How accurate is this?
The right question to ask software that reads sign codes. Here is exactly where every verdict comes from, what the engine refuses to guess at, and where our responsibility ends and the city’s begins.
Every rule is quoted, not paraphrased
PermitMySign checks signs against 113 rules across 12 covered jurisdictions. Each rule in our database carries two things it cannot exist without: the exact sentence quoted verbatim from the city’s published sign code, and a citation link to the city’s own source. Every verdict shows both — you never have to take our word for a rule, because the city’s words are one click away.
The math is deterministic — AI never computes a number
The compliance engine is ordinary, testable arithmetic: your sign’s measurements against the quoted thresholds. Run the same job twice and you get the same answer, and the reviewer’s math is printed with every verdict. Where we use AI at all, it drafts prose — customer updates, correction-letter responses — and never the pass/fail verdicts, fees, or dimensions. A language model can hallucinate a plausible-sounding number; our engine structurally cannot.
When we’re not sure, we say so
27 of the 113 rules are deliberately flagged “needs human review” — places where the city’s own sources are ambiguous, contradictory, or hinge on a judgment call (an overlay district boundary, a discretionary design standard). For those, you get the citation and the reason it’s ambiguous instead of a confident guess. We count these flags in public, per city, on the coverage page — honesty about the edges is what makes the rest trustworthy.
When each city was last verified
Each jurisdiction’s research is a versioned data pack, dated when a human verified its rules against the city’s published code. Cities do amend sign codes; if one changes between our verifications, the citation link on every verdict still takes you to the city’s current source — the quote is your prompt to check, not a substitute for the law.
- Tampa, FL5 rules · City fee estimator · 2 flagged for human reviewverified July 3, 2026
- Hillsborough County, FL5 rules · No public fee tableverified July 3, 2026
- Orlando, FL6 rules · Computed from job value · 1 flagged for human reviewverified July 3, 2026
- Orange County, FL4 rules · No public fee table · 2 flagged for human reviewverified July 3, 2026
- St. Pete, FL10 rules · Exact published fees · 6 flagged for human reviewverified July 7, 2026
- Pinellas County, FL12 rules · Computed from job value · 4 flagged for human reviewverified July 7, 2026
- Jacksonville, FL12 rules · Published tiers, some ranges · 1 flagged for human reviewverified July 7, 2026
- Dallas, TX10 rules · Published tiers, some rangesverified July 3, 2026
- Fort Worth, TX12 rules · Published tiers, some ranges · 1 flagged for human reviewverified July 7, 2026
- Houston, TX13 rules · Published tiers, some ranges · 4 flagged for human reviewverified July 7, 2026
- San Antonio, TX12 rules · Published tiers, some ranges · 4 flagged for human reviewverified July 7, 2026
- Phoenix, AZ12 rules · Exact published fees · 2 flagged for human reviewverified July 7, 2026
Where our responsibility ends
- The city always has the final say. A passing check means your sign clears the rules we quote; it is not a permit, and a reviewer can raise something no software anticipates. When that happens, the correction workspace exists precisely to answer it.
- This isn’t legal advice. We surface the city’s published rules with citations; for variances, hearings, and disputes you want a professional — and we tell you when that’s the right call.
- Some things software can’t do, and we don’t pretend: notarized letters, engineer stamps, and wet signatures become tracked to-dos with honest labels, never silently “handled.”
- If we get a rule wrong, tell us. Write to hello@permitmysign.com — a corrected rule ships to every user of that city at once, with a new verification date.
The fastest way to judge accuracy is to look at real output.