Shovels
Shovels - Building permit and contractor intelligence
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Find and sell to the right contractors

Shovels helps you identify qualified contractors, understand their work history, and connect with decision makers. Access rich permit data to power your contractor sales and marketing.

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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
170M+
Contractors in our database
3M+
US addresses covered
30M+
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>A Deeper Dive into Shovels AI Classifications</p>
Company

A Deeper Dive into Shovels AI Classifications

Discover how Shovels leverages advanced AI to transform permit classification, using a sophisticated multi-layer approach that combines pattern matching, semantic similarity, and entity extraction. Our system accurately categorizes permits into 22 distinct categories, validated by specialized annotators, ensuring precise classification for millions of construction permits nationwide.

Betty Wan

Betty Wan

VP of Growth

<p>Introducing the Shovels Nationwide Contractor State License File</p>
Company

Introducing the Shovels Nationwide Contractor State License File

Shovels announces the Nationwide Contractor State License File (CSL), a comprehensive dataset covering 1.8 million contractors across 37 states. The CSL dataset features standardized classifications, enhanced verification capabilities, and integrated contact information, enabling better fraud detection and entity resolution in the construction industry.

Betty Wan

Betty Wan

VP of Growth

<p>Shovels Quarterly Permit Index: Q1 2025</p>
Data

Shovels Quarterly Permit Index: Q1 2025

The Q1 2025 Shovels Permit Index reveals a 6.1% decline in US building permits to 2.02 million, marking the third consecutive quarter of decreases. While the overall trend shows caution, the rate of decline is slowing compared to Q4 2024's 12.5% drop. Regional analysis shows significant growth in counties like Pulaski (AR), Mahoning (OH), and Salt Lake (UT), while major builders like D.R. Horton and Lennar Homes continue to perform strongly. The report highlights the impact of economic factors including inflation, interest rates, and new trade tariffs on construction activity, while noting signs of cautious optimism for the remainder of 2025.

Ryan Buckley

Ryan Buckley

CEO