How long do building permits take in Snohomish County

Measured from a permit application date to its issuance date for construction permits, or its decision date for design review and land use permits. Only permits that build something are counted. Maintenance and minor alteration work such as roof replacements, tenant improvements and repairs is left out, because how quickly a city turns around a roof replacement says nothing about how long it takes to get a building approved. Permits with missing dates, permits reopened after an administrative closure, and permits open longer than 5 years are excluded as well. A figure is published only once at least 20 qualifying permits sit behind it, so a phase with a thin record shows nothing at all rather than a number built on a handful of permits. Every figure called typical on this page is the median, the middle permit once they are lined up shortest to longest, so a handful of unusually slow permits cannot drag it. These are the same permits shown elsewhere on BuildVue for Snohomish County, so every number here traces back to a permit a visitor can look up. This page never compares Snohomish County to another city. Different jurisdictions define application and issuance differently, and each one publishes a different mix of project sizes, so a shorter figure in one city would not mean its process is faster and a side by side ranking would not be a fair comparison.