PermitFocus
Comparison

PermitFocus vs Zonda & Hanley Wood

Both are real platforms with serious data. They're built for builders and developers — and priced accordingly. PermitFocus is built for the supply side: LBM, roofing, HVAC, plumbing, concrete, and trade contractors who need permit intelligence without the $30k/yr per-market price tag.

Feature
PermitFocus
Zonda / Hanley Wood
Built for
✓ Trade & supply operators (LBM, roofing, HVAC, plumbing, concrete, paint, flooring)
Builders and real-estate developers
Typical pricing
$499 – $1,499 / mo for full platform access
$15k – $30k+ per market, per year
Trial
✓ 14 days free, no credit card required
Sales-led demo, no self-serve trial
US coverage
All 50 states, 3,022 counties scored
All 50 states (similar coverage)
Per-permit detail (addresses + builders)
Available in select counties with new counties added quarterly. Full Census BPS aggregates everywhere.
Available in most major markets
Trade-tilted scoring
✓ Roofing, HVAC, plumbing, concrete, paint, flooring each get tilted weights
No — built around builder-developer workflow
Drive-time catchment analysis
✓ Drop pins, run isochrones, compare candidate sites side-by-side
No — radius-based market reports, no drive-time
Cross-builder heatmap
✓ Counties colored by distinct-builder count
Builder data available, no cross-builder visualization
CRM-lite (notes, calls, follow-ups)
✓ Built in
No — bring your own CRM
Weekly watchlist email digest
✓ Configurable, free on all paid plans
Reports on demand, no automated digest
Public sample report
✓ Live county report, no login required
No — sales-led demo only
Setup time
Under 2 minutes — sign up, pick trade, pick states, done
Sales call, contract, onboarding (typically 2-4 weeks)
Score methodology
Transparent — 6-factor blend (permit volume, trajectory, consistency, migration, employment, corridor tier). Drivers shown on every county page.
Proprietary, methodology not publicly disclosed
API access
Enterprise tier
Yes (separate contract)
Data sources
US Census BPS, county ArcGIS feeds, FL DBPR licensee, BEA migration, BLS employment
Proprietary builder relationships, MLS, county records, BPS
Best for
A trade operator who wants permit intelligence + builder targeting + location decisions for a fraction of vendor cost
A homebuilder/developer who needs deep MLS-integrated competitive intelligence and is willing to pay for it

You don't need a builder-developer tool

Zonda and Hanley Wood are excellent at what they do — competitive intelligence for builders selling new homes. But if you're selling lumber, roofing, HVAC, or anything else into those builders, you need to find them and decide where to be — not track competing developments.

The price gap is real

A typical Zonda contract for one major metro runs $25k+ per year. PermitFocus Pro is $1,499/mo flat for nationwide coverage. The math gets favorable very fast — even if our per-permit detail is thinner today, the location analyzer + CRM + drive-time isochrones are tools you'd otherwise stitch together separately.

Try before you commit

You can see exactly what we offer in the live sample report right now — no email gate, no sales call. Decide for yourself whether the data fits your workflow.

See your own markets in 2 minutes.

14-day free trial. No credit card. Cancel anytime.

Start free trial See sample report

Comparison reflects publicly available product features as of May 2026. Zonda and Hanley Wood are trademarks of their respective owners; this page is independent and not affiliated with either company. Where features overlap meaningfully, both are noted as available; where one platform offers something the other doesn't, that's noted too. We update this page as both products evolve.