County Guide
New Hanover County, NC Building Permits: Who Issues
New Hanover County Building Safety issues permits across the county, including in Wilmington and Carolina Beach. How to find and track records.
If you are pulling a permit or researching one in New Hanover County, North Carolina, the office you want is New Hanover County Building Safety. It is the building code authority for the whole county, and unlike most metro areas, it issues building permits inside the City of Wilmington and the Town of Carolina Beach too, not just in unincorporated areas. Here is who issues permits, what the county covers, and how to look up a record.
Who Issues Building Permits in New Hanover County?
Building permits in New Hanover County are issued by New Hanover County Building Safety. The department reviews applications, enforces the North Carolina State Building Code, issues the permit, and runs the inspections. It is the authority having jurisdiction for construction across the county. If that term is new to you, see our guide to what the AHJ is.
The county runs an online portal called COAST, the Customer Online Application and Services Tool. Contractors and owners apply, upload plans, pay fees, schedule inspections, and check status through it. The portal also lets the public follow where a permit sits in the review process.
What the County Covers vs. the Cities Inside It
New Hanover County is set up differently from most large counties. In many places each incorporated city runs its own building department, but here the county issues building permits county-wide. That includes projects inside the City of Wilmington and the Town of Carolina Beach.
The cities still handle their own zoning. In Wilmington, the city's zoning section has to approve a building permit application before the county issues the permit, and historic districts can add a certificate of appropriateness. Carolina Beach follows the same pattern: the town clears zoning first, then the county issues the building permit. So for a project in one of these municipalities, you deal with the city for land use and the county for the building permit itself.
How to Look Up Permits in New Hanover County
Start with the official source. Search the county's COAST portal by address, permit number, or contractor to pull the current record, including status and inspection history. Building permits in the county are public record, which we cover in are building permits public record.
For a faster read on what is happening across the county, use Permit Ledger's live New Hanover County permit tracker. It pulls residential permits from the official feed every week and summarizes activity so you can see trends without paging through individual records.
Permit Activity in New Hanover County
The county's feed listed about 4,200 residential permit records in the trailing 30 days as of mid-July 2026. That figure counts records, not projects: the feed often lists the same permit under more than one spelling of its address, so the number of distinct permit applications behind it is roughly 2,000, about level with the prior 30-day period. The count covers renovation, remodel, addition, solar, and pool work, not new commercial construction.
Roughly 2,000 applications a month is a steady clip for a county of about 245,000 people, and it fits the consistent coastal building demand around Wilmington. For contractors and suppliers, the read is stable activity through early summer, heavy on HVAC and electrical work.
Who Uses This Data
County permit data is a working tool for several groups: remodeling, roofing, HVAC, and solar contractors use fresh filings as high-intent leads; investors watch for active projects and stalled permits; and direct mail marketers build address lists from recent renovation activity. Because the records are public, anyone can use them. To research a single address, see how to look up permit history by address.
Frequently asked questions
Who issues building permits in New Hanover County, NC?
New Hanover County Building Safety issues building permits across the county. It enforces the North Carolina State Building Code, issues permits, and performs inspections through its COAST online portal.
Does the City of Wilmington issue its own building permits?
No. Building permits inside Wilmington are issued by New Hanover County Building Safety. The city handles zoning approval first, and historic districts may require a certificate of appropriateness, but the building permit comes from the county.
What is the COAST portal?
COAST, the Customer Online Application and Services Tool, is New Hanover County's online permitting system. You can apply for permits, upload plans, pay fees, schedule inspections, and check the status of a record through it.
Are New Hanover County building permits public record?
Yes. Building permit records in New Hanover County are public. You can search them through the county's COAST portal or review county-wide activity on Permit Ledger's New Hanover County tracker.
How do I search for a permit in New Hanover County?
Search the county's COAST portal by address, permit number, or contractor to find a specific record. For a broader view of county activity, use Permit Ledger's live New Hanover County permit tracker.
See Live New Hanover County Permit Data →Related guides
- What Is the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction)?
- What Is a Parcel Number? Definition and How to Find It
- Unpermitted Work: What Happens If You're Caught
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