# BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper`) Actor Scrape contractor profiles from buildzoom.com — license registry across 150+ jurisdictions, recent building permits with project addresses + descriptions, BZ Score, specialties, contact info, and project value statistics. Sitemap-driven discovery across 1.2M+ US contractor profiles. - **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation, Business, Automation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper Scrape contractor profiles from [BuildZoom](https://www.buildzoom.com), the database that aggregates US contractor licenses and building permits from 150+ municipal jurisdictions. Returns license registry, recent permits with project addresses, BZ Score, specialties, contact info, and project-value statistics across ~1.2M general and specialty contractors. --- ### BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper Features - Extracts 25+ structured fields per contractor profile. - Returns the full license registry — every county, city, or state license attached to a contractor, with issuer, license type, and identifier. - Captures recent building permits with project address, work category, issuer, validFrom date, and the original permit description. - Surfaces BuildZoom's proprietary **BZ Score** (0–200), which weights license status, permit volume, and consumer-feedback signals. - Pulls the contractor's published lifetime permit count and total dollar value (the headline "$8M across 116 permits" stat) straight from the page metadata. - Sitemap-driven discovery walks BuildZoom's 131 contractor sitemaps. You set `maxItems`, the scraper handles the rest. - Cloudflare-resistant. Uses Apify Residential US proxies with session rotation, so you don't get the "Sorry, you have been blocked" page. - Clean JSON output with consistent field names. Arrays are flattened to pipe-delimited strings so downstream tools don't need nested-object handling. --- ### Who Uses BuildZoom Contractor Data? - **Construction software vendors** — Build target lists for Procore, ServiceTitan, Jobber, and similar GTM motions, segmented by trade specialty and permit volume. - **Tool & material manufacturers** — Identify high-volume contractors in specific trades (roofing, masonry, electrical) for wholesale program outreach. - **Building-supply distributors** — Feed contractor profiles into pro-account acquisition pipelines, qualified by recent permit activity. - **Insurance underwriters** — Score contractor risk with license registry coverage, jurisdictional reach, and permit-value history. - **Market researchers** — Map the US construction trades by specialty mix, jurisdictional concentration, and permit-value distribution. The data is also useful for the consumer-facing question of whether the contractor knocking on your door is real. --- ### How BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper Works 1. Set `maxItems` to the number of contractor profiles you want. 2. The scraper fetches BuildZoom's sitemap index, walks the contractor sub-sitemaps, and queues profile URLs until your target count is in range. 3. For each profile it parses the embedded JSON-LD (HomeAndConstructionBusiness + GovernmentPermit array), the inline contractor metadata block, and the page's pricing histogram. 4. Records flush to the dataset as they're scraped. You can stop the run early — anything already saved stays saved. --- ### Input ```json { "maxItems": 50, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } } ```` | Field | Type | Default | Description | |-------|------|---------|-------------| | `maxItems` | integer | 15 | Maximum number of contractor profiles to scrape. The default is 15 because Apify's tester run has a 5-minute hard timeout. Set higher for production runs. | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify Residential US | Proxy configuration. Residential US is required — BuildZoom blocks datacenter IPs at the edge. | *** ### BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper Output Fields ```json { "profileUrl": "https://www.buildzoom.com/contractor/a-horn-inc", "slug": "a-horn-inc", "contractorName": "A. Horn, Inc", "businessName": "A. Horn, Inc", "bzScore": 102, "streetAddress": "125 Harrison St", "city": "Barrington", "state": "IL", "zip": "60010", "country": "US", "phone": "(847) 382-4170", "email": "", "website": "", "logoUrl": "https://media.buildzoom.com/filestack/image/oYQNIgSZuZ11Cwa5N4Cw", "about": "", "specialties": ["Custom Home Build", "New Home Construction", "Multi-Room Remodel", "Kitchen Remodel", "Roofing", "..."], "licensesCount": 11, "licenses": [ "Mason Contractor | 4845 | Cook County Department of Building and Zoning | Cook County", "Masonry Contractor Registration | CON-008814-2025 | Village of Palatine Registered Contractors | Palatine", "..." ], "permitsRecentCount": 20, "permitsLastYear": 3, "permitsRecent": [ "2025-04-22 | 101006981 | New Construction | Chicago Department of Buildings | 1954 W 115th St, Chicago, IL | Spr 2019 cbrc - b3-1/rs-3. Replacement of existing train station with two warming shelters...", "..." ], "totalPermitsLifetime": 116, "totalPermitValueLifetime": 8004000, "pricingRangeMin": 1000, "pricingRangeMax": 10000000, "pricingHistogram": [ "1 project | $100k-$250k", "3 projects | $1mil+" ], "title": "A Horn | Barrington IL | Read Reviews + Get a Free Estimate | BuildZoom", "metaDescription": "A. Horn, Inc in Barrington, IL | Photos | Reviews | 116 building permits for $8,004,000. Recent work: ...", "lastmod": "2025-05-15", "scrapedAt": "2026-05-02T01:43:09.123Z" } ``` | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `profileUrl` | string | Canonical contractor profile URL on buildzoom.com. | | `slug` | string | URL slug (the path segment after `/contractor/`). | | `contractorName` | string | Display name. | | `businessName` | string | Business name from the embedded contractor JSON. Usually identical to `contractorName`. | | `bzScore` | number | BZ Score (0–200). Combines license status, permit volume, and consumer-feedback signals. `0` means BuildZoom hasn't computed one yet. | | `streetAddress` | string | Office street address. | | `city` | string | Office city. | | `state` | string | Office state (US 2-letter code). | | `zip` | string | Office ZIP. | | `country` | string | Always `"US"` for BuildZoom contractors. | | `phone` | string | Primary phone from the JSON-LD `telephone` field. May be empty for self-claimed profiles. | | `email` | string | Always empty — BuildZoom gates email behind its lead-capture flow. | | `website` | string | Always empty — same reason as `email`. | | `logoUrl` | string | Contractor logo image URL (Cloudinary-hosted). | | `about` | string | Free-text company description. Empty for unclaimed profiles. | | `specialties` | array of strings | Service offerings the contractor advertises (from `hasOfferCatalog`). | | `licensesCount` | number | Number of license/registration records on the profile. | | `licenses` | array of strings | License records, each formatted `Type \| Number \| Issuer \| Area`. | | `permitsRecentCount` | number | Number of permits surfaced in the JSON-LD on the profile. BuildZoom ships ~20 most-recent permits per profile, regardless of total. | | `permitsLastYear` | number | Permits with `validFrom` in the last 365 days, computed from `permitsRecent`. | | `permitsRecent` | array of strings | Recent permits, each formatted `YYYY-MM-DD \| identifier \| category \| issuer \| project address \| description` (description truncated to 250 chars). | | `totalPermitsLifetime` | number | Lifetime permit count as published in the page meta description (e.g., the "116" in "116 building permits for $8M"). | | `totalPermitValueLifetime` | number | Lifetime total permit value in USD. `0` when the page omits it (small contractors). | | `pricingRangeMin` | number | Minimum project value the contractor handles (USD), parsed from the pricing meta tag. | | `pricingRangeMax` | number | Maximum project value the contractor handles (USD). | | `pricingHistogram` | array of strings | Project-value histogram entries, each formatted `count \| range` (e.g. `"3 projects \| $1mil+"`). | | `title` | string | Page `` tag. | | `metaDescription` | string | Page meta description — a one-line BuildZoom-authored summary. | | `lastmod` | string | Last modified timestamp from the sitemap entry (ISO date or empty). | | `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp when the record was scraped. | *** ### FAQ #### How do I scrape BuildZoom contractor profiles? BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper does it for you. Set `maxItems` to your target record count, run the actor, and pull the dataset. The actor handles sitemap discovery, Cloudflare-friendly proxy rotation, and JSON-LD extraction in one step. #### How much does BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper cost to run? BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper bills $0.10 per actor start and $0.002 per record. A 1,000-profile run costs about $2.10 in actor charges. Apify's residential proxy bandwidth is billed separately by the platform. #### What data can I get from BuildZoom? BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper returns 25+ fields per profile: name, address, phone, BZ Score, full license registry, recent building permits with project addresses, lifetime permit count and dollar value, project-value pricing histogram, and the contractor's specialty mix. Email and external website are gated by BuildZoom and come back empty. #### Does BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper need proxies? BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper requires Apify Residential US proxies. BuildZoom is fronted by Cloudflare and blocks datacenter IPs at the edge. Residential traffic passes the WAF cleanly without any CAPTCHA solving. #### How do I get a contractor's email or website? BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper does not return either. Both are hidden behind BuildZoom's lead-capture flow (sign-up + project request) and aren't present in the public profile HTML. The scraper surfaces the fields anyway as empty strings so the dataset shape stays consistent. #### Does BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper return all permits a contractor has pulled? BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper returns the most-recent permits BuildZoom embeds in the page (~20 per profile). The full lifetime count and total dollar value come from the page's meta description and are stored in `totalPermitsLifetime` and `totalPermitValueLifetime`. *** ### Need More Features? Need extra fields, geographic filters, or a different target site? File an issue or get in touch. ### Why Use BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper? - **Affordable** — $0.10/start + $0.002/record. - **Comprehensive output** — 25+ fields per profile including the full multi-jurisdiction license registry and recent permits with project addresses, which together are the unique signal BuildZoom adds on top of generic contractor directories. - **Production-ready** — Cloudflare bypass via Apify Residential US, session rotation, and a tuned 30 req/min throttle that survives BuildZoom's per-IP rate limit so you can walk away from a 50K-profile run. # Actor input Schema ## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`): Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler. ## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`): Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements. ## `sp_contact` (type: `string`): Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of contractor profiles to scrape. Default 15. Apify's tester run has a 5-minute hard timeout — set higher for production runs. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy is required — buildzoom.com is behind Cloudflare and blocks datacenter IPs. Apify Residential US passes the WAF cleanly without any CAPTCHA solving. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 15, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (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 = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 15, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper").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 = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 15, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], "apifyProxyCountry": "US", }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 15, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } }' | apify call jungle_synthesizer/buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>" ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "BuildZoom Contractor & Permit Scraper", "description": "Scrape contractor profiles from buildzoom.com — license registry across 150+ jurisdictions, recent building permits with project addresses + descriptions, BZ Score, specialties, contact info, and project value statistics. Sitemap-driven discovery across 1.2M+ US contractor profiles.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "u4LfBCsbbbof60pza" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-buildzoom-contractor-permit-aggregator-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "maxItems" ], "properties": { "sp_intended_usage": { "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler." }, "sp_improvement_suggestions": { "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements." }, "sp_contact": { "title": "Contact Email", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you." }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of contractor profiles to scrape. Default 15. Apify's tester run has a 5-minute hard timeout — set higher for production runs.", "default": 15 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy is required — buildzoom.com is behind Cloudflare and blocks datacenter IPs. Apify Residential US passes the WAF cleanly without any CAPTCHA solving." } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```