# US Building Permits Scraper (6 Major Cities) (`juicy_fillet/us-building-permits`) Actor

Fresh building permits from 6 major US cities in one format: address, work description, project cost, owner and contractor names. Built for contractor and home-services lead gen.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/juicy_fillet/us-building-permits.md
- **Developed by:** [Xander Yushchak](https://apify.com/juicy_fillet) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## US Building Permits Scraper (6 Major Cities)

Get **fresh building permits from 6 major U.S. cities** in one consistent format: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin and Seattle. Each row has the address, work description, permit type, project cost and status, plus owner and contractor names (and contractor phone in Austin) where the city publishes them.

### What you can use it for

- **Contractor and home-services lead gen:** roofers, solar, HVAC, pools, kitchens, windows, landscaping.
- **Suppliers:** find active job sites and the contractors running them.
- **Real estate and investors:** spot renovation and new construction activity by area.
- **Market research:** construction activity by city and type.

### How it works

The actor queries each city's official open-data portal, filters by date, keywords and cost, and maps every city's different column names into one schema.

### Input example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "austin",
    "chicago",
    "new-york"
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "roof",
    "solar"
  ],
  "daysBack": 7,
  "minCost": 10000,
  "onlyWithContractor": true,
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

Every option is described in the Input tab. Set **Max results** to control how much you pay for.

### Output example

```json
{
  "city": "Austin, TX",
  "permitNumber": "2026-128064 EP",
  "issuedDate": "2026-10-03",
  "address": "6403 JOHNNY MORRIS RD UNIT 12",
  "neighborhood": "Council district 1",
  "zipCode": "78724",
  "permitType": "Electrical Permit",
  "workClass": "Residential - Repair",
  "description": "Replace panel and meter with permanent pole",
  "estimatedCost": 1500.0,
  "status": "Active",
  "ownerName": null,
  "ownerAddress": null,
  "contractorName": "Wise Electrical Solutions LLC",
  "contractorContact": "Jane Doe",
  "contractorLicense": "Electrical Contractor",
  "contractorAddress": "123 Example St",
  "contractorPhone": "512XXXXXXX",
  "applicantName": null,
  "applicantPhone": null,
  "latitude": 30.29759288,
  "longitude": -97.64966369,
  "url": "https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/permit/public-search-other?t_detail=1&t_selected_folderrsn=13780627"
}
```

Download results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or connect them to Google Sheets, Zapier, Make or your own code through the Apify API.

### How to use it

1. Click **Try for free** (new Apify accounts get monthly free credit).
2. Fill in the input, for example to get every new permit in Austin and Seattle from the last 7 days.
3. Click **Start** and download the results as Excel, CSV, JSON or HTML, or open them in Google Sheets.

### How much does it cost?

You pay only for results: **$5 per 1,000 building permits** (about $0.50 for 100), plus a fraction of a cent per run. Set **Max results** to cap your spend. Apify's free plan credit covers a lot of test runs.

### Integrations and API

Use it as a BuildZoom or Construction Monitor alternative for contractor leads. Run it on a schedule and send new results to Google Sheets, Slack, email, Zapier, Make, n8n or your own webhook, or call it from any language through the Apify API. It also works as a tool for AI agents through Apify's MCP server.

### Scheduling

Use Apify Schedules to run the actor daily or weekly and get only the latest records, for example with **Days back** set to 1 or 7.

### FAQ

**Which fields are available per city?**

Owner names: New York, Chicago. Contractor names: New York, Chicago, Austin, Seattle. Contractor phone: Austin. All cities have address, description, type and status.

**How fresh is the data?**

Most cities update daily. Los Angeles publishes with about a one-week delay.

**Can you add my city?**

Open an issue on the actor and we will add cities with an open-data permit feed.

**Something broken or missing?**

Open an issue in the Issues tab and it will be fixed.

# Actor input Schema

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

Which cities to search. Leave empty for all.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

Permits issued in this many recent days. Ignored when 'Date from' is set.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Keep permits whose description or type mentions any of these, e.g. 'roof', 'solar', 'pool', 'kitchen', 'demolition', 'hvac'.

## `minCost` (type: `integer`):

Skip permits with a lower reported project cost.

## `onlyWithContractor` (type: `boolean`):

Contractor names are available for New York, Chicago, Austin and Seattle.

## `maxItemsPerCity` (type: `integer`):

Stop each city after this many permits.

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

Stop after this many results. You only pay for results saved.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "new-york",
    "los-angeles",
    "chicago",
    "san-francisco",
    "austin",
    "seattle"
  ],
  "daysBack": 7,
  "onlyWithContractor": false,
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

All results saved by this run, in the default dataset.

# 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("juicy_fillet/us-building-permits").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("juicy_fillet/us-building-permits").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 juicy_fillet/us-building-permits --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/pGZ2y0c6X4jWES27l/builds/T09DP56dFBHPqfOdp/openapi.json