Shovels vs BuildZoom vs PermitGrab for Contractors

Q: How much does PermitGrab cost?

PermitGrab Pro is $149/month. It has a 14-day trial ; a card is required to start, and you can cancel before the trial ends. Check each other provider's current pricing and contract terms directly, because those offerings change.

By PermitGrab Research · Source coverage and publishing cadence vary by jurisdiction

154,583

Named contractor profiles

20,856

Profiles with a phone

271,357

Public violation records

16,596,134

Public owner records

Availability varies by market · Browse market coverage →

Short answer: for a contractor or supplier team researching activity in named service markets, compare the city source, newest record date, published role, and delivery workflow—not an aggregate coverage number. PermitGrab is designed for in-browser public-record research by city and trade; a permit is evidence of a project, not an exclusive homeowner request for bids.

Quick choice for a contractor or supplier team

Inspect a few named markets before committing: use PermitGrab to review the city publisher, newest published record, and available source fields in the browser.
Build a data product or internal pipeline: evaluate Shovels’ current API, licensing, and jurisdiction terms directly.
Plan a project or hire a contractor: evaluate BuildZoom’s current homeowner-facing matching workflow instead.
Buy a recurring regional report: evaluate the current market scope, report format, and delivery schedule from the report provider.

These are different workflows, not interchangeable proof that a published permit is a bid, a request for service, or an available job.

BuildZoom, Shovels, Construction Monitor, and PermitGrab can all be relevant to construction research, but they support different workflows. The product that looks best in a national comparison may be the wrong choice if it does not publish the fields or freshness you need in your service area.

Choose the workflow first

If you need to…	Evaluate…	What to verify
Find help planning or hiring a construction project	A homeowner-facing matching service such as BuildZoom	Current matching process, project fit, and contractor terms
Integrate data into your own application	An API or bulk-data provider such as Shovels	API terms, rate limits, licensing, and the jurisdictions you need
Research activity in specific service markets	PermitGrab	The city source, newest record, available fields, and contact role
Buy a regional report for an established sales process	A regional-report provider such as Construction Monitor	Current market coverage, report format, and delivery schedule

How this comparison was prepared

This is a workflow comparison, not a feature, price, coverage, or lead-quality scorecard. We reviewed the providers’ own public materials for the jobs they describe, then reduced the decision to the evidence a buyer can verify before committing: the intended workflow, the exact markets, the publisher or data source, the newest usable record, and the available field and role labels.

BuildZoom’s project-consultation overview describes a project-planning and contractor-selection workflow.
Shovels’ API documentation describes a developer-facing permit and contractor data workflow.
PermitGrab’s city source checker shows the bounded market-level evidence available for a selected city before a trial.

Product terms, source coverage, and field availability can change. This page therefore does not assign a universal winner, repeat provider-wide coverage totals, or treat a permit record as a bid request. For a decision that affects a real market, verify the provider’s current terms and the city-level public record yourself.

BuildZoom: project matching and contractor research

BuildZoom describes a project-consultation process for people planning construction and a network for professionals seeking project opportunities. That is different from simply searching a city’s recent permit record. If you are a property owner looking to plan and hire a project, evaluate its current matching and professional terms directly. If you are researching public construction activity, start with the underlying jurisdiction and the fields it actually publishes.

Shovels: evaluate the API and data workflow

Teams evaluating Shovels commonly begin with an engineering question: can the product’s current API, data model, and terms support the system they intend to build? That can be the right choice for a technical implementation. It is a different evaluation from a sales or operations team that needs to inspect activity in a handful of markets without building its own data pipeline.

Construction Monitor and other report providers

Regional reports can be useful when their coverage and delivery format match an established sales process. Before purchasing, ask for the current jurisdictions, the public source behind the report, the source date, and the precise contact fields included. Those details matter more than a generic claim about permits or leads.

PermitGrab: public-record research by market

PermitGrab helps contractors, suppliers, researchers, and other B2B teams inspect recent public building-permit activity by city and trade. Each market page is intended to show its public source, newest published record, and which contractor, owner, contact, project-value, or violation fields are actually available.

That distinction is important. A source may identify a contractor of record, an applicant, an owner, a generic permit contact, or no named party at all. A phone may be source-published, publicly listed, or absent. Estimated project value is not a price quote or a purchase order. We treat those as market- and record-specific facts rather than platform-wide promises.

How to compare permit-data products responsibly

List the cities and trades you actually need. A national total is not proof of useful coverage in your service area.
Check the newest source record. A live-looking page is not enough; look for the underlying source and record date.
Check contact roles. Do not treat an applicant, owner, or permit runner as the contractor of record without source support.
Check field availability. Confirm whether the source really provides the address, project type, value, contractor, owner, phone, or violation field you need.
Match the delivery method to the workflow. API, report, matching service, and market-research interface solve different problems.

See the source and available fields before you decide.

Check one city’s current source date, permit volume, and available contractor-profile count before deciding whether the workflow fits your team.

Check a city’s source coverage →

Frequently asked questions

Which is best — BuildZoom, Shovels, Construction Monitor, ATTOM, or PermitGrab?

The best fit depends on your workflow. Compare the actual markets, source dates, fields, delivery method, and current terms you need. PermitGrab is built for researching public permit records by city and trade; other products may suit a homeowner-matching, API, regional-report, or enterprise-data workflow.

Why is BuildZoom different from PermitGrab?

BuildZoom describes a project-consultation and contractor-matching workflow for property owners. PermitGrab is a public-record research product: it organizes the records a city publishes and discloses the source, newest record, and available fields by market. A permit record is not a homeowner request for bids.

How does PermitGrab compare to Shovels?

If your team needs an API or bulk data contract, confirm the provider's current technical and licensing terms. PermitGrab is designed for market-by-market public-record research in the browser, with source and field availability shown before a trial. Neither workflow proves that every city or permit includes the same contacts.

Is Construction Monitor better for suppliers?

Supplier teams should compare their actual markets, project fields, delivery format, and contact-role requirements. On PermitGrab, inspect the city page first: municipal sources can publish a contractor of record, an applicant, an owner, a generic contact, or none of those fields.

How much does PermitGrab cost?

PermitGrab Pro is $149/month. It has a 14-day trial; a card is required to start, and you can cancel before the trial ends. Check each other provider's current pricing and contract terms directly, because those offerings change.

Which has the freshest data?

There is no useful blanket answer: freshness depends on the jurisdiction and the source. PermitGrab shows the newest published record and source information on each city page. Verify the relevant provider's current coverage and publication schedule for every market you care about.

Best fit for a roofer, HVAC company, or solar installer?

Start with the service cities and trades you actually work. On PermitGrab, review the source date and field availability for those markets, then use permit records as project and territory intelligence. A permit can mean a project is underway; it is not an exclusive or guaranteed homeowner lead.

What is the best Shovels alternative for contractors and sales teams?

The best alternative is the one that publishes the markets, fields, and workflow your team needs. PermitGrab is a fit when you want to inspect public-record permit activity by city and trade without treating every record as the same kind of lead. Check the city pages before deciding. For PermitGrab's side-by-side product page, see Shovels alternative. Compare coverage and fields on each city page before a trial.

How much does Shovels permit data cost vs PermitGrab?

PermitGrab publishes a $149/month Pro price and a 14-day trial. Shovels and other providers may change their plans, pricing, usage limits, or contract terms, so verify those details directly before comparing cost.

Check market coverage before starting a trial

Source coverage and publishing cadence vary by jurisdiction. Explore available permit, contractor, owner, and violation fields by market. Review disclosed record dates, then choose your research settings before the optional checkout step.

Check markets and choose a workflow → Browse all cities →