BuildData API Documentation

Canada-wide construction data API across ten datasets: building permits, building inspections, business licences, new business openings, development permits, planning applications, property assessments, contractor profiles, and zoning, covering dozens of Canadian cities and provinces.

Documentation menu

Getting started

Quickstart AI assistants (MCP)

Guides

Authentication Filtering & pagination Export to CSV Monitor new records Errors

Cookbook

Overview New permit leads Highest-value permits Furnace and rewire permits Permits near a point Megaproject pipeline Projects near a site Zoning at an address Everything at one address

Endpoints

GET/zone GET/geocode GET/reverse-geocode GET/zoning POST/permit/estimate GET/contractor/stats GET/contractor/coverage GET/contractor GET/property GET/address/normalize GET/opening_soon GET/opening GET/business GET/business/stats GET/business/coverage GET/contractor/{name_normalized}GET/permit GET/inspection GET/licence GET/development_permit GET/planning_application GET/assessment GET/major_project GET/heritage_status GET/occupancy_permit GET/permit/stats GET/inspection/stats GET/licence/stats GET/development_permit/stats GET/planning_application/stats GET/assessment/stats GET/major_project/stats GET/heritage_status/stats GET/occupancy_permit/stats GET/permit/coverage GET/inspection/coverage GET/licence/coverage GET/development_permit/coverage GET/planning_application/coverage GET/assessment/coverage GET/major_project/coverage GET/heritage_status/coverage GET/occupancy_permit/coverage GET/permit/{record_id}/history GET/permit/{record_id}GET/inspection/{record_id}GET/licence/{record_id}GET/development_permit/{record_id}GET/planning_application/{record_id}GET/assessment/{record_id}GET/major_project/{record_id}GET/heritage_status/{record_id}GET/occupancy_permit/{record_id}

Quickstart

Three steps to your first call:

Sign up at builddata.ca/subscribe/ and copy your key (free tier, no card).
Call the base URL https://api.builddata.ca with your key in the headers.
Parse the JSON response.

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5' \
  --header 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY'

import requests

url = "https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5"
headers = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
resp = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print(resp.json())

const res = await fetch("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5", {
  headers: {
    "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
  },
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY",
]);
echo curl_exec($ch);

require "net/http"
require "uri"

uri = URI("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5")
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["X-API-Key"] = "YOUR_API_KEY"
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts res.body

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5", nil)
    req.Header.Add("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
    res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    defer res.Body.Close()
    body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5"))
    .header("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
    .build();
HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
    .send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(res.body());

Guides

Getting started and authenticationGet an API key and make your first authenticated call in under five minutes.Filtering, search and paginationNarrow results with filters and full-text search, and page through large result sets.Export results to CSV or a spreadsheetPull records across pages and write them to a CSV you can open in Excel or Sheets.Monitor new recordsPoll for records added since your last check and act on them automatically.Errors and troubleshootingWhat each status code means, and how to read the message the API sends back.

Cookbook

Copy-paste recipes for common BuildData tasks.

Build a weekly new-permit lead listPull renovation permits issued in the last week for a city, newest first, as a lead stream for sales.Find the highest-value permits in a city this monthSort a city's permits by construction value to surface the biggest projects.Find furnace, rewire and repipe permits by tradeA trade permit is pulled for work on one system rather than the building, so it names the job directly: trade=mechanical is a furnace or HVAC change, trade=electrical a rewire, trade=plumbing a repipe.List permits within a radius of a coordinateFind recent permit activity around a job site or property using a lat/lng and radius.Track $100M+ capital projects under constructionMajor projects are the earliest and largest end of the construction funnel, years ahead of a building permit. Filter to the ones actually being built and rank them by capital cost.Find planned projects within range of a locationSurface upcoming capital work around a branch, depot or job site so you can plan coverage before the work goes to tender.Resolve the zoning district at a street addressGeocode an address, then look up the zoning district at that exact coordinate.Pull every record at a single street addressOne call returns the permits, inspections, development permits, assessment and licences recorded at an address, joined on a normalized form of the address so the datasets line up. No geocoding step, and no radius to guess at.

Endpoint reference

Every BuildData route. Click through for parameters, examples and a sample response.

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