# Building Permit Leads Scraper: New Permits by City & Trade (`scrapemint/building-permit-leads`) Actor

Fresh building permits from official city open data, normalized across Chicago, NYC, Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Boston: one row per permit with work description, address, valuation, and contractor. Filter by trade keyword and value. Keyless, no browser. Pay per permit.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapemint/building-permit-leads.md
- **Developed by:** [Ken M](https://apify.com/scrapemint) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 4.00 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

$10.00 / 1,000 building permit lead rows

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?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Building Permit Leads Scraper: New Permits by City & Trade

Every issued building permit is a homeowner or business that just committed money to a project. This actor pulls recently issued permits straight from official city open-data APIs and normalizes seven different city schemas into one row shape: permit id, issue date, permit type, work description, address, declared or estimated valuation, and the contractor where the city publishes it. Filter by trade keyword and minimum project value, and run it on a schedule with dedupe for a daily feed of new permits in your trade. Keyless public JSON, no browser, no per-seat construction data subscription.

Built for roofers, solar installers, HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractors chasing active projects, building material and equipment suppliers, restoration and remodeling companies, and anyone selling to contractors named on permits.

### Covered cities

Chicago, New York City, Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston — the largest US cities with official keyless permit APIs. Contractor names are published by Chicago, NYC, Austin (with phone), Seattle, Philadelphia, and Boston; valuation by all except Philadelphia.

### What you get

One row per permit, with:

- `city`, `permitId`, `issueDate`, `status`
- `permitType`, `workClass`, `description`, `matchedKeyword`
- `address`, `zip`, `latitude`, `longitude`
- `valuation` (declared/estimated project cost)
- `contractorName`, `contractorPhone` (where the city publishes them)

### Input

- `cities` (empty = all seven)
- `keywords` (matched against work description and permit type, e.g. roof, solar, hvac, pool, remodel, demolition)
- `minValuation` (e.g. 50000 for projects worth pitching)
- `sinceDays` (issued in the last N days, default 7)
- `maxPermits` (default 50, up to 2000, split across selected cities)
- `dedupe` (skip previously returned permits; built for a scheduled daily feed)

### Example input

```json
{
  "cities": ["chicago", "austin", "seattle"],
  "keywords": ["roof", "solar"],
  "minValuation": 10000,
  "sinceDays": 14,
  "maxPermits": 200
}
```

### Example output

```json
{
  "city": "Austin, TX",
  "permitId": "2026-084203 EP",
  "issueDate": "2026-07-08",
  "permitType": "Electrical Permit",
  "workClass": "Repair",
  "description": "EV Charger Circuit installation. 30 Amp NEMA 10-30R installation",
  "address": "15717 JEFFS LN",
  "zip": "78717",
  "valuation": 550,
  "contractorName": "Revive Electric LLC",
  "contractorPhone": "5122695447",
  "status": "Active"
}
```

### Uses

- Trade contractors: every new permit in your keyword and value band, the week it is issued
- Suppliers and equipment vendors: permits name the contractor doing the work, which is your buyer
- Restoration, solar, and remodel sales teams: high-valuation permits are funded projects, not tire kickers
- Market research: permit volume by trade, city, and week
- Chain contractor names into the Website Contact Scraper for emails

### Pricing

Pay per permit row. Searches that match nothing cost nothing, and the first 2 rows of every run are free so you can validate output before you scale up.

### Notes

- Data comes from each city's official open-data portal (Socrata, Carto, and CKAN APIs) and reflects what the city publishes; field coverage varies by city and is normalized to null where absent.
- Cities typically publish issued permits with a lag of one to a few days.
- `minValuation` skips permits where the city publishes no value (all Philadelphia rows, and some rows elsewhere).

# Actor input Schema

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

Cities to scan. Empty = all supported cities.

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

Matched against work description and permit type, e.g. roof, solar, hvac, pool, remodel, demolition, electrical. Empty = all permits.

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

Only permits with declared/estimated value of at least this (USD). Skips permits where the city publishes no value.

## `sinceDays` (type: `integer`):

How far back to scan for issued permits.

## `maxPermits` (type: `integer`):

Cap on permit rows returned, split across the selected cities. Controls total cost.

## `dedupe` (type: `boolean`):

Remember returned permits across runs and skip them. Turn on for a scheduled daily lead feed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "austin",
    "seattle"
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "roof"
  ],
  "sinceDays": 7,
  "maxPermits": 50,
  "dedupe": false
}
```

# 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": [
        "chicago",
        "austin",
        "seattle"
    ],
    "keywords": [
        "roof"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapemint/building-permit-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": [
        "chicago",
        "austin",
        "seattle",
    ],
    "keywords": ["roof"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapemint/building-permit-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": [
    "chicago",
    "austin",
    "seattle"
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "roof"
  ]
}' |
apify call scrapemint/building-permit-leads --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,scrapemint/building-permit-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/zdsDW4mCn8eTgT1bv/builds/VUSszJuR1dIXwsSQc/openapi.json