HomeSamplePricingCoverage

How our data works

The full explanation: what every column means, what the labels mean, why some information is missing, and what we promise about all of it. Everything on this page is part of the product — if we ever change how the data works, this page changes first.

Reading the labels

Project values

  • "Not reported on this permit" — the applicant didn't declare a project cost on that permit. It does not mean the project is worth $0 — about 1 in 8 Chicago permits look like this. A minimum-value filter never silently removes these rows; they are included and labeled.
  • "Not published by this source" — that permit office publishes no project values at all, for any permit (unincorporated Will County is the current example). There is no number to show, so we say so instead of inventing one.

Locations

  • Exact address published — the permit record itself carried the project street address.
  • "Approximate location" — the record carried a parcel number instead of an address, so the location is an approximation based on the information available (county parcel records). We tested the method on 50 real permits across 8 suburbs: the street was correct in every case we could check. Use it to find the area and the contractor — not as a surveyed address.
  • "Not published by this source" — that office publishes no usable location for the project.

People and project details

  • Contractor of record — the business named on the permit, exactly as published. Where several are named, all are shown.
  • "Applicant" — in the county assessor records the name is whoever applied for the permit; that is not always a contractor, so we label it "applicant" rather than calling it one.
  • "Not listed on this permit" — no contractor was named on the permit record.
  • "Not specified" (residential) — the permit text didn't say whether the project is residential. It never means "no."
  • The permit office's original wording is kept next to our plain-English summary of each project, so you can check our reading against the source.

Our promises

  • No homeowner names, phone numbers, or emails — never collected, never sold. The digest is business data only, exactly as the permits publish it.
  • Alarm/security and disaster-restoration permits are excluded from every edition.
  • If an office is late publishing one week, that week's email says so instead of quietly sending a thin issue.
  • Coverage is promised by named jurisdiction only — never by vague area names — and a dated, town-by-town coverage list will be published before signup opens.
  • Found an error? Give us the permit number — we check it against the issuing office and fix or annotate the row.

Back to the homepage