Building Permits Search

Search building permits across major US cities. Find construction projects, renovations, demolitions, and contractor information from official government open data.

Why Use This Actor?

Construction and permit data is scattered across city websites with clunky interfaces. This actor gives you clean, structured data from official city open data portals - perfect for lead generation, market research, and real estate analysis.

Who This Is For

• Contractors - Find new construction projects and potential clients
• Real Estate Investors - Track development activity in target neighborhoods
• Sales Teams - Generate leads from permit data (solar, HVAC, roofing)
• Researchers - Study urban development patterns and construction trends
• Journalists - Investigate development projects and building code issues

Supported Cities

City	State	Data Source
Chicago	IL	data.cityofchicago.org
San Francisco	CA	data.sfgov.org
New York City	NY	data.cityofnewyork.us (Legacy + DOB NOW)
Austin	TX	data.austintexas.gov
Seattle	WA	data.seattle.gov
Boston	MA	data.boston.gov
Any Socrata city	-	Custom URL support

Custom City Support

Use any city that publishes building permits through Socrata. Find permit datasets at:

• Data.gov Permits
• OpenDataNetwork

Features

• Search by description - Find permits containing keywords (solar, renovation, demolition)
• Filter by contractor - Search by contractor or applicant business name
• Cost range filtering - Find projects within a budget range ($10k-$100k)
• Date presets - Quick filters: last 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, this year
• Address search - Filter by street name
• Permit type filter - Find specific permit types (electrical, plumbing, etc.)

Input

Field	Type	Description
city	string	City: chicago, san_francisco, new_york, austin, seattle, nyc_dob_now, boston, or custom
customUrl	string	Socrata API URL for custom cities
query	string	Search in permit description
address	string	Filter by street name
permitType	string	Filter by permit type
contractor	string	Filter by contractor/applicant name
costMin	integer	Minimum project cost ($)
costMax	integer	Maximum project cost ($)
datePreset	string	last_7_days, last_30_days, last_90_days, this_year, last_year
dateFrom	string	Custom start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	string	Custom end date (YYYY-MM-DD)
maxResults	integer	Maximum results (1-1000, default: 100)

Output

{
  "permitNumber": "7065213-CN",
  "permitType": "Addition/Alteration",
  "status": "Issued",
  "address": "4309 NE 55TH ST",
  "description": "Construct deck additions & alterations",
  "issueDate": "2024-11-15",
  "estimatedCost": 75000,
  "contractor": "ABC CONSTRUCTION LLC",
  "city": "Seattle",
  "state": "WA",
  "latitude": "47.5778",
  "longitude": "-122.4018"
}

Example Searches

Find high-value projects in Seattle (last 30 days)

{
  "city": "seattle",
  "datePreset": "last_30_days",
  "costMin": 100000,
  "maxResults": 100
}

Search by contractor in NYC

{
  "city": "nyc_dob_now",
  "contractor": "ABC CONSTRUCTION",
  "maxResults": 50
}

Find solar permits in Chicago

{
  "city": "chicago",
  "query": "solar",
  "datePreset": "this_year",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Find renovation permits in Boston

{
  "city": "boston",
  "query": "renovation",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Projects between $50k-$200k in San Francisco

{
  "city": "san_francisco",
  "costMin": 50000,
  "costMax": 200000,
  "datePreset": "last_90_days"
}

Data Source

All data comes from official city open data portals using the Socrata API. This is public information that cities are required to publish.

Pricing

Pay per result - only pay for what you get:

• Actor start: $0.00005 per run
• Per result: $0.004 per permit

Search	Results	Cost
10 permits	10	$0.04
100 permits	100	$0.40
500 permits	500	$2.00