# US Building Permits API: Construction, Roofing & Solar Leads (`spriggs-data/us-building-permits`) Actor

Newly issued building permits from 38 official US city & county open-data APIs (Chicago, NYC, LA, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Nashville, Austin, Seattle...). Filter by date, cost, ZIP, keyword and lead category: roofing, solar, HVAC, pool, ADU, new construction. Only-new mode for daily lead feeds.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/spriggs-data/us-building-permits.md
- **Developed by:** [Thomas Spriggs](https://apify.com/spriggs-data) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Real estate
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.30 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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 API: Construction, Roofing & Solar Leads

Get **newly issued building permits** from **38 official US city and county open-data portals** in one clean, normalized dataset.
Use it as a **building permits API**, a daily **construction leads** feed, or a source of **roofing leads, solar leads, HVAC leads, pool leads and contractor leads**.
No login, no API keys, no scraping of web pages: every record comes from a government's own documented open-data API (Socrata SODA or ArcGIS REST).

### What you get

- **38 sources, one schema.** Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Denver, Nashville, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Raleigh, Columbus, Detroit, Charlotte, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Mesa, Baton Rouge, Norfolk, Cambridge MA, Rockford IL, plus whole counties like Montgomery County MD, Collin County TX, Wake County NC, Maricopa County AZ, San Diego County CA and Pierce County WA. The full list is below.
- **Lead categories tagged automatically:** `solar`, `roofing`, `hvac`, `pool`, `adu`, `new_construction`, `demolition`, `electrical`, `plumbing`, `kitchen_bath`, `ev_charger`, `fence`, `windows_doors`.
- **Filters:** issue date range, minimum job cost, lead category, free-text keywords (e.g. "generator", "battery", "deck"), ZIP codes, and states.
- **Fast and cheap:** date, cost, category and keyword filters are pushed into the source's own query (SoQL `$where` / ArcGIS `where`), so the actor downloads only the permits you asked for.
- **Only new since last run:** schedule the actor daily or weekly and get only permits you haven't seen before. That makes it a ready-made lead feed for your CRM, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make or n8n.
- **Contractor and owner details where the city publishes them**, e.g. contractor company, phone, email and license (Mesa, Raleigh, Austin, San Diego County, Baton Rouge), owner names (NYC, Baton Rouge, Everett, Collin County, Charlotte, Raleigh).

### Who uses building permit data

- **Roofers, solar installers, HVAC, pool and remodeling contractors:** find homeowners and properties with fresh permits in your service ZIP codes.
- **Suppliers and subcontractors:** see which general contractors are pulling permits, and for how much.
- **Real-estate investors, proptech and market researchers:** track new construction, ADUs and big-ticket remodels by city.
- **AI agents and data pipelines:** a single, predictable JSON schema across 38 sources.

### How to use

1. Pick **Cities / counties** (or enter **States**, or tick **All sources**).
2. Set **Issued in the last N days** (default 7) or an exact **Date from / Date to**.
3. Optionally choose **Lead categories**, **Keywords**, **Min estimated job cost** and **ZIP codes**.
4. Run it, then download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or via the API.
5. For a lead feed: tick **Only new since last run** and add a **schedule** (e.g. every morning).

#### Example inputs

Roofing permits in Texas from the last 30 days:

```json
{ "states": ["TX"], "categories": ["roofing"], "daysBack": 30 }
```

Solar permits worth $10,000+ in California and Massachusetts:

```json
{ "states": ["CA", "MA"], "categories": ["solar"], "minEstimatedCost": 10000, "daysBack": 30 }
```

Daily feed of new $100k+ projects in Chicago, Columbus and Detroit (schedule it daily):

```json
{ "cities": ["chicago", "columbus", "detroit"], "minEstimatedCost": 100000, "daysBack": 3, "onlyNew": true }
```

Pool permits in Raleigh / Wake County:

```json
{ "cities": ["raleigh", "wake-county"], "keywords": ["pool"], "daysBack": 60 }
```

### Output

Each permit is one dataset item. Fields that a city doesn't publish are left out or `null`. Example (real record from Mesa, AZ, abridged):

```json
{
  "id": "mesa:PMT26-15222",
  "cityKey": "mesa",
  "sourceName": "Mesa, AZ",
  "city": "Mesa",
  "state": "AZ",
  "permitNumber": "PMT26-15222",
  "permitType": "Residential Permit",
  "workType": "Renovations/Remodels",
  "description": "Repair existing foundation including installa...",
  "status": "Issued",
  "issuedDate": "2026-10-15",
  "appliedDate": "2026-08-18",
  "estimatedCost": 15942,
  "address": "1136 E GARNET CIR",
  "fullAddress": "1136 E GARNET CIR, Mesa, AZ",
  "lat": 33.391307,
  "lon": -111.806394,
  "contractor": "Groundworks",
  "contractorPhone": "4806356133",
  "contractorEmail": "phxpermits@groundworks.com",
  "contractorLicense": "ROC358060",
  "categories": [],
  "sourceUrl": "https://citydata.mesaaz.gov/d/dzpk-hxfb",
  "sourceLicense": "City of Mesa Terms of Use",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-17T16:00:00+00:00"
}
```

Common fields: `id`, `cityKey`, `sourceName`, `city`, `state`, `permitNumber`, `permitType`, `workType`, `description`, `status`, `issuedDate`, `appliedDate`, `estimatedCost`, `address`, `fullAddress`, `zip`, `lat`, `lon`, `contractor`, `owner`, `applicant`, `squareFeet`, `units`, `parcel`, `link`, `categories`, `sourceUrl`, `sourceLicense`, `scrapedAt`.
Turn on **Include raw source record** to also get every original column under `raw`.

A `RUN_SUMMARY` record in the run's key-value store shows how many permits each source returned.

### Pricing

Pay per result: you pay only for permits saved to your dataset (plus a tiny per-run start fee). A run that finds nothing costs only the start fee. Use **Max permits in total** to cap the cost of any run.

### Supported cities and counties

| State | Jurisdiction | `cities` value | Official source | Update cadence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AZ | Maricopa County, AZ (unincorporated) | `maricopa-county` | [ArcGIS REST](https://services.arcgis.com/ykpntM6e3tHvzKRJ/arcgis/rest/services/Building_Permits_\(view\)/FeatureServer/0) | daily / near-daily |
| AZ | Mesa, AZ | `mesa` | [citydata.mesaaz.gov](https://citydata.mesaaz.gov/d/dzpk-hxfb) | daily / near-daily |
| CA | Corona, CA | `corona` | [corstat.coronaca.gov](https://corstat.coronaca.gov/d/2agx-camz) | daily / near-daily |
| CA | Los Angeles, CA | `los-angeles` | [data.lacity.org](https://data.lacity.org/d/pi9x-tg5x) | daily / near-daily |
| CA | Marin County, CA (unincorporated) | `marin-county` | [data.marincounty.gov](https://data.marincounty.gov/d/mkbn-caye) | daily / near-daily |
| CA | San Diego County, CA (unincorporated) | `san-diego-county` | [data.sandiegocounty.gov](https://data.sandiegocounty.gov/d/red2-qccu) | daily / near-daily |
| CA | San Francisco, CA | `san-francisco` | [data.sfgov.org](https://data.sfgov.org/d/i98e-djp9) | daily / near-daily |
| CO | Denver, CO (commercial) | `denver-commercial` | [ArcGIS REST](https://services1.arcgis.com/zdB7qR0BtYrg0Xpl/arcgis/rest/services/ODC_DEV_COMMERCIALCONSTPERMIT_P/FeatureServer/317) (Denver Open Data) | daily / near-daily |
| CO | Denver, CO (residential) | `denver` | [ArcGIS REST](https://services1.arcgis.com/zdB7qR0BtYrg0Xpl/arcgis/rest/services/ODC_DEV_RESIDENTIALCONSTPERMIT_P/FeatureServer/316) (Denver Open Data) | daily / near-daily |
| IL | Chicago, IL | `chicago` | [data.cityofchicago.org](https://data.cityofchicago.org/d/ydr8-5enu) | daily / near-daily |
| IL | Rockford, IL | `rockford` | [illinois-edp.data.socrata.com](https://illinois-edp.data.socrata.com/d/3k8p-pkx8) | updated monthly; latest data can be several weeks old |
| IL | Urbana, IL | `urbana` | [illinois-edp.data.socrata.com](https://illinois-edp.data.socrata.com/d/dvw9-7wyx) | updated monthly |
| LA | East Baton Rouge Parish, LA | `baton-rouge` | [data.brla.gov](https://data.brla.gov/d/7fq7-8j7r) | daily / near-daily |
| LA | New Orleans, LA | `new-orleans` | [data.nola.gov](https://data.nola.gov/d/rcm3-fn58) | daily / near-daily |
| MA | Boston, MA | `boston` | [data.boston.gov](https://data.boston.gov/dataset/approved-building-permits) (CKAN) | daily / near-daily |
| MA | Cambridge, MA (additions/alterations) | `cambridge-ma` | [data.cambridgema.gov](https://data.cambridgema.gov/d/qu2z-8suj) | daily / near-daily |
| MA | Cambridge, MA (new construction) | `cambridge-ma-new-construction` | [data.cambridgema.gov](https://data.cambridgema.gov/d/9qm7-wbdc) | daily / near-daily |
| MA | Cambridge, MA (solar installations) | `cambridge-ma-solar` | [data.cambridgema.gov](https://data.cambridgema.gov/d/whpw-w55x) | daily / near-daily |
| MD | Montgomery County, MD (commercial) | `montgomery-county-md-commercial` | [data.montgomerycountymd.gov](https://data.montgomerycountymd.gov/d/i26v-w6bd) | daily / near-daily |
| MD | Montgomery County, MD (residential) | `montgomery-county-md` | [data.montgomerycountymd.gov](https://data.montgomerycountymd.gov/d/m88u-pqki) | daily / near-daily |
| MD | Prince George's County, MD | `prince-georges-county-md` | [data.princegeorgescountymd.gov](https://data.princegeorgescountymd.gov/d/weik-ttee) | updated monthly |
| MI | Detroit, MI | `detroit` | [ArcGIS REST](https://services2.arcgis.com/qvkbeam7Wirps6zC/arcgis/rest/services/bseed_building_permits/FeatureServer/0) | daily / near-daily |
| NC | Charlotte / Mecklenburg County, NC | `charlotte` | [ArcGIS REST](https://meckgis.mecklenburgcountync.gov/server/rest/services/BuildingPermits/FeatureServer/0) | daily / near-daily |
| NC | Raleigh, NC | `raleigh` | [ArcGIS REST](https://services.arcgis.com/v400IkDOw1ad7Yad/arcgis/rest/services/Building_Permits/FeatureServer/0) | daily / near-daily |
| NC | Wake County, NC | `wake-county` | [ArcGIS REST](https://maps.wake.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Inspections/Building_Permits/MapServer/0) | daily / near-daily |
| NY | New York City, NY (DOB NOW) | `nyc` | [data.cityofnewyork.us](https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/rbx6-tga4) | daily / near-daily |
| OH | Cincinnati, OH | `cincinnati` | [data.cincinnati-oh.gov](https://data.cincinnati-oh.gov/d/uhjb-xac9) | daily / near-daily |
| OH | Columbus, OH | `columbus` | [ArcGIS REST](https://services1.arcgis.com/9yy6msODkIBzkUXU/arcgis/rest/services/Building_Permits/FeatureServer/0) | daily / near-daily |
| PA | Philadelphia, PA | `philadelphia` | [OpenDataPhilly / L\&I](https://opendataphilly.org/datasets/licenses-and-inspections-building-permits/) (CARTO SQL) | daily / near-daily |
| TN | Nashville / Davidson County, TN | `nashville` | [ArcGIS REST](https://services2.arcgis.com/HdTo6HJqh92wn4D8/arcgis/rest/services/Building_Permits_Issued_2/FeatureServer/0) (Metro Nashville Open Data) | daily / near-daily |
| TX | Austin, TX | `austin` | [datahub.austintexas.gov](https://datahub.austintexas.gov/d/3syk-w9eu) | daily / near-daily |
| TX | College Station, TX | `college-station` | [data.cstx.gov](https://data.cstx.gov/d/hrbn-znt6) | daily / near-daily |
| TX | Collin County, TX (all cities, via Collin CAD) | `collin-county-tx` | [data.texas.gov](https://data.texas.gov/d/82ee-gbj5) | daily / near-daily |
| TX | San Antonio, TX | `san-antonio` | [data.sanantonio.gov](https://data.sanantonio.gov/dataset/building-permits) (CKAN, CC BY) | daily / near-daily |
| VA | Norfolk, VA | `norfolk` | [data.norfolk.gov](https://data.norfolk.gov/d/fahm-yuh4) | daily / near-daily |
| WA | Everett, WA | `everett` | [data.everettwa.gov](https://data.everettwa.gov/d/3w3u-656c) | daily / near-daily |
| WA | Pierce County, WA (unincorporated) | `pierce-county` | [open.piercecountywa.gov](https://open.piercecountywa.gov/d/nhnt-v7ka) | daily / near-daily |
| WA | Seattle, WA | `seattle` | [cos-data.seattle.gov](https://cos-data.seattle.gov/d/76t5-zqzr) | daily / near-daily |

"Update cadence" is the publisher's typical refresh. Three sources publish monthly, so use a 30–60 day window for them.

Want another city? Open an issue with the link to its official open-data permits dataset and we'll add it.

### Data, licensing and limitations

- All data comes from **official government open-data portals** through their public, documented APIs. Licenses are listed per source above and in each record (`sourceLicense`). Many are public domain (e.g. Boston, Austin, Seattle, Cincinnati, Baton Rouge, Montgomery County MD, Cambridge MA, New Orleans).
- Coverage, field names and update speed differ by city. The actor maps each portal into the common schema, but some cities don't publish contractor, cost or coordinates.
- Denver publishes the permit class (New Building, Addition, Alteration...), valuation, contractor and neighborhood but no free-text description, so keyword searches rarely match Denver; use categories or cost instead. Nashville's `applicant` is the permit contact, usually the contractor.
- Philadelphia and Maricopa County don't publish a job value, so `estimatedCost` is empty there and a **Min estimated cost** filter skips them.
- "Estimated cost" is the job value the applicant declared to the city, and is often `0` for trade permits.
- Lead categories are keyword-based tags on permit type, work type and description. They are useful for filtering but not perfect.
- Contact data (names, phones, emails) is published by the cities themselves. If you use it for outreach, follow the laws that apply to you (e.g. TCPA, CAN-SPAM, state telemarketing rules and do-not-call lists).

### FAQ

**Is there a building permits API for all US cities?** No national one exists. Each city or county publishes its own. This actor wraps 38 of the best official ones in a single API, and more are being added.

**Can I get only permits I haven't seen yet?** Yes. Tick **Only new since last run**. The actor remembers permit IDs (per source and per filter set) in a named key-value store in your account. Use a different **State store name** for each independent schedule.

**How fresh is the data?** Most sources update daily. The actor reads the portal live on every run, so you get whatever the city has published.

**Do I need a Socrata app token?** No. You can optionally add one for higher rate limits on very large pulls.

### Related Spriggs Data actors

- **[US Contractor License Lookup: FL, TX, NY, WA, OR, CT, CO, MD](https://apify.com/spriggs-data/us-contractor-license-lookup)**: check whether the contractor on a permit is licensed, active and (in Oregon) bonded and insured. 12 official state and city license databases, including about 114,000 active Florida DBPR licenses; search by name or license number, or build trade-contractor lead lists by city, ZIP and trade.
- **[Bluesky Scraper: Posts, Profiles, Followers & Likers](https://apify.com/spriggs-data/bluesky-scraper)**: search Bluesky posts and users, export followers, likers, replies and starter-pack members. No login needed. Useful for finding local contractors, homeowners and trade accounts talking about projects.

*Built and maintained by Spriggs Data.*

# Actor input Schema

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

Which official open-data portals to pull. Leave empty and use States or All sources instead if you prefer.

## `states` (type: `array`):

Two-letter state codes, e.g. IL, TX, CA. Adds every supported city/county in those states.

## `allSources` (type: `boolean`):

Pull every supported city and county (currently 35). Combine with a small Max permits per city to keep runs cheap.

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

Ignored when Date from is set.

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

Optional. Earliest issue date (inclusive).

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

Optional. Latest issue date (inclusive). Defaults to today.

## `categories` (type: `array`):

Keep only permits tagged with at least one of these categories (matched on permit type, work type and description).

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Keep only permits whose type or description contains any of these words (case-insensitive), e.g. "generator", "battery", "deck".

## `minEstimatedCost` (type: `integer`):

Permits with a lower or missing job value are skipped.

## `zipCodes` (type: `array`):

Keep only permits in these 5-digit ZIP codes.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Skip permits this actor already returned in an earlier run with the same filters. Ideal for a daily or weekly schedule (lead feed). State is kept in a named key-value store in your account.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named key-value store used by Only new. Use a different name per schedule if you run several independent feeds.

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

Stop after this many permits per city/county (newest first).

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

Hard cap for the whole run (also caps your cost).

## `includeRaw` (type: `boolean`):

Adds the original portal record under raw (all native columns).

## `socrataAppToken` (type: `string`):

Optional free token from any Socrata portal for higher rate limits. Not required.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "austin",
    "seattle"
  ],
  "states": [
    "TX",
    "NC"
  ],
  "allSources": false,
  "daysBack": 7,
  "minEstimatedCost": 0,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "stateStoreName": "us-building-permits-state",
  "maxItemsPerCity": 200,
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "includeRaw": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("spriggs-data/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 '<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("spriggs-data/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 '{}' |
apify call spriggs-data/us-building-permits --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,spriggs-data/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 <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/Hn5jgV2gD5IBcBftr/builds/0UfpofgvwjXexj26d/openapi.json