Multi-City Building Permits Scraper

Overview

Scrapes building permits from multiple US cities using Socrata Open Data APIs. Supports NYC, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Boston, and more. Unified output format with filtering by permit type, date range, cost, and location.

Features

• Filter results by category or type
• Export data in JSON, CSV, or Excel formats
• Includes location and address data
• Control output volume with configurable result limits

Use Cases

• Track - Track state and local government data and permits
• Monitor - Monitor regulatory filings and public records
• Build - Build databases for civic tech and transparency projects
• Aggregate - Aggregate local government data for community research

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
city	string (required)	City to scrape permits from. Supported: nyc, chicago, la, sf, seattle, austin...	nyc
maxItems	integer	Maximum number of permits to scrape	1000
permitType	string	Filter by permit type (varies by city - e.g., 'BUILDING', 'ELECTRICAL', 'PLUM...
startDate	string	Filter permits issued on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
endDate	string	Filter permits issued on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
minCost	integer	Filter permits with estimated cost greater than or equal to this value
maxCost	integer	Filter permits with estimated cost less than or equal to this value
zipCode	string	Filter by ZIP code
neighborhood	string	Filter by neighborhood, borough, or district (varies by city)
contractorName	string	Filter by contractor name (partial match supported)

Output Example

Each result contains structured data like this:

{
  "title": "Sample Government - State/Local Result",
  "agency": "Department of Commerce",
  "date": "2025-01-15",
  "description": "Detailed description of the item...",
  "location": "San Francisco, CA",
  "documentUrl": "https://example.com/item/12345",
  "url": "https://example.com/item/12345"
}

Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-result pricing:

• $0.001 per result
• $1.00 per 1,000 results

No monthly fees. You only pay for what you scrape. Apify Free plan includes $5/month in platform credits.

How to Run

Apify Console

1. Go to the Multi-City Building Permits Scraper actor page
2. Configure your input parameters
3. Click Start and wait for the results
4. Download data in JSON, CSV, or Excel format

API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fortuitous_pirate~building-permits-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxItems": 10}'

Python SDK

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("fortuitous_pirate/building-permits-scraper").call(
    run_input={"maxItems": 10}
)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Integration

Connect Multi-City Building Permits Scraper with your existing tools and workflows:

• API access - Programmatic access via Apify API
• Webhooks - Get notified when scraping completes
• Scheduling - Set up recurring runs on any schedule
• Zapier / Make - Connect with 5,000+ apps via Apify integrations
• Python / Node.js SDKs - Native client libraries for easy integration