building permit

American  

noun

1. an official certificate of permission issued by local authorities to a builder to construct, enlarge, or alter a building.

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Example Sentences

She submitted her application in July, hoping to get started before demand overwhelmed the workforce, but didn’t get her building permit until January.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

The crowd included a practicing cardiologist from Belgium who had built an app to help patients navigate care, and a California lawyer who made a tool for automating building permit approvals using Claude Code.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 21, 2026

The foundations are for a hotel extension that attracted so much controversy last year that the country's top administrative court ended up temporarily blocking its building permit.

From Barron's • Feb. 12, 2026

Peter hopes to donate the statue to a fan club, but due to its size a building permit is required.

From BBC • Jun. 21, 2025

And finally now, just when he’d mastered the parking patterns at City Hall — he even knew which meters were jammed, so he could park free — he had his building permit.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen