How to look up a building permit in McHenry County, Illinois

SmartGov's public search returns permits by address or permit number and shows the issued date and current status. The outstanding-conditions list is visible on the record, which tells you exactly what is blocking a permit from closing.

Using SmartGov specifically

McHenry County, Illinois uses SmartGov. The portal handles applications, fee payment and inspection scheduling, and shows a checklist of outstanding items on each permit.

SmartGov treats each trade sub-permit as its own record. A project can show a closed building permit while an open electrical sub-permit still prevents final sign-off.

Search by parcel number where you can

Street addresses are renumbered, re-suffixed and reassigned as areas develop, and a house standing for sixty years may have had three of them. Parcel numbers usually survive all of it, so a parcel search returns the complete history where an address search returns a partial one. Where address search is the only option, enter the house number and street name without the suffix — most systems match the string literally and fail on "Rd" against "Road".

Reading what comes back

• Issued — work is authorised and inspections are outstanding.
• Finaled or closed — passed final inspection. This is what you want to see on a property you are buying.
• Open — issued but never signed off. It transfers with the property.
• Expired — the validity window lapsed without inspection activity.
• Void or withdrawn — the application never became a permit.

If nothing comes back

Before concluding that work was unpermitted, rule out the likelier explanations. Records predating SmartGov at this office are frequently not loaded. The work may sit with another agency — septic with the health department, driveways with public works, floodplain with the state. Or the property may be inside a city, in which case the municipality holds the record and McHenry County will show nothing at all. Ask the office to check the paper file before you draw a conclusion.

Our guide to looking up permits covers the records-request route where no online search exists.