Methodology
How we calculate closure rates and which permits we count for Cleveland.
What is a closure rate?
When a contractor pulls a building permit in Cleveland, 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.
Included permits
Cleveland’s Department of Building and Housing publishes permits via an ArcGIS Feature Service. We include permits by PERMIT_SUBTYPE:
| Subtype | Description |
|---|---|
| Residential | Residential construction permits (~136K) |
| Commercial | Commercial construction permits (~51K) |
| Building / Building Permits | General building permits |
| Elevator or Dumbwaiter / Elevator, Escalator, Lifts / Escalator | Elevator and escalator permits (~2.5K) |
| Mechanical | Mechanical work permits |
The PERMIT_CATEGORY field provides further classification (New, Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, etc.) and is available as a leaderboard filter option.
Excluded permits
The following records are excluded from closure rate calculations based on their PERMIT_CATEGORY:
| Excluded Category | Reason |
|---|---|
| Board-ups | Emergency property securing, not construction work (~20K rows) |
| Antenna | Antenna installation, not building construction |
| Storm Water Run-off | Environmental permits, not building construction |
| Zoning (Fences, Signs, Parking, Review) | Zoning approvals, not construction permits |
| Pre-issuance statuses | Application, review, and plan check statuses excluded (not yet issued) |
| Cancelled/voided | Cancelled permits excluded from all calculations |
Applicant identification
Cleveland’s dataset includes two contractor fields: CONTRATOR_BUSINESS_NAME (business name, preferred) and CONTRACTOR_NAME (individual name). We use the business name when available, falling back to the individual name. Together these fields are populated on approximately 86% of all permits.
Status mapping
Cleveland permits use a CURRENT_TASK_STATUS field with 40 distinct values. We map these to our open/closed system:
| Status | Classification |
|---|---|
| Inspection Approved / Inspection Passed | Counted as closed — inspection passed |
| Permit Closed | Counted as closed — formally closed |
| Permit Closed/Non-Compliant | Counted as closed — closed non-compliant |
| Inspection Approved - C.O. Req | Counted as closed — CO required |
| Complete | Counted as closed — work complete |
| Permit Issuance Approved / Issued | Counted as open — permit issued |
| Inspection Pending / Failed | Counted as open — awaiting or failed inspection |
| Reopened / Closure Pending | Counted as open — in progress |
| All other statuses | Excluded — pre-issuance, cancelled, or administrative |
Deduplication
Each permit has a unique PERMIT_NUMBER. The standard deduplication process runs during each nightly refresh to handle any edge cases.
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., Residential, Commercial, Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing). 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 Cleveland 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 City of Cleveland Department of Building and Housing at .