Building Permits Scraper - New Permits from 5 US Cities

Pull newly issued building permits from official open-data portals in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Seattle - normalized into one schema with valuation, contractor and owner info.

Popular searches this Actor covers: building permits scraper, building permit data API, new construction leads, contractor leads from permits, permit data Chicago NYC Los Angeles Austin Seattle.

What can you use it for?

• Contractors, roofers, solar, HVAC and pool companies finding new jobs
• Building material suppliers and equipment rental
• Real estate investors tracking renovation activity
• Construction market research and reporting

Quick start (one click)

Press Start - the default input returns results in about a minute for a few cents. Example input:

{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "new-york",
    "los-angeles",
    "austin",
    "seattle"
  ],
  "daysBack": 7,
  "maxItemsPerCity": 20
}

Example output

city	permitNumber	issueDate	permitType	address	valuation
Chicago	101083682	2026-10-28	PERMIT - RENOVATION/ALTERATION	2620 W 51ST ST	15000
Chicago	101084071	2026-10-28	PERMIT - NEW CONSTRUCTION	1733 W JULIAN ST	475000
Chicago	101084225	2026-10-28	PERMIT - RENOVATION/ALTERATION	13122 S ELLIS AVE	14500000

Full records contain more fields (see the Output / Dataset tab). Download as CSV, Excel, JSON or use the Apify API, schedules and integrations (Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, webhooks).

Pricing

Pay only for what you get (pay per event):

• $0.005 per permit returned
• $0.005 per run start

Examples: 100 permits = $0.505; 1,000 permits = $5.00. Apify free plan credits cover small runs.

FAQ

Which cities? Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Austin and Seattle.

Can I filter by value or keyword? Yes - minValuation and keywords (e.g. 'solar', 'roof').

Is this legal? It collects publicly available data only. You are responsible for using it in line with applicable laws (e.g. CAN-SPAM, GDPR, TCPA) and the source's terms.

Can I schedule it? Yes - use Apify Schedules to run it daily and get new records automatically, then send them to Google Sheets, Slack or your CRM via integrations.

Need a custom field, source or done-for-you list? Open an issue on the Issues tab - feature requests are welcome.

Technical details

Fresh building permits from the official open-data portals of Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Seattle, normalized into one format. Built for roofers, solar installers, pool builders, HVAC, remodelers, suppliers and lenders who want to reach property owners and contractors right after a permit is issued.

Sources (official, public, updated daily)

City	Dataset
Chicago	data.cityofchicago.org ydr8-5enu Building Permits
New York	data.cityofnewyork.us rbx6-tga4 DOB NOW Build Approved Permits
Los Angeles	data.lacity.org pi9x-tg5x Building Permits Issued 2020-present
Austin	data.austintexas.gov 3syk-w9eu Issued Construction Permits
Seattle	data.seattle.gov 76t5-zqzr Building Permits

Output

city, state, permitNumber, issueDate, appliedDate, status, permitType, workType, description, address, zip, valuation, contractorName, contractorPhone, ownerName, applicantName, latitude, longitude, url, source.

Not every city publishes every field, so some are null:

• contractorPhone: Austin only.
• ownerName: Chicago and New York only.
• contractorName: not published by Los Angeles.
• url: a link to the city record, for Austin and Seattle.
• zip: not published by Chicago.
• valuation: as reported by the applicant. Some cities record a placeholder such as 0 or 1.

{"city": "Austin", "state": "TX", "permitNumber": "2026-142471 BP", "issueDate": "2026-10-28", "permitType": "Building Permit", "workType": "Repair",
 "description": "Express: Replace roof (not going past decking)", "address": "10733 CHESTNUT RIDGE RD", "zip": "78726",
 "contractorName": "Water Damage and Roofing", "contractorPhone": "(512) 820-6505", "latitude": 30.44, "longitude": -97.82}

Input

Field	Default	Notes
cities	all 5	chicago, new-york, los-angeles, austin, seattle
daysBack	7	Permits issued in the last N days
dateFrom / dateTo	-	Exact issue-date range (YYYY-MM-DD)
keywords	-	Match any word in the work description, e.g. ROOF, SOLAR, POOL (case-insensitive)
minValuation	-	Minimum reported job value; permits without a value are excluded
maxItemsPerCity	20	Newest first

Some cities publish with a delay of a few days (Los Angeles is usually 3-5 days behind).

Pricing

Pay per result: one result event per permit.