How to Look Up New Building Permits in Los Angeles, and Find Who Pulled Them
Los Angeles's building permits are public. The data is published on the City of Los Angeles open data portal, dataset "Building and Safety - Building Permits Issued from 2020 to Present" (pi9x-tg5x), and each record carries the permit number, issue date, permit type and sub-type, use, work description, valuation, status and address, and no contractor, owner or applicant. In H1 2026 the city issued 32,031 permits. The permit tells you a project exists and who filed it; it does not tell you the stage, the person who awards your trade, or how to reach them. That last step is what Builtie adds.
The same four steps, whether the buyer is a builder, a designer, an owner or a company you want to acquire.
Where to search
Search the City of Los Angeles open data portal, dataset "Building and Safety - Building Permits Issued from 2020 to Present" (pi9x-tg5x). Filter on issue date and work type, then sort by value where the city publishes it.
What each permit tells you
Each record carries the permit number, issue date, permit type and sub-type, use, work description, valuation, status and address, and no contractor, owner or applicant. The CSLB license class on the LADBS record separates general builders (B, B-2) from specialty trades (C classes).
Traps in the data
The open dataset names nobody. Each permit's LADBS permit report (search by permit number on LADBS online services) lists the contractor with a CSLB license number and class, the architect, the engineer and the inspection history. Owner-builder permits name no contractor. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits are issued separately and are not in this dataset.
From a permit to a conversation
Builtie does steps 1 to 5 every day for Los Angeles.
City guide: construction leads in Los Angeles. Report: the Los Angeles Construction Industry Report. Other cities: Building permit lookup: Austin, Building permit lookup: Miami-Dade, Building permit lookup: New York City, Building permit lookup: Nashville, Building permit lookup: Chicago, Building permit lookup: Seattle, Building permit lookup: Vancouver, Building permit lookup: Calgary.
Plans and coverage
Builtie's Starter plan is $79 per seat per month (CAD) for 20 projects; Growth is $99 for 50 projects and adds the LinkedIn and email outreach you run yourself. Opening a project spends one credit, and the decision makers, emails, phones and AI call script inside it are included. Your monthly credits reset at each renewal, and extra credit packs are valid for 30 days. The free trial runs 7 days with 10 projects. Custom, where Builtie's team runs the outreach for you, starts from CAD $1,500 a month on top of a Growth seat.
Builtie covers North America, with its deepest permit and contact data in the Greater Toronto Area, where it started. How much a city yields depends on what that municipality publishes, so ask for live sample projects in your own city before you buy.
Frequently asked questions
How do I look up building permits in Los Angeles?
Use the City of Los Angeles open data portal, dataset "Building and Safety - Building Permits Issued from 2020 to Present" (pi9x-tg5x). Filter by issue date and work type.
Do Los Angeles permits show the contractor?
Each record carries the permit number, issue date, permit type and sub-type, use, work description, valuation, status and address, and no contractor, owner or applicant.
How much does Builtie cost?
Starter is $79 per seat per month (CAD) for 20 projects; Growth is $99 for 50 projects plus LinkedIn and email outreach; 7-day free trial with 10 projects. Billed monthly.