# US Building Permits Scraper: Contractor Leads (`waags/building-permits-leads`) Actor

Get fresh building permits from 12 official US city open-data portals (Chicago, NYC, LA, SF, Seattle, Austin, Orlando and more) in one schema: address, work, valuation, contractor and owner. Filter roofing, solar, HVAC and remodel jobs.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/waags/building-permits-leads.md
- **Developed by:** [Andres Garcia](https://apify.com/waags) (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

Pay per event

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 Scraper: Roofing, Solar, HVAC & Contractor Leads

Get **fresh building permits from 12 official US city and county open-data portals**, normalized into **one clean schema**: issue date, address and ZIP, permit type, work description, **job valuation**, **contractor name (and phone where published)**, owner and applicant, coordinates and a link to the source record. Filter by **trade** (roofing, solar, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, pool, new construction, demolition, remodel, fence/deck), keyword and minimum job value.

**Official government data, no login, no API key, no proxies.** Every source is a public Socrata open-data API, so runs are fast, cheap and never blocked.

### Covered jurisdictions

| City / county | State | Contractor | Contractor phone | Valuation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Chicago | IL | ✅ | – | ✅ |
| New York City (DOB NOW) | NY | ✅ + license | – | ✅ |
| Los Angeles | CA | – | – | ✅ |
| San Francisco | CA | – | – | ✅ |
| Seattle | WA | ✅ | – | ✅ |
| Austin | TX | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| New Orleans | LA | ✅ | – | ✅ |
| Baton Rouge (East Baton Rouge Parish) | LA | ✅ | – | ✅ |
| Cincinnati | OH | ✅ | – | ✅ |
| Orlando | FL | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Norfolk | VA | – | – | ✅ |
| Montgomery County | MD | – | – | ✅ |

Every source is checked by our daily monitor. If one city portal is temporarily down, the run continues with the others and the gap is reported in the `SUMMARY` record of the key-value store.

### What you can do with it

- 🏠 **Roofing, solar, HVAC, plumbing and remodeling leads:** homeowners who just pulled a permit are actively spending on their property
- 🧰 **Contractor prospecting:** see which contractors are busiest by city and trade (supplier, insurance, software and financing sales)
- 🏗️ **Construction market intelligence:** track new construction, ADUs, demolitions and project values by ZIP
- 🏦 **Real estate & lending:** spot renovation activity and property improvements
- 🤖 **Feeds for CRMs, dashboards and AI agents:** one schema across 12 jurisdictions

### How to use it

1. Click **Try for free**. The input is prefilled with **roofing, solar and HVAC permits issued in the last 14 days in Austin, Chicago and Seattle**, so it works in one click.
2. Pick your **cities**, **trades**, a **keyword** (e.g. `ADU`, `generator`) and a **minimum job value**.
3. Click **Start** and export to **CSV, Excel, JSON**, or push to HubSpot, Google Sheets, Slack or webhooks through integrations.
4. **Schedule it daily** with `Issued on or after = 1 day` to get every new permit each morning.

#### Input example

```json
{
    "cities": ["austin", "orlando", "seattle"],
    "issuedFrom": "7 days",
    "trades": ["roofing", "solar"],
    "minValuation": 10000,
    "requireContractor": true,
    "maxItems": 500
}
```

| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `cities` | Any of `chicago`, `new-york-city`, `los-angeles`, `san-francisco`, `seattle`, `austin`, `new-orleans`, `baton-rouge`, `cincinnati`, `orlando`, `norfolk`, `montgomery-county-md` (empty = all) |
| `issuedFrom` / `issuedTo` | Issue-date window, `YYYY-MM-DD` or relative (`7 days`) |
| `trades` | `roofing`, `solar`, `hvac`, `plumbing`, `electrical`, `pool`, `newConstruction`, `demolition`, `remodel`, `fence` |
| `keyword` | Free text matched against permit type and description |
| `minValuation` | Minimum declared job value in USD |
| `requireContractor` | Only permits that name a contractor |
| `maxItemsPerCity` | Per-city cap (defaults to an even split of `maxItems`) |
| `maxItems` | Maximum results |

#### Output example

```json
{
    "permitNumber": "2026-125000 PP",
    "city": "Austin",
    "state": "TX",
    "issueDate": "2026-09-29",
    "status": "Active",
    "permitType": "Plumbing Permit",
    "workClass": "Repair",
    "description": "generator gas line",
    "trades": ["plumbing", "electrical"],
    "valuation": null,
    "address": "13025 BISMARK DR",
    "zip": "78748",
    "latitude": 30.14165607,
    "longitude": -97.85013338,
    "contractorName": "My Plumber Is A Nerd",
    "contractorPhone": "+15126631145",
    "contractorAddress": "4901 ABERDE AUSTIN",
    "ownerName": null,
    "url": "https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/permit/public-search-other?t_detail=1&t_selected_folderrsn=13777025",
    "source": "https://data.austintexas.gov/d/3syk-w9eu"
}
```

The **Permit leads** dataset view shows date, city, address, type, trades, work, value, contractor, phone and owner in one table.

### How much does it cost?

Pay-per-event: a small fee per run start plus a fixed price per permit returned, currently **about $1.40 per 1,000 permits** (see the **Pricing** tab). There are no compute or proxy charges on top. A daily run returning 200 new roofing permits costs about $0.29. Cap every run with `maxItems`.

### Tips

- **Solar installers:** `trades = ["solar", "roofing"]`. New roofs are prime solar prospects.
- **HVAC companies:** `trades = ["hvac"]` + `minValuation = 5000`.
- **Find busy contractors:** `requireContractor = true`, then pivot the dataset by `contractorName`.
- **Call contractors:** chain with our [US Phone Number Validator](https://apify.com/waags/us-phone-number-validator) (time zone and calling hours), or find their emails with our [Website Contact Extractor](https://apify.com/waags/website-contact-extractor).

### FAQ

**Where does the data come from?** Each city's or county's official open-data portal (Socrata), the same data published by the building department. The `source` field links to the dataset.

**How fresh is it?** Most portals update daily, so permits typically appear 1–3 days after issuance.

**Why are some fields empty?** Each city publishes different columns. For example, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Norfolk and Montgomery County do not publish contractor names. The coverage table above shows what each source provides.

**Can you add my city?** Yes, if it publishes permits on an open-data API. Open an issue on the **Issues** tab.

**Is this legal?** Yes. Building permits are public records published by the cities for reuse. Follow telemarketing and email laws when you contact owners or contractors.

### Related actors by WAAGS

- [Contractor License Leads (TX, WA, OR, CT, CO)](https://apify.com/waags/contractor-license-leads): licensed contractors with phone numbers
- [Website Contact Extractor](https://apify.com/waags/website-contact-extractor) · [Bulk Email Validator](https://apify.com/waags/bulk-email-validator) · [US Phone Number Validator](https://apify.com/waags/us-phone-number-validator)
- [SAM.gov Contract Opportunities](https://apify.com/waags/sam-gov-contract-opportunities): federal construction RFPs

# Actor input Schema

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

Jurisdictions to search. Leave empty for all 12.

## `issuedFrom` (type: `string`):

Only permits issued on or after this date. Use YYYY-MM-DD or a relative value such as "7 days" (7 days ago), ideal for daily lead schedules.

## `issuedTo` (type: `string`):

Only permits issued on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD or relative). Leave empty for today.

## `trades` (type: `array`):

Only permits whose type or description matches at least one of these trades. Leave empty for all permits.

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

Free-text match on the permit type and work description, e.g. "ADU", "generator" or "tenant improvement".

## `minValuation` (type: `integer`):

Only permits with a declared project valuation at or above this amount.

## `requireContractor` (type: `boolean`):

Skip permits that do not list a contractor (not all cities publish contractors).

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

Cap per jurisdiction so one big city doesn't use the whole budget. Defaults to Max results divided by the number of cities.

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

Optional free app token for higher rate limits on very large exports. Not needed for normal use.

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

Maximum number of permits to return. You are charged per result, so this also caps your cost.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "austin",
    "chicago",
    "seattle"
  ],
  "issuedFrom": "14 days",
  "trades": [
    "roofing",
    "solar",
    "hvac"
  ],
  "requireContractor": false,
  "maxItems": 60
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "cities": [
        "austin",
        "chicago",
        "seattle"
    ],
    "issuedFrom": "14 days",
    "trades": [
        "roofing",
        "solar",
        "hvac"
    ],
    "maxItems": 60
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("waags/building-permits-leads").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 = {
    "cities": [
        "austin",
        "chicago",
        "seattle",
    ],
    "issuedFrom": "14 days",
    "trades": [
        "roofing",
        "solar",
        "hvac",
    ],
    "maxItems": 60,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("waags/building-permits-leads").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": [
    "austin",
    "chicago",
    "seattle"
  ],
  "issuedFrom": "14 days",
  "trades": [
    "roofing",
    "solar",
    "hvac"
  ],
  "maxItems": 60
}' |
apify call waags/building-permits-leads --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/5tkMKbmi3Dq8UYTyE/builds/QQxIIduoXRoFuMPaX/openapi.json