Chicago permit leads: the project, what it's worth, and who's building it
Every week, Chicago publishes the building permits it just issued — with the project address, the reported job cost, and the contractors on the job. I pull the commercial ones and send you the spreadsheet.
The limits, up front. The city publishes no phone numbers, emails, or ZIP codes on permits. The reported cost is the applicant's own figure, missing on about a quarter of rows. Blank stays blank — I don't fill gaps with guesses. And Chicago publishes no commercial/residential flag, so I classify each permit from the city's own work description (a commercial use named, a mixed-use project, or a multifamily building of 3+ units). Permits whose descriptions don't say what the building is get excluded, not guessed at.
What's in a drop
Each drop (CSV + Excel) covers commercial permits issued in Chicago in the last 7 days, pulled from the city's open permit records, updated daily at the source. Columns: permit number, issue date, permit type, work description, project address, community area, reported cost, general contractor as published, and the other named contractors — most rows name two or three.
What the data actually looks like
I pulled a full 30 days to check this before selling it (permits issued September 21 – October 21, 2026):
- 3,007 permits issued in 30 days; 394 classified commercial by the work-description filter — about 90 sellable rows per weekly drop
- Project street address on 100% of commercial rows. Community area on 99%.
- Reported cost on 74.1% of commercial rows — median $147,440, $405.6 million of commercial project value in the 30 days, 49 permits at $1 million or more
- A named contractor on 98.0% of commercial rows; a named general contractor on 64.7%. Commercial rows average 5.7 named contacts and 2.9 named contractors each.
- Permit types in that month: Renovation/Alteration 195 commercial, Express Permit Program 159, New Construction 29, Signs 7, Wrecking/Demolition 4
- No ZIP code on permits (street address, community area, and ward instead). No phone numbers or emails.
Who buys it
GCs and subs scouting active projects. Supplier and rental sales reps working a territory. Commercial insurance agents. People who prospect projects and the contractors on them.
Packages
| First Drop | Four Mondays | Full Quarter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $45 | $165 | $445 |
| Drops | 1 weekly drop | 4 consecutive weekly drops | 12 consecutive weekly drops |
| Permit types | All commercial types | All, or filtered to your types | All, or filtered to your types |
| Community-area / minimum-cost filters | No | Yes | Yes |
| Per-area summary (counts by community area) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-contractor activity ranking (busiest first) | No | Yes | Yes |
| New Chicago business licenses sheet | No | No | Yes — one monthly sheet per month covered |
| Format | CSV + Excel | CSV + Excel | CSV + Excel |
| Cover sheet (date range + exact row count) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Extras: a 90-day backfill file is $75. A monthly new-business-licenses sheet is $25 for First Drop and Four Mondays buyers — that feed does include ZIPs. Ask about contractor contact enrichment or other metros before ordering — those are custom quotes, not checkbox extras.
How drops work
Drops go out Monday, covering the previous Monday to Sunday. The cover sheet states the exact date range and row count. Thin week, thin count — I don't pad lists to hit a number. Holiday and bad-weather weeks run thinner. If a drop ever comes in under 25 commercial rows, message me and I'll extend your package by a week.
Order
Orders go through Fiverr. The $45 First Drop is the paid trial: one real week of Chicago commercial permits, priced for a sales rep's expense card.
Questions first? [email protected]
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