New Residential Construction

Building Permits Survey

• Form C-404, "Report of Building or Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately-Owned Housing Units" is used to obtain data for the Building Permits Survey. Statistics are based upon reports submitted by local building permit officials. PDF [103kb]
• Sample Letter, C404L1 is sent with Form C-404 to Annual Respondents: PDF [87kb]

• Form C-411, "Survey of Residential Building or Zoning Permit Systems" is used to canvass all active governments in the United States. The Building Permits universe is updated by adding all places found that have established a new permit system.
• Form C-411(C) is used to canvass non permit-issuing counties. PDF [95kb]
• Form C-411(M) is used to canvass non permit-issuing municipalities. PDF [80kb]
• Form C-411(V) is used to verify the explanatory geographic footnote for permit-issuing areas. PDF [65kb]
• Sample Letter, C411L is sent with Form C-411 to Active Governments: PDF [69kb]

Survey of Construction

The Census field representatives use interviewing software on laptop computers to collect the data. Facsimiles of the computer-based questionnaires are provided to respondents to familiarize them with the survey.

• Introductory Letter - Respondents: Form SOC-QI.1(L)  PDF  [124kb]
• Introductory Letter - Permit Office: Form SOC-QBPO.1(L)  PDF  [156kb]

These facsimiles show the questions regarding:

• Housing Units in Single-Family buildings: Form SOC-QI/SF.1  PDF  [150kb]
• Housing Units in Multifamily buildings: Form SOC-QI/MF.1  PDF [124kb]
• Building Permit Office (BPO) procedures: Form SOC-QBPO.1  PDF  [99kb]