Where to Find Building Permit Data:

***This article was originally written in 2020, but has been updated for 2023 to reflect new solution providers***

The Best Resources for Commercial and Residential Building Permits

While your local government authority may be the first source you think of when considering where to find building permit data, there are also several providers of building permit data on the market. Below we explore some of the best. Let’s jump in.

How to Find Building Permit Records

Building permit records consist of all the building permits issued to an address – from solar panel installation to roofing jobs. Building permit records include: a description of the job, the cost of the job, and the details of the contractor. Building permit records contain both historic data and any current building permit records.

There are many uses for building permit data, whether you’re a real estate agent who wants to identify their next sale, or an insurer looking to assess risk based on property renovations or repairs.

However, it can be difficult to know where to look for reliable records on a property. Thankfully, there are several excellent resources you can use to find accurate historic and current building permit data.

Building Permits by State and Metro Areas

One way to find building permit data for your state is to head to your local government website. To search historical building permits and current permit applications in your state, most local government websites simply require an address. You can also head to the office address for the state in question to search records in person. The drawback? It can be time consuming to search for each address.

Commercial Building Permit Data: BuildZoom

BuildZoom specializes in commercial building permit data. The BuildZoom team track the building activities of over 4 million licensed contractors in the US – tracing back two decades. They offer building permit data on 175 million building permits – these can be accessed by metro area, zip code, or state.

BuildZoom allows users to visualize local building permit data visually, with a map that highlights work being undertaken by contractors in different neighborhoods – a great visual aid for sourcing new properties and gaining insight into the building trends of local neighborhoods.

CoreLogic Building Permit Data

CoreLogic is another leading provider of building permit data. CoreLogic provides data on over 28 million building permits, offers over 35 permit types, coverage for 2,500 countries and cities, and building permit data insights on over 9 million households.

CoreLogic provide a combination of commercial, residential, and industrial building permits. They also combine property and homeowner data for deeper insights into properties and the wider real estate market.

ATTOM Building Permit Data

With a comprehensive database of over 200 million building permits from over 2,000 building departments across the U.S, ATTOM offer the industry’s most exhaustive source of building permit data currently on the market.

ATTOM offers details on both residential and commercial real estate properties, with insights into current building work and historical projects – allowing greater insight into a particular property or area of the market. ATTOM provides detailed information on projects, including: classification of permit type (such as roofing), the status of the permit in question, a description of the job, the details of the contractor, and more.