How long does a heat pump permit take in Seattle?

In Seattle, the typical heat pump permit was issued the same day it was applied for: 97% of 15,465 permits issued from September 2024 to September 2026 were. After the permit, the typical finished heat pump installation took 87 days from permit to final inspection (16,801 finished of 19,677 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024; 15% had no final inspection on record by September 2026).

Same dayfrom application to permitMiddle half: same day to same day
87 daysfrom permit to final inspectionMiddle half: 24 days to 7 months

The two steps

How long heat pump installations take in Seattle, in daysApplication to permit issued: median 0 days, middle half 0 to 0 days, 15,465 permits; Permit issued to final inspection: median 87 days, middle half 24 to 212 days, 16,801 permits.Application to permit issued: same dayPermit issued to final inspection: 87 days02 mo4 mo6 mo
Bars show the median; the line through each bar spans the middle half of jobs. The second step starts where the typical permit wait ends. The two steps come from different groups of permits, so they are not added up.
The numbers behind the chart
StepMedianMiddle halfPermitsPermits issued
Application to permit issuedsame daysame day to same day15,465September 2024 to September 2026
Permit to final inspection87 days24 days to about 7 months16,801September 2022 to September 2024

Heat pump installers with the most jobs in Seattle

RankContractorJobsContact
1Greenwood Heating & Home Services
Tukwila
3,740
Call (206) 784-1818
2Evergreen Home Heating & Energy
Seattle
2,486
Call (206) 763-1744
3Seatown Electric, Plumbing, Heating & Air Dba Seatown Services
Mukilteo
2,468
Call (206) 905-4946

See all 213 ranked heat pump installers

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Permit wait by year issued

Year issuedJobsMedianMiddle half
20222,498same daysame day to same day
202310,339same daysame day to same day
20248,981same daysame day to same day
20257,996same daysame day to same day
20265,297same daysame day to same day

Why it takes this long

  • 97% of permits were issued the day they were applied for, and 100% within 30 days (15,465 permits).
  • 13 more permits issued in those dates carry no application date and are left out of the permit wait.
  • The longer step is building and inspection: same day for the permit against 87 days from permit to final, at the median.
  • 51% of finished jobs passed final inspection within 90 days of the permit.
  • Of the 19,677 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024, 2,876 (15%) had no final inspection on record by September 2026. They may still be under way, dropped or never inspected; the records do not say which. They are left out of the build time; any of them that finishes will have taken more than two years, so counting them would make the typical time longer.

Days are counted between the dates on each city permit: applieddate, issueddate, completeddate. Median and middle half: half of the jobs took longer than the median; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. A figure is shown only when it rests on 30 or more permits. Kinds of work are sorted by the same rules as our contractor lists. Source: Seattle Building, Electrical and Trade Permits (data.seattle.gov 76t5-zqzr, c4tj-daue, c87v-5hwh), read 2026-09-24. The same figures as data: heat-pump.json.