NYC DOB Building Permits Scraper: Contractors & Owners

Here is one real result, with every field the actor returns (the workOnFloor value is trimmed for length with an ellipsis; the actor returns the full source string):

{
  "permitNumber": "Q08020327-I1-GC",
  "jobFilingNumber": "Q08020327-I1",
  "permitType": "GC",
  "workType": "General Construction",
  "permitStatus": "Permit Issued",
  "filingReason": "Renewal Permit Without Changes",
  "sequenceNumber": "3",
  "trackingNumber": "100123086",
  "buildingProfileUrl": "https://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=4625499",
  "bin": "4625499",
  "borough": "Queens",
  "address": "86-53 GRAND AVENUE, Queens, NY 11373",
  "houseNumber": "86-53",
  "street": "GRAND AVENUE",
  "zip": "11373",
  "block": "2477",
  "lot": "26",
  "bbl": "4024770026",
  "workOnFloor": "Cellar, Cellar, Cellar, Floor Number(s) 1, Floor Number(s) 1, Mezzanine 1, Floor Number(s) 2 ...",
  "approvedDate": "2023-06-29",
  "issuedDate": "2026-08-07",
  "expiredDate": "2027-01-04",
  "jobDescription": "NEW 5-STORY FIRE STATION BUILDING WITH CELLAR AS PER PLANS FILED HEREWITH. HUB CONSULTATION ACCEPTED ON 8/31.",
  "estimatedJobCost": 8549501,
  "applicantBusinessName": "ZHL GROUP INC",
  "applicantName": "YEVGENIY LVOVSKIY",
  "applicantBusinessAddress": "2383 MCDONALD AVENUE",
  "applicantLicenseType": "GC",
  "applicantLicenseNumber": "031001",
  "filingRepresentativeName": "YAN BIN LI",
  "filingRepresentativeBusinessName": "YBL NY INC",
  "ownerName": "IRMA FONTAINE",
  "ownerBusinessName": "FDNY",
  "communityBoard": "404",
  "councilDistrict": "30",
  "censusTract": "475",
  "neighborhood": "Elmhurst",
  "latitude": "40.736156",
  "longitude": "-73.87905",
  "observedAt": "2026-08-10T14:18:18.771Z",
  "error": null
}

The most complete NYC DOB building permit scraper available. It returns every field the NYC Department of Buildings permit-issuance dataset exposes for each permit, including the contractor (permittee) business and license, the property owner, the estimated job cost, geocoded location and full address, and gives you borough, work-type, license, date and building/contractor/owner filters to target exactly the permits you need.

📥 Input · 📤 Output · 💰 Pricing · ▶️ Examples

Table of contents

• What it does
• Quickstart
• Input reference
• Output reference
• Example output record
• Run via API and CLI
• Fetch results
• Billing and limits
• FAQ and troubleshooting

What it does

The actor queries the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) permit-issuance dataset on NYC Open Data, applies the filters you pass as input, paginates through the matching permits (newest issued first), and writes one normalized record per permit to the run's dataset. You can filter by borough, work type, filing reason, permittee license type, permit status and issuance date range, and target a specific building (BIN), street, ZIP, contractor or owner.

Each record carries the permit and job filing numbers, the property address split into components plus the BBL and geocoded lat/long, the estimated job cost and job description, and full contact detail for the permittee (contractor) and the property owner. Missing source values are returned as null, never invented.

Quickstart

Open the actor, paste this into the input, and press Run. It returns the 10 most recently issued permits across all five boroughs.

{
  "maxPermits": 10
}

Add filters to narrow: set borough to BROOKLYN, workType to Plumbing, contractorName to a business name, or bin to a specific building. Every input field is optional.

Input reference

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
maxPermits	integer	no	10	Maximum permit records to collect. Results are newest issued first.
borough	enum	no	(any)	One NYC borough: MANHATTAN, BRONX, BROOKLYN, QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND.
workType	enum	no	(any)	Type of work, for example General Construction, Plumbing, Sidewalk Shed, Solar, Full Demolition.
filingReason	enum	no	(any)	Initial Permit, Renewal Permit Without Changes, Renewal Permit with Changes, No Work Permit.
licenseType	enum	no	(any)	Permittee license class: GC, P, F, S, R, PE, RA, O, PR.
permitStatus	enum	no	(issued or signed-off)	Permit Issued or Signed-off. Default returns permits that have actually been issued.
issuedFrom	string	no	(empty)	Only permits issued on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
issuedTo	string	no	(empty)	Only permits issued on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
bin	string	no	(empty)	All permits for a specific 7-digit NYC Building Identification Number (BIN).
street	string	no	(empty)	Match a street name, for example BROADWAY, PARK AVENUE.
zip	string	no	(empty)	Match a 5-digit property ZIP code, for example 10022.
contractorName	string	no	(empty)	Match the permittee (contractor) business name.
ownerName	string	no	(empty)	Match the property owner name or owner business name.
searchText	string	no	(empty)	Full-text search across the whole permit record.
appToken	string	no	(empty)	Optional free Socrata app token to raise the rate limit for very large pulls. The dataset is keyless without it.

Filters combine with logical AND. Text matches are case-insensitive and match anywhere in the field.

Output reference

One dataset item per permit. Types: string, number, or null when the source value is absent.

Field	Type	Description
permitNumber	string	Permit number (unique per permit), for example Q08020327-I1-GC.
jobFilingNumber	string	DOB NOW job filing number.
permitType	string	Permit type code, for example GC, PL, SH.
workType	string	Work type description.
permitStatus	string	Permit status, for example Permit Issued, Signed-off.
filingReason	string	Reason the permit was filed.
sequenceNumber	string	Permit sequence number.
trackingNumber	string	DOB tracking number.
buildingProfileUrl	string	Public NYC building profile (BIS) URL.
bin	string	Building Identification Number.
borough	string	Borough name.
address	string	Full single-line property address.
houseNumber / street / zip	string	Address components.
block / lot	string	Tax block and lot.
bbl	string	Borough-block-lot identifier, or null.
workOnFloor	string	Floors covered by the work.
approvedDate	string	Date the permit was approved (YYYY-MM-DD).
issuedDate	string	Date the permit was issued (YYYY-MM-DD).
expiredDate	string	Permit expiration date (YYYY-MM-DD), or null.
jobDescription	string	Narrative description of the work.
estimatedJobCost	number	Estimated job cost in USD, or null.
applicantBusinessName	string	Permittee (contractor) business name.
applicantName	string	Permittee individual name.
applicantBusinessAddress	string	Permittee business address.
applicantLicenseType	string	Permittee license class.
applicantLicenseNumber	string	Permittee license number.
filingRepresentativeName	string	Filing representative name, or null.
filingRepresentativeBusinessName	string	Filing representative business name, or null.
ownerName	string	Property owner name.
ownerBusinessName	string	Property owner business name, or null.
communityBoard / councilDistrict / censusTract	string	Civic geography identifiers.
neighborhood	string	Neighborhood name.
latitude / longitude	string	Geocoded coordinates, or null.
observedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when the record was collected.
error	string	null on success. On a failed run, a single item with a populated error field is written instead.

Example output record

Real record from a live run (input {"maxPermits": 10}). This is a sidewalk-shed permit with a scaffold contractor:

{
  "permitNumber": "B01440238-I1-SH",
  "jobFilingNumber": "B01440238-I1",
  "permitType": "SH",
  "workType": "Sidewalk Shed",
  "permitStatus": "Permit Issued",
  "filingReason": "Initial Permit",
  "sequenceNumber": "1",
  "trackingNumber": "558957265",
  "buildingProfileUrl": "https://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3430329",
  "bin": "3430329",
  "borough": "Brooklyn",
  "address": "24 SKILLMAN STREET, Brooklyn, NY 11205",
  "houseNumber": "24",
  "street": "SKILLMAN STREET",
  "zip": "11205",
  "block": "1885",
  "lot": "16",
  "bbl": null,
  "workOnFloor": "Open Space",
  "approvedDate": "2026-08-04",
  "issuedDate": "2026-08-07",
  "expiredDate": "2026-11-05",
  "jobDescription": "INSTALLATION OF TEMPORARY SIDEWALK SHED AS PER PLANS. NO CHANGE IN USE, EGRESS OR OCCUPANCY.",
  "estimatedJobCost": 1,
  "applicantBusinessName": "CORE SCAFFOLD SYSTEMS INC",
  "applicantName": "ERIND GAZHELI",
  "applicantBusinessAddress": "417 MYRTLE AVE SUITE 14",
  "applicantLicenseType": "GC",
  "applicantLicenseNumber": "617232",
  "filingRepresentativeName": "ELY SEPULVEDA",
  "filingRepresentativeBusinessName": "AE DESIGN SOLUTION INC.",
  "ownerName": "EDDIE GAZHELI",
  "ownerBusinessName": "OWNERS REP",
  "communityBoard": "303",
  "councilDistrict": "33",
  "censusTract": "1237",
  "neighborhood": "Bedford-Stuyvesant (West)",
  "latitude": "40.697947",
  "longitude": "-73.957795",
  "observedAt": "2026-08-10T14:18:18.771Z",
  "error": null
}

Run via API and CLI

Start a run and wait for it to finish, then read the dataset. Replace <TOKEN> with your Apify API token.

Run synchronously and get dataset items in one call:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/scrapers_lat~nyc-dob-permits-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"borough":"BROOKLYN","workType":"Plumbing","maxPermits":25}'

Start a run asynchronously:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/scrapers_lat~nyc-dob-permits-scraper/runs?token=<TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"contractorName":"ADVANCED PLUMBING","issuedFrom":"2026-01-01","maxPermits":100}'

Apify CLI:

apify call scrapers_lat/nyc-dob-permits-scraper \
  --input '{"bin":"4625499"}'

Fetch results

Every run writes to a dataset. Fetch items as JSON, CSV, or Excel by changing format:

# JSON
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<DATASET_ID>/items?token=<TOKEN>&clean=true&format=json"

# CSV
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<DATASET_ID>/items?token=<TOKEN>&clean=true&format=csv"

# Paginate large datasets
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<DATASET_ID>/items?token=<TOKEN>&offset=1000&limit=1000"

<DATASET_ID> is returned as defaultDatasetId in the run object. Use offset and limit to page through large result sets. clean=true drops empty and internal fields.

Billing and limits

• Pay per result. You are charged per permit record returned (result event). See the pricing tab for the current per-result price.
• No charge on failure. If a run errors, the actor writes a single item with a populated error field and does not charge for it. Empty runs cost nothing.
• Spend cap respected. Set maxTotalChargeUsd on the run; once reached, the actor stops emitting and charging further billable results.
• Free Apify plans are capped at 10 records per run. Upgrade for higher maxPermits.

FAQ and troubleshooting

A run returned 0 records. Why? The filter combination matched nothing. Loosen filters (remove workType or widen the date range). Zero-result runs are not charged.

How do I find all permits for one building? Set bin to the 7-digit Building Identification Number. To search by address instead, use street and zip.

How do I find a contractor's recent jobs? Set contractorName to the permittee business name and optionally issuedFrom to a start date. Results are newest issued first.

What does estimatedJobCost of 1 mean? Some permit types (for example sidewalk sheds) carry a nominal cost of 1 in the source. The value is the real filed figure, never invented.

Do I need the Socrata app token? No. The NYC Open Data dataset is keyless. A free appToken only raises the rate limit for very large pulls.

Is this an official NYC tool? No. This actor is independent and has no affiliation with the NYC Department of Buildings or NYC Open Data. It reads only data that is publicly available through NYC Open Data.

Related scrapers

• Chicago Building Permits Scraper: Chicago building permits with contractors.
• NY DOS Business Scraper: New York registered business entities.
• NY Cannabis Licenses Scraper: New York cannabis business licenses.
• LA Business Registrations Scraper: Los Angeles registered businesses.
• California CSLB Scraper: California licensed contractors.

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Independent tool, not affiliated with the NYC Department of Buildings or NYC Open Data. Accesses only publicly available data from NYC Open Data.