How to find jobs from building permits

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A building permit is the most honest sales lead in construction. It is a public record, filed by the owner or contractor, that says: at this address, this work is about to happen, and somebody has already decided to pay for it. Everything in this playbook comes from reading the permit boards we track — 9,782 permits across 28 live markets in our latest pull (Oct 13, 2026 to Nov 11, 2026).

Which permits mean work for which trades

Not every permit is a job for you. Read for the work behind the filing:

• Roofing (482 permits in the pull): re-roofs and roof replacements are usually the job itself — the filer is often the roofer or the owner. Move the same week.
• Remodel & addition (2,159): the GC on the permit will need subs for nearly everything. Your opening is a trade the GC doesn't self-perform.
• New construction (348): the longest runway. Ground-up permits create months of sequenced work — site, structure, then every finish trade in order.
• Electrical (1,277), plumbing (1,879), HVAC (1,058): standalone trade permits are frequently the job itself, filed by the trade doing the work; permits filed inside a bigger remodel are sub opportunities.
• Pool (104) and solar (151): the homeowner has committed to a large ticket. Pool filings also pull excavation, plumbing, electrical, and fence work behind them.
• Demolition (251): every demo needs hauling and dumpsters first, and something gets built on the cleared lot next.

Timing: the permit is the starting gun

Work gets awarded in the days and weeks after a permit issues, not months later. A permit you read the morning after it posts is a lead; the same permit read a month later is history. That is why the board has to be read daily — the value of the record decays fast. It is also why freshness has to be honest: a feed that lags two weeks (some cities publish slowly, and we label those feeds on our coverage pages) gives you a shorter runway, and you should know that before you pay for it.

How to approach the GC or owner

• Reference the actual job: the address and the work described on the permit. It proves you did the homework and separates you from cold callers.
• Call the party named on the permit first — owner or applicant — and keep it to one specific offer: the trade scope the filing shows is still open.
• If the permit names a GC, ask which scopes are still unawarded. On remodels and new builds, some always are.
• Follow up once. Permit holders are busy; a single short bump beats a drip campaign.

Doing this by hand vs. having it filtered

You can read your city's permit portal yourself — the records are public, and for one city it costs nothing but time. The catch is the sorting: thousands of filings, most of them not your trade or not your county. PermitBoards exists to do that sort every morning and email you only your slice. Start with the sample alert to see the format, or read which markets are live — and if you want the filtered version, the signup below starts a free sample of the real feed.