Shovels
Shovels - Building permit and contractor intelligence
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The intelligence layer for the built world

Shovels captures the first signal of construction—using AI to turn fragmented permit data into Shovel-ready intelligence. Access via API, web app, or direct data warehouse integration.

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Clean and useful building permit data that's easy to understand

Because you want to get insights from building permits, not wrangle with raw data.

Building permits in our database
185M+
Contractors in our database
3.3M+
US addresses covered
33M+
New permits added monthly
5M+

How we're different

Our data is Shovel-ready

We make building permits easy to understand and use for market research, go-to-market, and sales. No data engineering required.

Fanatical customer service
We're a small company with a big heart. We're here to help you succeed.
Constant innovation
We ship fast. We ship often. We ship quality. We use the latest technology to make your life easier.
Transparency
We're not afraid to show you exactly where our coverage gaps are. We're the only company that's fully transparent about our data.
Residents and employees
We go beyond just the properties and contractors. We also include residents and employees with contact information.
Helpful documentation
Our documentation is comprehensive and easy to understand. We keep our API documentation and data dictionary up to date.
AI-powered from the start
We run hundreds of millions of records through our AI to make sure our data is accurate.
Pricing for everyone
We work with all budgets. Our customers range from climate and proptech startups to publicly-traded companies.
Multiple interfaces
We're more than just a data provider. We're both a data platform and a software company.

Work with us

We offer three interfaces to interact with our building permit and building contractor data.

Shovels Online
Shovels Online

Purchase single or multiple seats to explore and download our building permit and contractor data.

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Shovels API
Shovels API

Automate access and integrate with other applications like CRMs, custom web apps, and more.

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Database Access
Database Access

Get parquet files or private table shares into Snowflake, Databricks, or Big Query.

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From the blog

We write about building permits, contractors, and the future of the built environment.

<p>When Disaster Strikes: What Permit Data Reveals About Hurricane Recovery</p>
Data

When Disaster Strikes: What Permit Data Reveals About Hurricane Recovery

Permit data from Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Ian reveals dramatically different recovery patterns. Harvey's flooding triggered a slow-building reconstruction surge peaking 11 months later with foundation work and complete rebuilds. Ian's wind damage sparked an immediate roofing crisis, with permits peaking in just 3-4 months. The type of disaster—flood versus wind—creates distinct "signatures" in permit activity that reveal how communities actually recover.

Morgan Friberg

Morgan Friberg

Head of Marketing

<p>October 2025 Newsletter</p>
Company

October 2025 Newsletter

October marks a milestone for Shovels as we add record-setting permit data, bring offline jurisdictions online, and launch dual data teams—Wolverine and Storm. We're also testing a smarter chat interface packed with AI-powered insights, charting tools, and new ways to access local building data—all leading to a more powerful Shovels for our customers.

Ryan Buckley

Ryan Buckley

CEO