# Building Permits Multi-City (`kingly_contest_7cb/building-permits-multi-city`) Actor

Newly issued building permits from Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Dallas, New Orleans and Philadelphia in one format: permit number, type, status, description, address, coordinates, valuation, issue date and contractor. Official open-data APIs.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/kingly_contest_7cb/building-permits-multi-city.md
- **Developed by:** [Carina Hatton](https://apify.com/kingly_contest_7cb) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Lead generation, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 permits

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

## Building Permits Multi-City

New building permits from nine large US cities, in one clean format. Pick the cities and a date range and get every permit the city issued: what's being built or repaired, where, how much it's worth, and who the contractor is (where the city publishes it).

Handy for contractors and suppliers looking for new jobs, solar and roofing sales teams, real estate investors watching neighborhoods, and anyone building market reports.

### Cities and sources

| City | Source (official open-data portal) | Coordinates | Valuation | Contractor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago, IL | data.cityofchicago.org, Building Permits | yes | yes | yes | updated daily |
| New York, NY | NYC Open Data, DOB NOW Approved Permits | yes | most | yes (permittee) | updated daily |
| San Francisco, CA | DataSF, Building Permits | yes | yes | no | updated daily |
| Los Angeles, CA | data.lacity.org, Building Permits | yes | yes | no | city refreshes weekly, so the last few days can be empty |
| Austin, TX | data.austintexas.gov, Issued Construction Permits | most | some | yes | links to the city's permit page |
| Seattle, WA | data.seattle.gov, Building Permits | yes | yes | sometimes | links to the city's permit page |
| Dallas, TX | dallasopendata.com, Building Permits | no | yes | yes | no coordinates or status in the source |
| New Orleans, LA | data.nola.gov, Permits | yes | yes | yes | also includes non-construction permits (signs, vacancy, etc.) |
| Philadelphia, PA | OpenDataPhilly / L\&I permits (Carto API) | yes | no | yes | no job value in the source |

All data comes from official city APIs. No login, no API key, no scraping of web pages. The Actor reads each portal politely (at most one request per second per city).

### Input

| Field | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Cities | Which cities to include | all nine |
| Issued from / Issued to | Issue-date range, as dates or relative ("7 days") | last 7 days |
| Permit type keywords | Match words in permit type, work type or class, e.g. `new`, `demolition`, `electrical`, `roof` | none |
| Description keywords | Match words in the work description, e.g. `solar`, `pool`, `ADU` | none |
| Min valuation | Only permits with a declared job value at least this high | none |
| Max permits (total) | Stop after this many | 5000 |
| Max permits per city | Cap per city | no cap |

Example: new construction worth $500k+ in Austin, Seattle and Chicago over the last 30 days:

```json
{
  "cities": ["austin", "seattle", "chicago"],
  "dateFrom": "30 days",
  "permitTypeKeywords": ["new"],
  "minValuation": 500000
}
```

### Output

Every permit has the same fields, whatever the city:

`city`, `state`, `permitNumber`, `permitType`, `workType`, `permitClass`, `status`, `description`, `address`, `zip`, `latitude`, `longitude`, `valuation`, `issueDate`, `applicationDate`, `applicant`, `contractor`, `sourceUrl`, `sourceDataset`, `scrapedAt`

Fields a city doesn't publish are `null`. A real record from a test run:

```json
{
  "city": "Seattle",
  "state": "WA",
  "permitNumber": "7117265-CN",
  "permitType": "Building",
  "workType": "New",
  "permitClass": "Single Family/Duplex",
  "status": "Issued",
  "description": "Construct SOUTH two-family dwelling per plan. [Establish use as housing for one and two attached dwelling units per land use code. Construct one- and two-family dwellings per plan. Review and processing for (2) construction records under 7117265-CN.]",
  "address": "2222 NE 80TH ST",
  "zip": "98115",
  "latitude": 47.68676315,
  "longitude": -122.30352451,
  "valuation": 617735,
  "issueDate": "2026-10-20",
  "applicationDate": "2026-03-25",
  "applicant": null,
  "contractor": null,
  "sourceUrl": "https://services.seattle.gov/portal/customize/LinkToRecord.aspx?altId=7117265-CN",
  "sourceDataset": "https://data.seattle.gov/d/76t5-zqzr",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-30T19:00:00+00:00"
}
```

`sourceUrl` points to the city's own permit page when it has one (Austin, Seattle, Philadelphia property history) and otherwise to the exact record in the city's API. The run's `RUN_SUMMARY` record shows how many permits came from each city and whether any city's portal failed.

### Good to know

- **Each city words things its own way.** "New construction" in Chicago is `PERMIT - NEW CONSTRUCTION`, in Seattle it's work type `New`, in LA it's `Bldg-New`. Short keywords like `new` work best.
- **Valuation** is the job value the applicant declared, in US dollars. Zero or missing values come back as `null`.
- **Owner names are left out on purpose.** The Actor only returns business names for applicants and contractors where the city publishes them (New Orleans lists applicants as published by the city).
- **If one city's portal is down**, the run still finishes with the other cities and the summary tells you which one failed.
- Schedule the Actor daily with "Issued from: 2 days" to get a rolling feed of new permits.

### Pricing

Pay per result. You only pay for permits saved to your dataset:

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Permit | $0.005 |

Some examples:

- 1,000 permits from one city costs **$5**.
- The default cap of 5,000 permits costs at most **$25**.
- Narrow with permit type keywords, description keywords or a minimum valuation to pay only for the permits you need.

Apify also charges a tiny standard Actor start fee ($0.00005 per run). You can set a maximum charge per run in Apify, and the Actor stops cleanly when it reaches that cap.

### Missing a city?

Open an issue with the city name. Cities with a public permits API (Socrata, ArcGIS or CKAN) are usually quick to add. Boston is not included because its data portal's robots.txt doesn't allow automated API access.

# Actor input Schema

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

Cities to include. Empty = all nine.

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

First issue date, as a date (2026-10-01) or a period back from today (7 days). Empty = 7 days before 'Issued to'.

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

Last issue date. Empty = today (UTC).

## `permitTypeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Keep permits whose type, work type or class contains any of these words (case-insensitive), e.g. 'new construction', 'electrical', 'roof', 'demolition'. Every city words types differently, so use short words.

## `descriptionKeywords` (type: `array`):

Keep permits whose work description contains any of these words, e.g. 'solar', 'pool', 'ADU'.

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

Keep permits with a declared job value at least this high. Permits without a value (all of Philadelphia, many small permits elsewhere) are dropped when this is set.

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

Stop after this many permits in total. 0 = no limit.

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

Cap per city so one big city doesn't use up the total. 0 = no cap.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "austin"
  ],
  "maxItems": 5000,
  "maxItemsPerCity": 0
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `permits` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (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 = {
    "cities": [
        "chicago",
        "austin"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("kingly_contest_7cb/building-permits-multi-city").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 = { "cities": [
        "chicago",
        "austin",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("kingly_contest_7cb/building-permits-multi-city").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 '{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "austin"
  ]
}' |
apify call kingly_contest_7cb/building-permits-multi-city --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,kingly_contest_7cb/building-permits-multi-city"
        }
    }
}
```

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/Duf12WYWsERyQfgAx/builds/yAkPnMDUhM7b1ELyy/openapi.json