Both start from the same public permit records, so what's the difference? We break down key considerations like data processing, contractor intelligence, licensing terms, and more.
We get a lot of questions about how Shovels stacks up to similar services and platforms. Here, we try to answer your questions as honestly as we can.
BuildZoom wears two hats: a contractor matching marketplace for homeowners, and one of the longest-standing permit data providers in the industry. Shovels is a permit intelligence platform for businesses that analyze construction activity or sell to the people doing the building. For homeowners, there is no overlap. For data buyers, the comparison comes down to how each company processes the same public records: coverage, depth, deduplication, and classification rigor.
If you are a homeowner looking for contractors, BuildZoom is likely the right tool. If you are a business evaluating permit or contractor data, this page compares what each offers and what to check before you license either.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
BuildZoom is a contractor matching service: homeowners describe a project, and BuildZoom matches them with vetted local contractors, using permit history and license records to score reliability.
Their marketplace is built on a large permit and contractor database, which BuildZoom also licenses to businesses through four data products: Bulk Data exports, a Data API, the Data Explorer web app for contractor reports, and Permit Map for address-level permit history. BuildZoom Pro gives contractors tools to manage their profile and win homeowner projects. The site's contractor and license pages make it one of the most visible permit-backed brands on the web.
One recent change worth knowing: in November 2025, the BuildZoom marketplace was acquired by Block Renovation, which is combining it with Block's AI renovation planning tools. The data licensing business operates separately at buildzoomdata.com.
Shovels is the intelligence layer for the built world. We collect permits first-party from jurisdictions nationwide, including offline jurisdictions reached through public records requests, then use AI to standardize, deduplicate, and categorize them.
Each permit links to contractor intelligence (permit history, inspection pass rates, build speed, contacts) and parcel data, and Decisions adds zoning and entitlement records before permits are filed. Delivery is through the Shovels API, the Shovels Online web app, or a direct warehouse share into Snowflake, BigQuery, or Databricks.
| Dimension | BuildZoom | Shovels |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Homeowners hiring contractors, data licensing on the side | Businesses analyzing construction or selling to contractors |
| Primary user | Homeowners and the contractors who serve them | Data, sales, and product teams |
| Core product | Contractor matching marketplace | Standardized permit, contractor, and pre-permit data |
| Contractor data direction | Helps homeowners evaluate contractors | Helps businesses target, vet, and analyze contractors |
| Permit processing | Large archive, status updates reported as they occur | Deduplicated (one record per permit), AI-classified categories, refreshed twice monthly |
| Pre-permit signal | None | Decisions: zoning, planning, and entitlement records |
| Delivery | Website, contractor tools, data licensing | REST API, web app, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, or other customized solutions |
| Getting started | Free for homeowners, data licensing via sales | Free self-serve signup, same-day data access, contact sales for custom solutions |
BuildZoom's business is connecting homeowners with contractors, and its data is built to support that marketplace. Shovels' business is the data itself. If you need to hire a contractor for your kitchen remodel, you would likely use BuildZoom. If you need every kitchen remodel permit in a metro, linked to the contractors who pulled them, Shovels is the better choice.
Both companies start from public permit records. The differences show up downstream. Shovels deduplicates so that each permit is a single record with a unique ID that updates in place as status changes, and classifies permits with AI models retrained on each release rather than keyword rules, which often mislabel edge cases. When comparing datasets, ask any vendor whether their counts are deduplicated and how many jurisdictions are actively refreshed rather than all-time.
A BuildZoom profile answers a homeowner's question: can I trust this contractor with my project? A Shovels profile answers business questions: which contractors are growing, who actually installs in my category, how fast do they build, how often do they pass inspection, and how do I reach them. Generally, building product manufacturers, insurers, and lenders need the second kind. Another way to see it: BuildZoom applies permit data at the micro level, one homeowner making one hiring decision, while Shovels aggregates the same signals at the macro level so businesses can act on markets, categories, and whole contractor populations.
BuildZoom's view of a project starts when a permit is filed. Shovels Decisions captures the zoning, planning, and entitlement activity that comes months earlier, while a project is still an item on a city council agenda. For teams that need the earliest possible signal, there is no BuildZoom equivalent.
Permit data is often resold through intermediaries, and licenses can restrict how you use the data, what you can build with the API, and which enrichments cost extra. Shovels collects first-party, licenses data as a flat fee scoped by geography and permit categories, and includes its enrichments, such as builder and category tagging, in the license rather than pricing them as add-ons. Whoever you evaluate, read the usage rights as carefully as the coverage map.
Evaluating permit data vendors? Ask the same five questions of everyone: Are permit counts deduplicated? How many jurisdictions are actively refreshed? What usage rights does the license grant? Which enrichments are included versus add-ons? And can you see pre-permit activity at all?
Explore the Shovels data dictionary to see how we answer them.
If you are a homeowner planning a renovation, BuildZoom is ideal for your needs: describe the project, get matched with vetted contractors, and check their permit history before hiring. Shovels does not match homeowners with contractors. Alternatively, if you are a residential contractor looking for homeowner project leads and a public profile that wins trust, BuildZoom Pro serves that directly.
Shovels is the better choice when the goal is business intelligence or growth: identifying demand signals in permit activity, scoring and reaching contractors, monitoring markets, enriching a CRM or data warehouse, or building permit-backed features into your own product. If your team's questions usually end with, "Can we query that?" you're describing the kind of problem Shovels is built to solve.
For a business evaluation, start with direction: are you trying to be found by homeowners, or trying to find and analyze the people doing the building? The first points to BuildZoom, the second to Shovels.
Then test with a market you know. Spot-check permits you are certain exist, including a project near your office or a job you were involved in, and check the fields your workflow depends on: contractor contacts, dates, values, and category tags. Shovels offers free self-serve access, so you can run your own market through the data the same day and judge coverage, deduplication, and enrichment directly.
Have questions about fit? Explore the Shovels permit database for free, or talk to us about your use case.
Sign up free, pull the permits and contractors in a market you already know, and judge the coverage, deduplication, and enrichment for yourself.
BuildZoom is a contractor matching service that helps homeowners find and hire vetted contractors, using permit and license history to score reliability. It also licenses its permit and contractor database to businesses and offers BuildZoom Pro tools for contractors seeking homeowner projects.
For permit and contractor data, yes. Teams that evaluated BuildZoom's data products typically choose Shovels when they need deduplicated records, AI-standardized categories, contractor intelligence built for outbound and analysis, pre-permit Decisions data, or unrestricted API and warehouse delivery. For hiring a contractor as a homeowner, no. Shovels does not do that.
BuildZoom is free for homeowners. Contractors and data licensing customers pay through separate products priced through sales. Shovels publishes self-serve plans, and enterprise data feeds are scoped by geography and permit categories as a flat fee.
Mostly methodology. Some providers create a new record each time a permit's status changes, which multiplies one permit into several records and inflates totals. Others count all-time jurisdictions rather than actively refreshed ones. Shovels deduplicates so each permit is one record updated in place. Ask any vendor whether counts are deduplicated before comparing sizes.
Block Renovation acquired the BuildZoom marketplace in November 2025 and is integrating it into its AI renovation platform. The data products (Bulk Data, Data API, Data Explorer, Permit Map) are offered separately under BuildZoom Data. If you are evaluating a data license, it is fair to ask how the ownership change affects the dataset's roadmap, support, and your contract terms.
The same place every permit data provider starts: public records from local building departments and state licensing boards. The differences between providers are in coverage, refresh, deduplication, classification, enrichment, and licensing terms, not in access to the underlying public records.