an old permit stuck at issued suggests the final inspection never happened.
How current is permit data?+
Ours refreshes on each source’s real publishing cadence — most cities daily, some county reports weekly or monthly — and the coverage table shows a measured freshest-permit date per jurisdiction rather than a marketing claim.
Chris Brannan· Founder, Plumb Intelligence
Founder of Plumb Intelligence. Building the honest layer over Arizona’s public construction records — permits, parcels, licenses, and sales, fused and measured daily from Gilbert, AZ.
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