# US Building Permits Feed - NYC, Chicago, LA & Austin (`datadeltas/us-building-permits-feed`) Actor

Daily feed of NEWLY issued building permits from official city open-data APIs. Filter by trade (solar, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, demolition), valuation and zip code. Emits only permits it has never seen - schedule it and feed your contractor lead pipeline.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datadeltas/us-building-permits-feed.md
- **Developed by:** [Daniel Matthee](https://apify.com/datadeltas) (community)
- **Categories:**
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 new permit detecteds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## US Building Permits Feed — New Permit Alerts (NYC, Chicago, LA, Austin)

A scheduled feed of **newly issued building permits** straight from the
official city open-data APIs — no scraping, no stale exports. Run it on a
daily schedule and every run emits ONLY the permits it has never seen
before, already filtered to your trade, your minimum job value and your
zip codes. You pay per new permit detected, not per page fetched.

Built as a monitor, not a one-shot scraper: it keeps a per-city
last-issued-date watermark plus the set of permit numbers already
delivered, so a rerun on the same day emits zero duplicates and the next
morning's run emits exactly what is new.

### Who uses this

- **Solar installers**: `workTypes: ["solar"]` — every new rooftop PV
  permit in Chicago and NYC, with the contractor who pulled it (see who is
  winning work in your patch) or the homeowner going out to bid.
- **HVAC / plumbing / electrical contractors**: new trade permits in your
  zip codes, daily, with addresses and job descriptions — call while the
  project is live, not after it is finished.
- **Building-material suppliers & proptech**: `minValuation: 100000` for
  a feed of significant construction starts with valuations, coordinates
  and (where published) the general contractor.

### City coverage (v1)

| City | Source (official) | Typical volume | Freshness |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | DOB NOW Approved Permits, NYC Open Data | ~2,500–3,500/week | Daily updates |
| Chicago | Building Permits, Chicago Data Portal | ~500–700/week | Daily updates |
| Los Angeles | LADBS Building Permits Issued (2020–present) | ~1,000–1,300/week | **Weekly** portal refresh — set `sinceDays` to 14 to always bridge the gap |
| Austin | Issued Construction Permits, Austin Open Data | ~900–1,200/week | Daily updates |

Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix and Dallas are next on the roadmap.

### Example output

```json
{
  "city": "nyc",
  "permitNumber": "B01448018-I1-SL",
  "permitType": "Initial Permit",
  "workClass": "solar",
  "workClassRaw": "Solar",
  "description": "Installation of solar panels, Roof Top, Grid Tied, railed, (16) Modules, (6.56) kW System Size",
  "address": "1969 HENDRICKSON STREET Brooklyn",
  "zipCode": "11234",
  "valuation": 32800.0,
  "issuedDate": "2026-08-25",
  "applicantName": "Mina Makar",
  "contractorName": "MOMENTUM SOLAR",
  "latitude": 40.613135,
  "longitude": -73.813281,
  "sourceUrl": "https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/rbx6-tga4.json?work_permit=B01448018-I1-SL",
  "detectedAt": "2026-08-31T02:14:09Z"
}
```

`workClass` is one normalised enum across all four cities —
`residential | commercial | solar | demolition | electrical | plumbing |
mechanical | other` — and `workClassRaw` always keeps the portal's own
wording, so you can filter consistently without losing detail.

### Input options

| Field | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `cities` | all four | Which city portals to check (`nyc`, `chicago`, `la`, `austin`) |
| `workTypes` | all work | Only emit these normalised work classes |
| `minValuation` | 0 | Minimum stated job value in USD (permits without a published value are excluded when set) |
| `zipCodes` | all zips | Only permits at a site in these 5-digit zips |
| `sinceDays` | 7 | Backfill window for the first run; later runs only emit unseen permits |
| `maxItems` | 1000 | Cap per run — overflow permits carry over to the next run |
| `stateStoreName` | `us-building-permits-feed-state` | Change it to reset the monitor and re-emit the backfill |

### Honest data notes (so you are not surprised)

- **Chicago publishes no site zip code** — `zipCode` is null for Chicago,
  so a `zipCodes` filter excludes Chicago entirely. Use coordinates instead.
- **Austin publishes valuations only on building (BP) permits** — trade
  permits (electrical/plumbing/mechanical) carry `valuation: null`.
- **LA publishes no applicant/contractor names** in its permits dataset.
- `contractorName` and `applicantName` are only ever what the city portal
  itself displays publicly — no enrichment, no scraped phone numbers.
- One portal being down never kills the run: the other cities still emit,
  the failed city's watermark stays put, and its permits arrive on the
  next successful run.

### Reliability & maintenance

- Every run logs per-city fetch and emit counts so you can audit it from
  the Apify console alone.
- Schema drift on any portal logs a clear warning naming the field and
  degrades that field to null — the feed keeps flowing.
- Field mappings are checked against all four portals' live APIs; the
  work-class normalisation table covers every value the portals currently
  publish.

### Pricing events

- Actor start: $0.005 per run
- New permit detected: $0.005 per permit emitted
- City checked: $0.001 per portal successfully checked

A daily all-cities run with no new permits matching your filters costs
under a cent. A solar installer watching one city typically sees 5–60
new permits a day.

### Changelog

- **0.2** — `maxItems` is now split fairly across the cities you select, so a
  multi-city run with a small cap no longer returns only the first city's
  permits. Nothing was skipped: capped-out permits still carry over to the
  next run.
- **0.1** — initial release: NYC (DOB NOW), Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin;
  normalised `workClass`; watermark + seen-permit dedupe; trade, valuation
  and zip filters.

# Actor input Schema

## `cities` (type: `array`):

Which city portals to check. Default: all of them.

## `workTypes` (type: `array`):

Only emit permits in these normalised work classes (the raw portal string is always kept in workClassRaw). Leave empty for all work.

## `minValuation` (type: `integer`):

Only emit permits with a stated job value of at least this many USD. Permits without a published valuation are excluded when this is set (Chicago and Austin trade permits often publish none).

## `zipCodes` (type: `array`):

Only emit permits whose site zip code is in this list (5-digit match). Note: Chicago's portal does not publish site zip codes, so this filter excludes all Chicago permits.

## `sinceDays` (type: `integer`):

How many days of issued permits to scan. On the first run this is your backfill; on later runs only permits not seen before are emitted.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Cap on new permits emitted in a single run (cost control). Permits over the cap are picked up on the next run.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named key-value store holding per-city watermarks and seen permit numbers. Change it to reset the monitor and re-emit the backfill.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "nyc",
    "chicago",
    "la",
    "austin"
  ],
  "minValuation": 0,
  "sinceDays": 7,
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "stateStoreName": "us-building-permits-feed-state"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `records` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datadeltas/us-building-permits-feed").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datadeltas/us-building-permits-feed").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call datadeltas/us-building-permits-feed --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,datadeltas/us-building-permits-feed"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/BnRt4C96FUeulrOQ0/builds/Sfiktzpzfnal4iWfd/openapi.json