Methodology

What is a closure rate?

When a contractor pulls a building permit in Cary, an inspector needs to verify the work was completed correctly before the permit can be closed. A closure rate measures the percentage of an applicant’s permits that have been properly closed:

The 365-day eligibility rule

A contractor who pulled a permit last month hasn’t had time to complete the work yet. To avoid penalizing recent activity, we only count permits issued more than 365 days ago when calculating closure rates.

Permits issued within the last year still appear in the data but are dimmed in the table and not factored into the rate.

Data source

Permits come from the Town of Cary Development Services department, published as dataset permit-applications on the Town of Cary Open Data portal (OpenDataSoft). The dataset uses the BLDS (Building & Land Development Specification) standard schema, covers permits from 2019 to present, and is refreshed daily. As of early 2026 the dataset contains approximately 80K permit records.

Included permit types

We include five BLDS-standard permit type categories from the PermitTypeMapped field:

Approximately 13% of records have no mapped permit type (raw codes like SIGN, DEV1, OPFP, etc.) and are excluded from filter categories but still appear in the “All Types” view if they have a ratable status.

Status mapping

Status classification uses the BLDS StatusCurrentMapped field:

Permit Cancelled, In Review, Fees/Payment, Appeal, and Application Accepted statuses are excluded as non-actionable records.

Applicant identification

Address and geographic data

Addresses come from the OriginalAddress1 field. ZIP codes and latitude/longitude coordinates are available for 99–100% of permits.

Valuation data

Cary publishes a ProjectCost field representing the declared project valuation in dollars. This data is included in the permit table where available.

Leaderboard criteria

The leaderboard applies two additional filters:

• Minimum 20 rated permits — avoids surfacing statistically insignificant data.
• Active in the last 3 years — prevents the list from being populated by defunct companies.

The leaderboard can be filtered by permit type (e.g., Building, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Demolition). When filtered, both thresholds apply only to permits of the selected type.

Median comparison

On applicant detail pages, each closure rate is compared to the median closure rate across all leaderboard-eligible applicants in the same category. This gives context — a 50% closure rate means something different in a category where the median is 40% versus one where it’s 80%.

Medians are calculated from the same pool of applicants who meet the 20-permit minimum threshold.

Data source

All data comes from the Approved Building Permits dataset on Town of Cary Open Data. The dataset is refreshed nightly.

Limitations

This site shows permit closure data. It does not evaluate the quality of anyone’s work. There are legitimate reasons a permit may remain open:

• Client non-cooperation — the property owner may fail to schedule the final inspection or grant access.
• Administrative backlog — work may be inspected and approved but not yet updated in the system.
• Project delays — financing, design changes, supply chain issues, or other factors outside the applicant’s control.
• Multi-phase projects — large commercial projects may legitimately take years to complete.
• Permit holder vs. contractor — the applicant may be a GC, architect, or owner — not necessarily the person scheduling the inspection.

If you believe there are inaccuracies in the underlying permit data, contact the Town of Cary Development Services at .