Calgary’s permit data,
finally searchable.
Every year, the City of Calgary issues tens of thousands of building permits. That data is public — but buried in a portal built for spreadsheets, not people. YYC Permits turns the whole database into a conversation: type a question, get answers on a map.
What we do
We ingest the full City of Calgary permits dataset nightly — every residential build, every commercial tenant improvement, every basement development going back over a decade. That’s 488,000+ permits, each with the address, contractor, applicant, project cost, square footage, permit type, and exact coordinates.
On top of that, we run a carefully sandboxed AI that translates natural-language questions into read-only SQL. You never see the SQL. You just ask “who built the most houses in Auburn Bay last year?” and see the answer — tabulated, totalled, and mapped.
Scout competitors, benchmark your project volume, study who's winning in each community.
Quantify development activity in any Calgary neighbourhood before listing or buying.
Follow the money: who's building what, where, and how much it costs.
Verify a contractor's history before hiring. See everything they've built.
Frequently asked
The short version of everything most people want to know.
How do I search Calgary building permits?+
Just type a question in plain English. Examples: 'biggest renovations in Beltline last year', 'who built the most houses in Tuscany', or 'average cost of kitchen renos in 2024'. Our AI translates your question to SQL and runs it against the full City of Calgary permit database.
How many permits are indexed?+
Over 488,000 City of Calgary building permits going back more than a decade, with new permits added daily from the City's open data portal.
What data does each permit include?+
Address, community, permit type and class, work description, applicant, contractor, estimated project cost, square footage, housing units, applied/issued/completed dates, and exact geo-coordinates for mapping.
Is this free?+
Yes — the first 10 questions are free. For power users, a Pro plan at $30/month unlocks 1,000 questions per month.
Where does the data come from?+
The City of Calgary Open Data portal. We ingest the full permits dataset nightly, so what you see is always within 24 hours of the official record.
Can I see results on a map?+
Yes — every query with addresses renders on an interactive map alongside the table, so you can spot geographic patterns instantly.
Who is this for?+
Contractors scouting competitive activity, realtors researching neighborhood investment, journalists investigating development, homeowners vetting renovators, and anyone curious about what's being built in Calgary.