About GetYourPermit

What this is

GetYourPermit is a free tool for California homeowners planning an accessory dwelling unit. It gives you a permit-fee estimate and a permit-process guide for your city. There is no account, no paywall, and no charge for the estimate.

How the numbers are put together

Our California design and permitting experience shapes which questions the site answers. The public fee data itself is separated into two evidence levels:

Published sources — city fee schedules, ADU pages, and permit portals. We link the applicable source when it supports a fee line or process statement.

Working estimates — where a city has not published a usable line item, the value is an early planning assumption. It is labelled as a working estimate, excluded from our first search-index launch, and must be confirmed with the city.

How we keep it current

Each permit-process guide shows a verification date and its source list. Fee pages will receive a reviewed date only after we independently check the applicable city schedule; until then they remain excluded from search indexing. Every page also carries a Report an error link so you can flag a number that looks wrong.

What we don’t do

We don’t issue quotes, make government fee determinations, or give legal advice. If we haven’t written a city’s permit guide yet, the page says so directly instead of copying a neighboring city’s process, which is often wrong in ways that cost you time.

For the full breakdown of sources and reference sizes, see our methodology. To report an error or ask a question, email hello@getyourpermit.app.