# Building Permits Scraper - Multi-City Open Data (`jongoose/building-permits-scraper`) Actor

Scrape building & construction permits from 12 US cities' official open-data portals into one clean schema: permit number, type, status, issue date, address, work description, valuation, contractor, applicant & lat/lon. Free government APIs, no key. Filter by city, issue date & permit type.

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

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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 Permits Scraper - Multi-City Open Data

Pull **building & construction permits from 12 US cities into one clean, normalized schema** - no API key, no account, no anti-bot. Every large US city publishes permits on its own open-data portal with its own column names; this actor translates all of them into the *same* record so you can query dozens of jurisdictions as one feed.

Great for **contractors, roofers, solar & HVAC installers, remodelers, suppliers, and real-estate investors** who want fresh permit leads and market intelligence - and for analysts tracking construction activity.

### Supported cities

| City | Source | Portal |
|------|--------|--------|
| Chicago, IL | Socrata | data.cityofchicago.org |
| New York, NY | Socrata | data.cityofnewyork.us (DOB NOW) |
| Los Angeles, CA | Socrata | data.lacity.org |
| San Francisco, CA | Socrata | data.sfgov.org |
| Austin, TX | Socrata | data.austintexas.gov |
| Seattle, WA | Socrata | data.seattle.gov |
| Cincinnati, OH | Socrata | data.cincinnati-oh.gov |
| Mesa, AZ | Socrata | citydata.mesaaz.gov |
| Montgomery County, MD | Socrata | data.montgomerycountymd.gov |
| Baton Rouge, LA | Socrata | data.brla.gov |
| Washington, DC | ArcGIS | maps2.dcgis.dc.gov |
| West Sacramento, CA | ArcGIS | gis.cityofwestsacramento.org |

All data comes from **official government open-data APIs** (Socrata and ArcGIS FeatureServer). These are free, public, key-less endpoints, so runs are fast and cheap and need only Apify's default datacenter proxy.

### Normalized schema (one row per permit)

```json
{
  "city": "Austin, TX",
  "permit_number": "2026-074994 BP",
  "permit_type": "Building Permit - New",
  "status": "Active",
  "issue_date": "2026-07-10",
  "application_date": "2026-04-20",
  "address": "4102 CAT HOLLOW DR AUSTIN TX 78731",
  "work_description": "New construction in-ground pool and spa.",
  "valuation": 0.0,
  "contractor_name": "LOHR Homes",
  "applicant": "Gil Lohr",
  "latitude": 30.3623778,
  "longitude": -97.76570347,
  "source": "data.austintexas.gov",
  "source_type": "socrata",
  "source_url": "https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/permit/public-search-other?...",
  "scraped_at": "2026-07-10T21:56:20Z"
}
```

Not every city publishes every field (e.g. Chicago has no status column, Cincinnati has no coordinates, DC publishes fees rather than construction valuation) - missing values come back as `null` rather than being faked. Coordinates are populated wherever the source provides them (8 of 12 cities).

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `cities` | array | Which cities to scrape (multi-select). Leave empty to scrape **all** supported cities. |
| `issuedAfter` | date | Only permits issued on/after this date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). Applied server-side per city. |
| `permitType` | string | Keyword filter, matched against permit type **and** work description - e.g. `roof`, `solar`, `pool`, `electrical`, `demolition`. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Max permits **per city** (so 3 cities x 500 = up to 1,500 rows). Default 1,000. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Defaults to Apify datacenter proxy - no residential proxy required. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "cities": ["austin", "los_angeles", "baton_rouge"],
  "issuedAfter": "2025-01-01",
  "permitType": "roof",
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

This returns every roofing permit issued since Jan 2025 across Austin, LA, and Baton Rouge - a ready-made call list for a roofing company.

### Why this actor

- **One schema, many cities.** Stop writing a parser per portal - each city's fields are pre-mapped to the same keys.
- **Fresh + filterable.** Newest-first, with server-side date filtering and keyword type filtering.
- **Complete records.** Address, geo-coordinates, valuation, contractor/applicant, and a link back to the source record where available.
- **Zero anti-bot.** Public government JSON APIs - reliable and cheap.
- Export as JSON, CSV, Excel, or pull via the Apify API.

### Extending it

Adding a city is a single entry in `src/parser.py` -> `CITIES`: point it at the Socrata dataset or ArcGIS FeatureServer, list the `date_field`, and map that portal's column names to the canonical keys. Address and permit-type can be composed from several columns. No fetch-layer changes needed.

***

This data is aggregated from public government records for market research and lead generation. It is **not a consumer report** and must not be used for any FCRA-covered purpose (credit, employment, insurance, or tenant screening).

# Actor input Schema

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

Which cities to scrape. Leave empty (or select nothing) to scrape ALL supported cities. Each city is pulled from its official open-data portal and normalized into the same schema.

## `issuedAfter` (type: `string`):

Only return permits issued on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Applied server-side per city on that city's issue date. Leave empty for all dates.

## `permitType` (type: `string`):

Optional keyword filter (case-insensitive), matched against each permit's type AND work description - e.g. 'roof', 'solar', 'pool', 'electrical', 'demolition'. Leave empty for all types.

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

Stop after collecting this many permits FROM EACH selected city (so 3 cities x 500 = up to 1,500 rows).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

These are open government APIs, so Apify's default datacenter proxy is plenty - no residential proxy needed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "los_angeles",
    "austin"
  ],
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# 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",
        "los_angeles",
        "austin"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jongoose/building-permits-scraper").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",
        "los_angeles",
        "austin",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jongoose/building-permits-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).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",
    "los_angeles",
    "austin"
  ]
}' |
apify call jongoose/building-permits-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jongoose/building-permits-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/myMZzS32cWthXCWV4/builds/arKtePjTabtbJsipK/openapi.json