20 IBC cohorts — every permit tagged.
PermitCore classifies every silver permit into one of 20 cohorts derived from IBC occupancy types and project-scope signals. A deterministic-first classifier handles the unambiguous calls; LLM-1 handles the cases that need them. Cohort assignment is the same axis across every metro — filter consistently across all 25.
Commercial — 8 cohorts
The 8 commercial cohorts span the commercial-construction vertical end-to-end — alteration · MEP · HVAC · new · shell-only · demolition · signage · pool. Every commercial permit lands in exactly one, queryable via the API consistently across all metros. See the commercial-construction vertical surface →
Commercial Alteration
commercial_alteration1.2M permits classified
Tenant improvements, additions, alterations, + commercial envelope work.
Commercial alteration permits cover the broad set of changes to existing commercial buildings — tenant improvements, additions, structural alterations, adaptive reuse, AND roofing/envelope work that doesn't trigger a separate sub-cohort. The highest-volume commercial cohort in most US metros because TI turnover + re-roofing cycles dominate filings against existing stock.
Browse in San Francisco →Commercial MEP
commercial_mep839K permits classified
Commercial mechanical, electrical, + plumbing systems.
Commercial MEP permits cover mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system work on commercial buildings — electrical service upgrades, plumbing reroutes, and non-HVAC equipment changeouts. HVAC installs and replacements split out into commercial_hvac when that cohort ships per metro; cohorts are overlap-free, so a permit reclassified into commercial_hvac is decremented from commercial_mep at the source metro on the same regen.
Browse in Austin →Commercial HVAC
commercial_hvac5,855 permits classified
RTU, VAV, VRF, chiller installs.
Commercial-grade HVAC work on commercial and multifamily buildings — RTU replacements, VAV / VRF system installs, central-plant chiller work, ductwork retrofits, and equipment changeouts. Building-character definition: HVAC permits on multifamily R-2 buildings classify here because the trade itself uses 'commercial HVAC' in the building-character sense (the contractor license class, manufacturer product catalog, and distributor territory plan all align this way). Split out of commercial_mep + multifamily_alteration on classifier reclassification.
Browse in New York City →Commercial New Construction
commercial_new156K permits classified
Ground-up commercial buildings — offices, retail, mixed-use.
Commercial new construction permits cover ground-up commercial buildings — office towers, retail centers, mixed-use developments, and standalone storefronts. These permits are filed when a project breaks ground and includes the structural foundation, framing, and shell work. Filtered for commercial occupancy types (B, M, A-2) under the International Building Code.
Browse in New York City →Commercial Shell-Only Construction
commercial_shell_only1,124 permits classified
Building shells without tenant fit-out — speculative + warm-shell builds.
Commercial shell-only permits cover ground-up commercial structures filed with no interior fit-out — speculative builds where the developer ships the shell and tenants execute their own tenant-improvement permits later. A useful cohort to track separately from commercial_new because investment + use signals differ: shell-only suggests speculative or pre-leased commercial real estate activity.
Browse in Austin →Commercial Demolition
commercial_demolition88K permits classified
Commercial teardowns + structural demolition + abatement.
Commercial demolition permits cover full and partial teardowns of commercial structures — building removal, structural demolition for redevelopment, and asbestos abatement preceding demolition. Frequently a leading indicator of upcoming commercial new construction at the same parcel.
Browse in New York City →Commercial Signage Permits
commercial_signage202K permits classified
Building signs — wall-mounted, monument, illuminated, pole signs.
Commercial signage permits cover building signs at commercial properties — wall-mounted signs, monument signs, illuminated signage, pole signs. Smaller permit values than most cohorts but high volume; often used as a leading indicator of tenant turnover since new sign filings typically follow a tenant change-over at a commercial property.
Browse in Chicago →Commercial Pool Construction
commercial_pool23K permits classified
Commercial pools — hotels, gyms, condo amenities, apartments.
Commercial pool permits cover swimming pool construction at commercial-owned properties — hotels, gyms, condominium amenity decks, apartment complex pools, and standalone aquatic facilities. Distinct from residential pool work which is rolled into residential_alteration today. Seasonal volume; cohort is a useful proxy for hospitality + multifamily amenity investment.
Browse in Austin →
Multifamily — 2 cohorts
Multifamily Alteration
multifamily_alteration2.9M permits classified
Apartment + condo alterations, renovations, + envelope work.
Multifamily alteration permits cover changes to existing apartment and condo buildings — unit-level reconfigurations, common-area overhauls, structural retrofits, roof replacements, and substantial systems work. The highest-volume multifamily cohort in most US metros because turnover + aging-stock maintenance dominate filings against existing buildings.
Browse in New York City →Multifamily New Construction
multifamily_new141K permits classified
Ground-up apartments + condos — 5+ units, R-2 occupancy.
Multifamily new construction permits cover ground-up apartment buildings, condominium developments, and other 5-unit-and-up residential structures. Filtered for R-2 occupancy under IBC. Excludes single-family and small-multifamily (under 5 units, typically tagged as residential alteration upstream). A leading indicator for housing supply, REIT pipeline, and apartment-construction-driven labor demand.
Browse in Charlotte →
Residential — 6 cohorts
Residential MEP
residential_mep30K permits classified
Residential mechanical, electrical, + plumbing.
Residential MEP permits cover mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system work on residential structures — HVAC replacements, electrical service upgrades, plumbing repairs and reroutes. Solar PV installs split out into solar_residential when that cohort ships per metro; cohorts are overlap-free, so a permit reclassified into solar_residential is decremented from residential_mep at the source metro on the same regen.
No new classifications in the last 30 days.
ADU-Qualifying Construction
adu_qualifying30K permits classified
Accessory dwelling units — backyard cottages + garage conversions.
ADU-qualifying permits cover accessory dwelling units — backyard cottages, garage conversions, attached and detached ADUs that meet local zoning thresholds. A high-growth cohort in West Coast metros where state-level legislation (e.g. California SB 9 / SB 10) has streamlined approval. Used by realtors, ADU specialists, and policy researchers to track urban-infill density trends.
Browse in Los Angeles →Residential New (Single-Family)
residential_new_sf18K permits classified
Ground-up single-family homes — detached residential construction.
Residential new-construction (single-family) permits cover ground-up construction of detached single-family homes. Excludes multifamily (5+ units), townhouses with shared walls (often classified separately by jurisdiction), and ADUs. A direct measure of single-family housing-supply growth.
No new classifications in the last 30 days.
Residential Demolition
residential_demolition11K permits classified
Single-family teardowns + accessory-structure demolition.
Residential demolition permits cover teardowns of single-family homes and accessory structures (garages, sheds, accessory buildings). Often a leading indicator of upcoming residential_new_sf filings at the same parcel — a classic teardown-rebuild signal.
Browse in Los Angeles →Residential Foundation-Only
residential_foundation_only4,629 permits classified
Foundation-only filings — early-phase residential construction.
Residential foundation-only permits cover the very earliest phase of residential construction — foundation excavation, footings, and slab work filed separately from the superstructure. Often a precursor to a follow-up residential_new_sf permit on the same parcel. Useful for tracking groundbreaking activity 4-8 weeks ahead of the full construction permit.
Browse in New York City →Residential Alteration
residential_alteration4,523 permits classified
Single-family renovations, additions, kitchen/bath remodels.
Residential alteration permits cover changes to existing single-family homes — renovations, additions, kitchen and bath remodels, basement finishes, and similar work on detached residential structures. The highest-frequency residential cohort by volume; tracks both DIY-permit activity and contractor-driven remodel cycles.
Browse in San Francisco →
Civic + Industrial — 2 cohorts
Industrial New Construction
industrial_new8,523 permits classified
Warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing, data centers.
Industrial new construction permits cover ground-up warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, and dedicated data center construction. Filtered for IBC S-1, S-2, and F occupancy types. The highest-permit-value cohort by average ticket in metros with hyperscale or distribution-hub concentration (Northern Virginia, Dallas, Columbus, Phoenix).
Browse in Austin →Civic Construction
civic1,325 permits classified
Public buildings — schools, libraries, transit, government.
Civic construction permits cover public-purpose buildings — schools, libraries, fire stations, transit infrastructure, municipal facilities, and other government-funded structures. Distinct from commercial filings even when occupancy types overlap (Assembly A-3, Educational E) because procurement and code-review tracks differ. A leading indicator for municipal capital-budget activity.
No new classifications in the last 30 days.
Construction support — 1 cohort
Temporary Construction Support
temporary_construction_support395K permits classified
Temporary structures supporting active construction projects.
Temporary construction support permits cover scaffolding, hoists, sidewalk sheds, temporary fencing, construction trailers, and other interim structures filed to support an active construction project. In dense urban environments (NYC especially) this cohort can be the second-largest by volume because every major project files multiple temp-support permits as the work progresses.
Browse in New York City →
Solar — 1 cohort
Residential Solar
solar_residential30K permits classified
PV installs on single-family + multifamily buildings.
Solar PV-system installs on residential-occupancy buildings — single-family rooftop PV, residential battery-storage pairings, and multifamily R-2 PV installs (the installer-class definitional axis: residential-PV-licensed crews work both single-family and small-multifamily). Split out of residential_mep + residential_alteration on classifier reclassification; cohorts are overlap-free, so a permit reclassified here is decremented from its prior cohort at the source metro on the same regen.
Browse in New York City →
How a permit gets its cohort.
Every silver permit flows through a two-stage classifier. The deterministic stage maps IBC occupancy codes + permit-type strings into the cohort vocabulary where the signal is unambiguous — residential_new_sf from R-3 + "new construction", commercial_signage from a literal "sign" permit type. The LLM-1 stage handles the cases that aren't direct lookups — multi-vocab permit-type strings, ambiguous occupancy spans, jurisdictions that bundle permit categories. The cohort column on every silver row is the classifier's output; field-level data-quality flags surface when the classifier had low confidence.
Cohort assignment is the same axis across all 25 metros — filter commercial_alteration in NYC and commercial_alteration in LA with the same predicate, even though the upstream jurisdictions emit wildly different permit-type strings. That cross-metro consistency is what makes cohort-anchored queries work for cohort-buyer use cases (signage networks, commercial roofing, MEP contractors) without jurisdiction-specific glue per integration.
Cohorts not yet split out.
The current taxonomy is intentionally 18. The data-pipeline roadmap (Bucket 2+) tracks finer splits that roll up into the existing cohorts today: commercial_roofing and commercial_hvac (today inside commercial_alteration and commercial_mep), commercial_tenant_improvement (inside commercial_alteration), multifamily_roofing + multifamily_hvac (inside multifamily_alteration), solar_residential and solar_commercial (inside the MEP cohorts), and data_center (inside industrial_new). When the classifier ships finer splits, the cohort column adds new values — existing queries don't need to change.