Shovels | The intelligence layer for the built world

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How we're different

Our data is Shovel-ready

We make building permits easy to understand and use for market research, go-to-market, and sales. No data engineering required.

Fanatical customer service: We're a small company with a big heart. We're here to help you succeed.
Constant innovation: We ship fast. We ship often. We ship quality. We use the latest technology to make your life easier.
Transparency: We're not afraid to show you exactly where our coverage gaps are. We're the only company that's fully transparent about our data.
Residents and employees: We go beyond just the properties and contractors. We also include residents and employees with contact information.
Helpful documentation: Our documentation is comprehensive and easy to understand. We keep our API documentation and data dictionary up to date.
AI-powered from the start: We run hundreds of millions of records through our AI to make sure our data is accurate.
Pricing for everyone: We work with all budgets. Our customers range from climate and proptech startups to publicly-traded companies.
Multiple interfaces: We're more than just a data provider. We're both a data platform and a software company.

From the blog

We write about building permits, contractors, government decisions, and the future of the built environment.

Jul 13, 2026 Company

Monthly Memo - July 2026

This month's memo is the epilogue to Ryan's data journey—the four proprietary building blocks Shovels now owns outright. It traces how the company started with permits (buyer intent, invisible to Google), expanded to contractors and their license data, acquired ReZone to add government Decisions, and is now building nationwide Properties from tax assessor rolls across about 2,800 counties. The payoff is a circular, self-enriching system where Permits, Decisions, and Properties each enrich the others in near real-time.