Licenses and Inspections Building and Zoning Permits

The Department of Licenses & Inspections reviews construction plans and conducts building inspections to ensure the safety of the workers and the public. [Zoning permits](https://business.phila.gov/zoning-basics/) are issued to authorize new construction or additions to a building or to authorize the change of use in a building or ground. [Building permits](https://www.phila.gov/services/permits-violations-licenses/build-rent-or-sell-a-property/get-a-building-permit/) are required before the start of a specific construction activity to enlarge, repair, change, add to or demolish a structure, and to install equipment or systems in a structure. Depending on the scale or type of construction activity, it may need to be first authorized via a zoning permit. Permit contractors are also available as a dataset. Plumbing and electrical permits, among others, may also be required for new or existing buildings. **Please note that this is a very large dataset.** **If you are comfortable with APIs, you can also use the API links to access this data. You can learn more about how to use the API at Carto’s SQL API site and in the Carto guide in the section on making calls to the API.**