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From the public building permit records of each county and city permit office we cover (16 of them today), pulled straight from their own systems at least once a day. We clean each record into one format, remove duplicates where a city and its county list the same permit, and add the contractor's details where the office publishes them.

We don't buy leads and we don't make anything up: every permit traces back to an official filing you can look up at the permit office.

You aren't buying a shared lead. These are public permit filings: the project exists, the scope is real, and no one is bidding against four other contractors who bought the same phone number.

Referrals are the best work you get, they're just not a pipeline you control. Permits fill the weeks between them with projects that are already funded and approved, and the permit tells you who's building, where and roughly when.

A permit to build a new structure: a new home, a townhome, an apartment building or a new commercial building. Additions, renovations, decks, pools, demolitions and trade-only permits (electrical, plumbing, mechanical) are counted separately.

Every office words its permit types differently, so we sort them from the permit's own type and description. Things often filed as "new" that aren't a new building, like a detached garage, an accessory unit or a covered porch, are kept out of new construction.

The cost of the work as the applicant declared it on the permit. It's the building only: it leaves out the land, site work and the builder's margin, so for a new home it runs well below the sale price. Treat it as a size signal, not a quote.

Not every office publishes a value at all: Cabarrus County, Guilford County, Union County, Asheville and Town of Garner don't, so their permits show none.

Because not every permit office publishes them, and a homeowner pulling their own permit lists no contractor. We show every permit either way. Guilford County, Town of Fuquay-Varina, Town of Apex and Town of Wake Forest publish no contractor at all. Phone numbers are rarer still: under 15% of permits carry one in Cabarrus County, City of Greensboro, Wake County, Guilford County, Durham City-County, Union County, Asheville, Town of Morrisville, Town of Garner, Town of Fuquay-Varina, Town of Apex and Town of Wake Forest.

From the permit record itself: the contractor of record filed with the city or county. Where the permit lists a license number, we also match it against the state contractor licensing board's records. We clean and check the format of each number before it reaches your list.

Because the permit office doesn't publish one: City of Greensboro and Durham City-County leave the city off most permits. We show the office's name instead, and the ZIP code where there is one. We don't guess a city from the address.

Usually because our collection from that office improved: a better connection or wider filters let more of its permits in from that month on. That's more complete records, not a construction boom. The area pages say so next to the chart when it happens, so nobody reads a jump in our collection as a jump in building.

Because permit offices publish their records days or weeks after a permit is filed or issued, and some only publish once a permit is issued. The newest days fill in as those records arrive. Compare weeks that are a few weeks old, not the current one.

One project usually means several permits: the building permit, then separate electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits, sometimes one per building in a development. Permit Search's Properties tab puts an address's whole history on one page.

It's the status as of our last check with that office, not a live feed. Inspections and status changes can happen between checks, so confirm with the permit office before you rely on a status or a date.

As accurate as the records the offices publish. We don't change what a permit says beyond cleaning its format, so a mistake in the source shows up here too. If you spot one, email support@tarsignal.com with the permit number and we'll look into it.

North Carolina: Charlotte, the Triangle, the Triad, Wilmington and Asheville, including the county systems and the towns that run their own permitting, 16 permit offices in all. The Help Center lists every one. Charleston is next and isn't live yet. Sign up with a ZIP there and we'll email you the day it switches on.

We check every office for new permits at least once a day, and Permit Search and the map are rebuilt from those checks every few hours. How soon a permit appears also depends on when its office publishes it, which can be days after filing.

The Help Center's table of permit offices shows each office's newest permit.

About three years, back to October 2023. Permit Search covers all of it.

As far back as the permits themselves. Where a permit office publishes the contractor, it's on every permit we hold from that office, a 2023 filing as much as last month's. What varies is the area, not the year: some offices list a contractor and phone on nearly every permit, some on none.

438,129 in Permit Search, 17,842 of them from the last 30 days, 1,364 of those for new construction. These numbers update each morning.

Tell us at support@tarsignal.com. We add offices that publish their permits online, and we only list an area once its permits are flowing, never before. Signing up for the free list with a ZIP there tells us someone's waiting.

With a free login: the Permit Map, Permit Search across three years except the last 30 days, contractor contacts on permits older than 30 days, and a weekly email of new permits near one ZIP. Searching is capped at 2,000 results a day. No credit card.

Everything we make, for $199 a month. For the people doing the work: a daily list of new permits with contractor contacts, matched to your trade and areas, plus the Permit Map, Permit Search including the newest permits, and Permit Pulse. For the people selling materials: Material Leads, which reads the permit history at each address to flag which build stage hasn't been permitted yet, so you can quote before the order is placed. Material Leads covers Raleigh, Wilmington and Asheville today.

$199 a month, the founding rate (the list price is $299). Month to month, no contract. Billing starts when you sign up.

No, Pro bills when you sign up. But if it isn't for you, email us within 7 days of your first charge and we'll refund it in full. It's month to month with no contract, and you can cancel anytime.

Look before you pay: the Permit Map and Permit Search are free and show what's been filed near you. If you're still unsure, tell us your trade and area and we'll tell you honestly whether the filings there support it.

Start with the free weekly list: one ZIP, no card. When you want contractor names, phone numbers, the newest permits and CSV delivery, move up to Pro.

2,000 results a day on the free plan, and the first 150 results of any one search. Pro allows 25,000 a day with no per-search cap. Limits reset at midnight Eastern, and your account's Usage tab shows what you've used. They're there so nobody can pull the whole database through one login; a normal afternoon of searching is a few hundred results.

A permit filed last week that nobody has called about yet is worth something; one from 2024 is research. Rather than blur out phone numbers or cap you at ten results, the line is simply when it was filed. Everything older is free.

Each login is for one person. If several people at your company need access, email support@tarsignal.com about team seats.

Go to your account, open the Subscription tab and choose Manage billing, then Cancel. Pro stays on until the end of the month you've paid for, and we email you the date. After that you're moved to the free weekly list automatically, so you won't miss new permits near you. You can change your mind before the date and keep Pro.

If Pro isn't for you, email support@tarsignal.com within 7 days of your first charge and we'll refund it in full.

After that, cancelling stops the next renewal, and Pro keeps working until the end of the month you've paid for. That month isn't refunded in part.

A billing mistake is always refunded: a duplicate charge, or a charge after you cancelled. Refunds go back to the card you paid with, usually within 5 to 10 business days.

Go to your account, open the Subscription tab and choose Manage billing. There you can change the card, see past invoices and download receipts.

Your account moves to the free plan and the free weekly list, for your ZIP or one from the areas you followed on Pro, and we email you to say so. Your account and saved settings stay. Come back to Pro anytime from the pricing page.

The free list arrives Monday mornings around 6am Eastern, with new permits near your ZIP. Pro's daily list arrives around 6am Eastern each morning there are new permits in your areas; on a day with none, there's no email. Pro can have the list in the email, as a spreadsheet (CSV) attachment, or both.

Once there are more than a handful, the free list shows a sample, about a third of the new permits near your ZIP, and tells you how many more there were. Pro's daily list has every one, with the contractor and phone number.

On the free list: go to your account's Alerts tab and change the ZIP, or sign up again on the homepage with the new one; it replaces the old ZIP rather than adding a second.

On Pro: your areas, trades and the kinds of work you want are on the Profile tab, and the Alerts tab sets how the list is delivered (in the email, as a spreadsheet, or both) and which address it goes to.

Use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email. It only stops the emails: if you're on Pro, the map, Permit Search and everything else keep working until you cancel the subscription itself.

The page you landed on after unsubscribing has a Resubscribe button. If you've closed it, go to your account and open the Alerts tab, where Turn emails back on restarts them.

Check your spam and promotions folders, and add alerts@tarsignal.com to your contacts. If they're not there either, email support@tarsignal.com from the address you signed up with and we'll check what was sent.

Yes, with a login. You get every filter, all three tabs, contractor names and phone numbers, and the full three-year history, for permits filed more than 30 days ago. The most recent 30 days, and paging through every result, are what Pro is for.

Just an email: we send a sign-in link, so there's no password to remember. It keeps the database from being scraped wholesale, and it's how your daily usage is counted.

Search the address in Permit Search and open the Properties tab: each property shows its full permit history, what was done, when and by whom. The Permit Map's popup links straight there too.

Search their name in Permit Search's Contractors tab, or find them on the contractors page. Each contractor shows their permits, where they work and what kind of work it is.

Every permit we track, on a map, colored by type, with filters for date and type. It's free; Pro adds the contractor and phone number in each permit's popup.

Where permit volume and dollar value are moving now, by area and trade, who's pulling the most permits, and forecasts of where demand heads next.

For suppliers: addresses whose next material order hasn't been permitted yet. It reads each address's permits stage by stage, so you can reach the builder before they order. It covers Raleigh, Wilmington and Asheville today, the areas whose offices file permits stage by stage.

Yes, on Pro: set your daily list to arrive as a spreadsheet (CSV), or both in the email and as a spreadsheet, on your account's Alerts tab. It opens in Excel or Google Sheets, ready for your CRM.

Enter your email on the sign-in page and we'll send a link that signs you straight in. There's no password. If the link has expired or doesn't arrive, ask for a new one; check your spam folder too.

Email support@tarsignal.com. We reply within 24 hours.

Use it all you like inside your business: call and bid on the jobs, quote, load the leads into your CRM, build internal reports. Quoting a few figures publicly is fine with credit to TarSignal, like a newsletter citing permit counts.

What's not allowed: reselling, redistributing or bulk-publishing the lists or our compiled data, using it to build a competing lead service, scraping or bulk downloading beyond your plan's limits, and sharing a login. The permits themselves are public records; what we protect is the cleaned, combined dataset.

Want the data in bulk or as a feed? That's a separate license; email support@tarsignal.com. And when you call or text the numbers, follow the telemarketing rules that apply to you.

Email support@tarsignal.com from the address on the account and we'll delete it, with your alert settings and email history. If you're on Pro, cancel first from the Subscription tab so there's no further charge.

We use it to sign you in and send the emails you asked for. We don't sell it. The privacy policy has the details.