Data Policy

Where our data comes from and how we handle it

Our Data Sources

All building permit data on PermitPeek comes directly from official municipal open-data portals. These are public records published by city governments. We currently source data from:

New York City — NYC Open Data (Department of Buildings)
San Francisco — DataSF (Department of Building Inspection)
Chicago — Chicago Data Portal (Department of Buildings)
Austin — City of Austin Open Data
Seattle — Seattle Open Data (SDCI)
Los Angeles — Los Angeles Open Data (LADBS)

How We Retrieve Data

When you search an address, PermitPeek queries the relevant city's public open-data API in real time and displays the results. We cache results briefly to improve speed, but the underlying data always originates from the official government source.

Data Accuracy

We present permit data as it appears in the government source. We do not alter the underlying records. Because the original data may contain gaps, delays, or errors, we cannot guarantee that any record is complete or current. Permit records can lag behind real-world activity by weeks or months depending on the municipality. Always verify with the official building authority before making decisions.

What Our Analysis Adds

PermitPeek adds value by organizing, summarizing, and analyzing public records — for example, flagging open permits or summarizing permit history. This analysis is informational and based solely on the data available in the public source.

Data Updates

City open-data portals update on their own schedules — some daily, some weekly, some less frequently. The freshness of our data depends entirely on how often each city publishes updates.

Requesting Corrections

We cannot correct errors in government data — those must be addressed with the issuing municipality. If you believe PermitPeek is displaying data incorrectly (a technical issue on our end), please contact us.