# Building Permits Pro (`red.cars/building-permits-pro`) Actor

Building permits from six major US metros: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Austin, Dallas. Filter by keyword, city, and date window. Every record has permit number, issued date, address, work description, valuation, and contractor or owner name where published. For contractor lead gen.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/red.cars/building-permits-pro.md
- **Developed by:** [AutomateLab](https://apify.com/red.cars) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 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

## Building Permits Pro — Construction Leads from US Cities

Fresh building permits issued in six major US metros: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Austin, and Dallas. Every row is a real permit with the permit number, issued date, street address, work description and type, status, project valuation where the city records one, and the contractor or owner name where the city publishes it.

### Why this over the alternatives

| Actor | Users (last 30d) | Rating | Price per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Building Permits Pro (this actor)** | new | new | **$2.50** |
| pink_comic/building-permits-construction-leads | 17 | no reviews yet | $2.00 |
| intelscrape/building-permit-scraper | ~1 | 1.0/5 (1 review) | $5.00 |
| inexhaustible_glass/us-building-permits-scraper | 7 | 5/5 (2 reviews) | see listing |

The current store leaders are a $2.00/1k listing with zero reviews and a $5.00/1k listing with a 1.0-star rating. Building Permits Pro sits between them on price, covers six of the largest permit markets in the country in one run, and returns the contractor and owner fields lead hunters actually buy.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| `keyword` | string | `roof` | Matched against permit descriptions, work types, and contractor names. Try roof, remodel, solar, kitchen, foundation, fence, ev charger. Leave empty to get all permits in the window. |
| `cities` | multi-select | New York, Chicago | Any of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Austin, Dallas. |
| `daysBack` | integer | 90 | Only permits issued in the last N days (max 365). |
| `maxResults` | integer | 10 | Hard cap on total records returned. |

Keyword, city, and date filters are applied before results are produced, so you are never billed for records the filter would throw away.

### Output

One row per permit:

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `city` / `state` | `Chicago` / `IL` |
| `permitNumber` | `B200516355` |
| `issuedDate` | `2026-10-19T00:00:00.000` |
| `address` | `835 N MICHIGAN AVE` |
| `description` | `FRONT ELEVATION 387264` |
| `permitType` | `PERMIT - SIGNS` |
| `permitClass` | `EXPRESS PERMIT PROGRAM` |
| `status` | `ACTIVE` |
| `contractor` | `NATIONAL SIGNS (SIGN CONTRACTOR)` |
| `valuation` | `148556` |
| `sourceUrl` | link to the city's permit record, where the city publishes one |

Field availability varies by city: valuation comes from Chicago, Seattle, and Dallas; contractor and owner names from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas; Seattle and Austin include a link to the city's own record.

### Use cases

- **Contractor lead generation** — roofers, solar installers, HVAC, remodeling, and foundation companies calling owners with active projects.
- **Building material suppliers** — target by work type and city before the job starts.
- **Market and construction analytics** — permit counts, valuations, and work-type mix by metro over time.
- **Real estate and investing research** — see where development is happening, permit by permit.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event: **$0.005 per run** plus **$2.50 per 1,000 permit records**. A default 10-result run costs about $0.03. No monthly subscription, no API key needed from you.

### FAQ

**Is the data really from the cities?** Yes. Every record comes from the city's own published permit records, not from a real-estate portal reselling them.

**How fresh is it?** Cities publish continuously; records are typically available within days of issuance. The `daysBack` filter defaults to 90 days so you always get recent work.

**Can I run it for all six cities at once?** Yes, select every city in `cities`. Each city is queried in parallel-friendly sequence and all results are merged, newest first, under your `maxResults` cap.

**What if a city has no permits matching my keyword?** That city simply contributes zero rows and the run notes it. Other cities keep flowing; the run only fails if no city could be reached at all.

### Send your leads straight to your pipeline

Every run lands as clean JSON/CSV in the run dataset, ready to push into HubSpot, Pipedrive, HighLevel, Instantly, Smartlead, or Lemlist through Apify's built-in Zapier, Make, and n8n integrations, or straight into Google Sheets. Scrape in the morning, sequence outreach the same day.

# Actor input Schema

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Word or phrase matched against permit descriptions, work types, and contractor names, for example roof, remodel, solar, kitchen, foundation, fence, ev charger.

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

Official permit records are pulled for every city selected.

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

Only permits issued in the last N days are returned. Default 90, maximum 365.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of permit records returned in total.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keyword": "roof",
  "cities": [
    "new_york",
    "chicago"
  ],
  "daysBack": 90,
  "maxResults": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Building permit records: one row per permit with permit number, issued date, address, work description and type, status, valuation, contractor name, and source link where the city publishes one.

# 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("red.cars/building-permits-pro").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("red.cars/building-permits-pro").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 red.cars/building-permits-pro --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/uzVFNNq3JLWwygXv9/builds/QOf9GrC2EDF560tVB/openapi.json