Articles
Field guides for Chicago contractors: how to read the city's building permit data, turn filings into a prospect list, and know exactly what a permit can — and can't — tell you. Plainspoken, practical, no fluff.
How Chicago contractors find new projects in building permit data
The full workflow: what the city's public permit records contain, how to read the work description, filter by type and territory, size jobs from the reported value, and build a prospect list you can actually work.
Chicago building permits: what roofers should actually watch for
The work descriptions that signal real roofing work — reroofs, tear-offs, membrane jobs — plus the adjacent permits worth a qualifying question (parapet work, dormers, new construction) and the ones to skip.
How fast should you follow up on a new building permit?
Why early contact wins, what "fast" realistically means given how permit data publishes, a follow-up cadence you can keep for years, and what to say on the first call.
What a Chicago building permit tells you about a project — and what it doesn't
An honest field-by-field guide: what the address, scope, reported value, contractor, and issue date actually mean — and the important things they leave out, including owner contact info.