# US Building Permits: NYC, Chicago, LA, SF, Seattle & Austin (`pankajbhatia/us-building-permits`) Actor Newly issued building, electrical, plumbing, solar, roofing and demolition permits from official city open data in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Austin: work, valuation, address, contractor. - **URL**: https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/us-building-permits.md - **Developed by:** [Pankaj Bhatia](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation, Business - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.50 / 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 ## US Building Permits: NYC, Chicago, LA, SF, Seattle & Austin Get **newly issued building permits** from the official open-data portals of six major US cities: **New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Austin**. That covers new construction, alterations, remodels, roofing, **solar**, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, demolition, signs and more, all in one consistent format. Each row includes the city, permit number, permit type, work description, status, issue date, address, ZIP, neighborhood or area, **job valuation**, coordinates, the contractor company where the city publishes one, and city-specific fields such as housing units, square feet, floors, zoning, BIN/BBL and fees. No login or API key is needed. ### Who is it for? - **Contractors, roofers, solar installers and suppliers** looking for fresh project leads. - **Building-material, insurance and home-service companies** tracking construction activity by ZIP. - **Real estate investors and analysts** watching new development, ADUs and demolitions. - **Journalists and urban researchers** studying housing supply. ### How to use it 1. Choose one or more **cities** (the default is NYC, Chicago and LA). 2. Set **Issued in last N days** (the default is 30) or a start and end date. 3. Optionally add **keywords** for the work description (solar, roof, pool, ADU), **ZIP codes** and a **minimum valuation**. 4. Set **Max results per city** and click **Start**. Results are newest first. ### Input example ```json {"cities": ["new-york", "austin", "seattle"], "keywords": ["solar"], "lastDays": 30, "maxResultsPerCity": 200} ``` ### Output example ```json {"city": "New York City", "permitNumber": "Q01462230-I1-SL", "permitType": "Solar", "description": "Solar Panel Installation on Roof", "status": "Permit Issued", "issuedDate": "2026-10-27", "address": "134-11 133 AVENUE", "area": "Queens", "zip": "11420", "valuationUsd": 41121.0, "contractorCompany": "T&S ENERGY LLC"} ``` ### How much does it cost? Pay-per-event: a small fee **per permit** returned, plus a tiny per-run start fee. There is no subscription and no separate platform usage cost. For example, 1,000 permits cost about $0.50. Searches with no matches and error rows are **not charged**. Use **Max results per city** or **Maximum cost per run** to cap your spending. ### Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents Run it from the Apify API, on a schedule, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets. AI agents can find and call it through the Apify MCP server. Output is clean JSON with the same fields on every run. ### FAQ **Is it legal?** Yes. Each city publishes permit data on its official open-data portal (Socrata) for public reuse. To avoid personal data, the tool never returns owner names, applicant names or phone numbers. A contractor name appears only when it looks like a business (for example INC, LLC, Construction or Electric). **How fresh is it?** Most cities update daily. New York City and Chicago usually show permits issued the day before. **Why do some fields differ between cities?** Each city publishes different columns. Shared fields are always in the same place, and city-only extras (for example Chicago fees or LA square footage) are added as extra fields. **Why is Chicago's ZIP empty?** Chicago's permit dataset has no ZIP code, so the ZIP filter is skipped for Chicago. ### More tools from this developer - [SAM.gov Contract Opportunities Finder & Bid Alerts](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/sam-gov-contract-opportunities): federal contract opportunities and bid alerts - [Sitemap & URL Extractor](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/sitemap-url-extractor): get every URL of a website from its sitemaps - [Website to Markdown for AI & RAG](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/website-to-markdown): turn web pages into clean Markdown for LLMs - [Tech Stack Detector](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/tech-stack-detector): find what any website is built with - [Apple App Store Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/app-store-reviews): App Store reviews and ratings for any app - [ATS Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/ats-jobs-scraper): jobs from Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable and more - [Website Screenshot](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/website-screenshot): full-page, mobile and PDF screenshots in bulk - [PDF to Text & Markdown Extractor](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/pdf-text-extractor): extract text from PDFs for AI and search - [Domain WHOIS, DNS & SSL Checker](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/domain-whois-dns-ssl-checker): bulk domain, DNS, email security and SSL checks - [SEO Meta Tags & On-Page Audit](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/seo-meta-tags-checker): bulk on-page SEO audit with fixes - [Bulk URL Status & Broken Link Checker](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/url-status-broken-link-checker): status codes, redirect chains and broken links - [RSS & Atom Feed Reader](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/rss-feed-reader): merge and filter many news feeds - [Hacker News Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/hacker-news-scraper): HN stories, comments and Who is hiring jobs - [Academic Paper Search](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/academic-paper-search): papers from Crossref, arXiv and PubMed - 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[Bulk Domain Availability Checker](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/bulk-domain-availability-checker): check which domains are free to register - [Product Recalls Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/product-recalls-fda-cpsc-nhtsa): FDA, CPSC and NHTSA vehicle recalls - [Federal Register Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/federal-register-documents): U.S. rules, notices and comment deadlines - [npm & PyPI Package Stats](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/npm-pypi-package-stats): downloads, versions and licenses for packages - [Open Library Books Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/open-library-books-scraper): book search and ISBN lookup - [UK Contracts Finder Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/uk-contracts-finder-scraper): UK public tenders and contract awards - [Wikipedia Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/wikipedia-scraper): articles, full text and page views - [Currency Exchange Rates (ECB)](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/currency-exchange-rates-ecb): official latest and historical FX rates - [Barcode Product Lookup](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/barcode-product-lookup): EAN/UPC barcodes to product and nutrition data - [Global Company Registry Search (LEI)](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/gleif-lei-company-search): official company records and parents - [VIN Decoder (NHTSA)](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/vin-decoder-nhtsa): bulk vehicle specs from VINs - [PubMed Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/pubmed-scraper): biomedical articles and abstracts - [US Address Geocoder (Census)](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/us-census-address-geocoder): lat/long, county and tract for U.S. addresses - [Remote Jobs Aggregator](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/remote-jobs-aggregator): remote jobs from Remote OK, Jobicy and Arbeitnow - [Hugging Face Hub Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/hugging-face-hub-scraper): AI models, datasets and Spaces - [World Bank Indicators](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/world-bank-indicators): GDP, population and 1,400+ indicators - [TV Shows & Episodes Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/tv-shows-episodes-scraper): TV shows, episodes, cast and schedules - [WordPress Plugins & Themes Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/wordpress-plugins-themes-scraper): plugin and theme installs and ratings - [US Nonprofit Search (IRS)](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/us-nonprofit-search-irs): tax-exempt organizations with size and category - [Music Metadata Scraper (MusicBrainz)](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/musicbrainz-music-metadata): artists, albums, tracks and ISRCs - [Package Stats: crates.io, RubyGems, Packagist & NuGet](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/package-registry-stats): Rust, Ruby, PHP and .NET package stats - [FDA Drug Labels & NDC Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/fda-drug-labels-ndc): official drug labels and NDC codes - [Public Holidays API](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/public-holidays-api): holidays and long weekends for 100+ countries - [US Treasury Rates](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/us-treasury-rates-yields): Treasury yield curves, T-bill rates and national debt - [USGS Earthquake Search](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/usgs-earthquake-search): worldwide earthquakes by area and magnitude - [NOAA Tides & Water Levels](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/noaa-tides-currents): tide predictions and water data for U.S. coasts - [UK Police Crime Data](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/uk-police-crime-data): UK street-level crimes by postcode - [UK Food Hygiene Ratings](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/uk-food-hygiene-ratings): official UK food hygiene ratings - [Open Source Vulnerability Scanner](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/open-source-vulnerability-scanner): known vulnerabilities for open-source packages - [FDIC Bank Data](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/fdic-bank-data): US banks, branches, financials and failures - [FEMA Disaster Declarations](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/fema-disaster-declarations): US federal disaster declarations and aid - [US Hospital & Nursing Home Ratings](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/us-healthcare-facility-ratings): Medicare Care Compare facility ratings - [EPA Facility Compliance](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/epa-facility-compliance): EPA violations, inspections and penalties - [US Restaurant Inspections](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/us-restaurant-inspections): NYC, Chicago and Austin restaurant health grades - [UK House Prices](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/uk-house-prices-land-registry): Land Registry sold prices for England and Wales - [Car Safety Ratings & Complaints](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/car-safety-ratings-complaints): NHTSA crash-test stars and owner complaints - [Nordic Company Registry](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/nordic-company-registry): Norway and Finland company search # Actor input Schema ## `cities` (type: `array`): Which city portals to search. ## `lastDays` (type: `integer`): Ignored when a start date is set. ## `startDate` (type: `string`): Optional, YYYY-MM-DD. ## `endDate` (type: `string`): Optional, YYYY-MM-DD. ## `keywords` (type: `array`): Any of these words, e.g. solar, roof, pool, ADU, demolition. ## `zipCodes` (type: `array`): 5-digit ZIP codes (not available for Chicago). ## `minValuation` (type: `integer`): 0 = any. Permits without a valuation are skipped when set. ## `maxResultsPerCity` (type: `integer`): Newest first. ## Actor input object example ```json { "cities": [ "new-york", "chicago", "los-angeles" ], "lastDays": 30, "keywords": [], "zipCodes": [], "minValuation": 0, "maxResultsPerCity": 100 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): One row per issued building permit. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "cities": [ "new-york", "chicago", "los-angeles" ], "lastDays": 30, "keywords": [], "zipCodes": [], "minValuation": 0, "maxResultsPerCity": 100 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("pankajbhatia/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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "cities": [ "new-york", "chicago", "los-angeles", ], "lastDays": 30, "keywords": [], "zipCodes": [], "minValuation": 0, "maxResultsPerCity": 100, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("pankajbhatia/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 '{ "cities": [ "new-york", "chicago", "los-angeles" ], "lastDays": 30, "keywords": [], "zipCodes": [], "minValuation": 0, "maxResultsPerCity": 100 }' | apify call pankajbhatia/us-building-permits --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pankajbhatia/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 ` 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/oTBt79lBo2o3OEMkl/builds/5qoFpHWPVjCo8Ui6K/openapi.json