Florida permit tracking, from application to close-out
Start with the county requirements, add the permit, record inspections, and see the next date that needs attention. FL Permit Pay keeps the record together while your team confirms requirements and files with the building department.
What you will do
- Start the permit record
- Track inspections
- Review the estimated county clock
Why permit tracking is its own job in Florida
- Permit status lives in three different Accela portals (HillsGovHub, PascoGateway, Pinellas Access Portal), each with its own login and no public status feed.
- A permit can quietly expire before the job is finaled, stopping work and stalling the draw, because nothing warns you the date is near.
- Inspection scheduling, results, and correction cycles get tracked by hand across a dozen open permits, so things fall through.
- As HB 803 takes effect, the county owes you a fee reduction when it blows a review deadline, but only if you know your window and watch it.
Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas all run their permit and inspection portals on Accela, under three different brands, and none of the three expose an open public feed. Public lookup is a no-login web page, not a data feed, so there is no sanctioned way to pull live status automatically without a per-county agreement. That is why the reliable system of record is your own tracked list, not a scraper.
The expiration is the part that hurts. An open permit with an expiration date that nobody is watching can lapse before final inspection, and the first person to notice is often the inspector. Once it lapses, work stops and the draw stalls.
Florida's HB 803 (Ch. 2026-63, effective July 1, 2026) adds real leverage: under Fla. Stat. §553.792, a building department must act on a complete application inside a set number of business days by type (5 to 60), or reduce your permit fee by 10% for every business day it runs late. That leverage is only real if you know your window and count business days from a complete application.
Getting a Florida rule wrong is the whole risk, so a permit tracker here has to be traceable to the source and honest where the source hedges, rather than confidently inventing a status or a deadline.
How FL Permit Pay tracks a Florida permit
- 1
Run the county pre-check before you file
Choose the county and the work type. Mapped Tampa Bay counties show sourced local guidance; other counties show Florida's statewide baseline and a link to confirm locally.
- 2
Start a tracked permit from the result or by hand
Create the permit record from the pre-check or add it manually. Enter the permit number, address, work type, application date, issue date, expiration date, and county fee.
- 3
Move it from applied to final
Update the permit as it moves from applied to issued, inspections, and final. Add each inspection date and result so the next action stays visible on the job.
- 4
Get warned before a permit lapses
Open permits rise on the Today page as an expiration approaches. Review the date, schedule the remaining inspection, and confirm the permit status with the county.
- 5
Track the county's review clock (HB 803 / §553.792)
Enter the complete-application date and choose the matching review track. FL Permit Pay shows the estimated business-day window, pauses the count for requested corrections, and flags when the estimate needs confirmation with the department.
Sourced, and honest about its edges
- Estimate from the applied date — confirm with the building department. Deadline tracking, not legal advice.
- Review windows and the fee-reduction estimate come from Fla. Stat. §553.792 as amended by HB 803. FL Permit Pay counts conservatively and pauses the estimate when the department requests a correction.
- Permit status is entered by your team. Confirm live status, fees, inspection requirements, and filing instructions with the county portal or building department.
- Emergency extension dates are planning guidance sourced to Fla. Stat. §252.363. Confirm the dates and notice requirements with the issuing authority.
Common questions
Does Florida permit tracking software pull my permit status automatically from Hillsborough, Pasco, or Pinellas?
No. Your team records the current permit and inspection status in FL Permit Pay. This works across Florida counties and keeps the county's wording with the job, but you still confirm live status in the county portal.
How does the software track the HB 803 permit review deadline?
Enter the date the complete application went in and choose the review track. FL Permit Pay shows the applicable §553.792 estimate, pauses for requested corrections, and flags when the estimated window has passed. Confirm the result with the building department.
Will it warn me before a permit expires?
Yes. Open permits that carry an expiration date surface on your command center as the date approaches, roughly 30 days out, then inside a week, then overdue, anchored to Florida time so a permit does not lapse before the job is finaled without warning.
Does it cover counties outside Tampa Bay?
Yes, for tracking. Manual permit and inspection tracking works statewide across Florida's 67 counties. Sourced job-type pre-checks are currently verified for the mapped Tampa Bay counties (Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas); everywhere else you get Florida's statewide baseline plus the county's portal, clearly labeled as a baseline with a link to confirm.
Put the guide to work.
See the Permit and Inspection Hub and the HB 803 review clock to track the Florida permit records your team adds from application to close-out.