Shovels

🚰 Kitchen remodels appear to cluster in affluent coastal markets and wealthy suburbs, not uniformly across America. Ian Kennedy mapped every kitchen permit in 2025, and Beaufort County, SC leads at 6.4 permits per 1K households. Charleston, Rockingham, and Fairfax counties round out the top 5, showing exactly where homeowners are investing in upgrades. #shovels #permits #kitchen

We analyzed 4.6M roofing permits (2015–2025) to show where replacement is happening, how hail + hurricanes create measurable permit surges, and why permit data closes the timing gaps that aerial imagery and self-reported dates can’t. Read: The Roof Age Problem: What Permit Data Reveals About America’s Rooftops  - https://lnkd.in/ggRw3CWS #RoofAge #Insurance #PropertyInsurance #Underwriting #PAndC #CatModeling #Claims #Hurricane #Hail #RiskAnalytics #Insurtech #PropTech #BuildingPermits #PermitData #DataAnalytics

America’s housing shortage isn’t just about how many homes are being built—it’s increasingly about who is building them, and where the pipeline is clustering. We analyzed 5 years of nationwide permit data (2021–2025) + Q1 2026 to rank the 25 most active U.S. homebuilders by permit volume. Key takeaways: 🏠 The top 3 (Lennar Homes., D.R. Horton, and PulteGroup) account for roughly half of all Top-25 permit volume. 🏠 Florida, Texas, and the Carolinas are the densest new-construction markets right now (Fort Worth, Charlotte, and the Research Triangle stand out). 🏠 D.R. Horton leads near-term momentum with ~3,900+ permits in Q1 2026, even as Lennar tops the 5-year total. 🏠 Outside the top 10, the field is diverging; some builders are accelerating (Dream Finders, Mattamy), while others are pulling back. Full ranking + charts + market highlights: https://lnkd.in/gEsFpckJ

After our acquisition of ReZone earlier this year, we decided to continue to provide Thesis Driven a quarterly snapshot of local decisions that matter. For Q1 2026, we analyzed 6,344 decisions, spread across 16 states and five major themes. Read the summary: https://lnkd.in/gqPPBgey

We're heading to ICSC Las Vegas! 🏗️ Our very own Matthew Drobick and Elizabeth Sena will be on the ground at the Las Vegas Convention Center May 18–20, joining 25K+ commercial real estate decisionmakers for three days of dealmaking, networking, and content sessions at the world's largest CRE event. If you'll be there and want to talk permit data, contractor intelligence, or how Shovels can power your site selection, market analysis, and lead workflows, drop a comment or send us a DM. We'd love to connect on the show floor. #ICSCLasVegas #ICSC2026 #CRE #CommercialRealEstate #RetailRealEstate #PropTech

We're excited to collaborate with CRE Daily and share broader Q1 2026 trends based on our permit data. 👉 https://lnkd.in/ewFMJpbU

Texas claimed 3 of the top 5 metros for industrial construction in 2025, with Houston edging Dallas for the #1 spot at 88 permits. The individual projects tell the real story: a $250M solar+battery facility in TX, a 1.7M sq ft building in Stockton, and LGES advancing the EV supply chain in Arizona. Nice #MappyMonday from Ian Kennedy. 👏 Explore our geospatial permit intelligence: https://www.shovels.ai/gis #shovels #permits #industrial

Florida almost passed a by-right ADU bill. So where are ADUs actually getting built today, and where are permits getting stuck? In our latest data report, we analyzed five years of Florida ADU permit data to map growth hotspots, bottlenecks, and what SB 48 could mean if it returns. Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/g7s6TeRx

🧗 Welcome to Shovels, Matej Koplan! Matej is a developer and data engineer from Škofja Loka, Slovenia, with a decade of experience building apps, accessibility tech (Microsoft HoloLens ✨), CMS platforms, and large-scale data systems at Predict (100M+ records). He's also worked alongside Gasper Tomazic, so he knows our corner of the ecosystem well. When he's not coding, Matej is climbing. It's his main passion and something of an addiction in the Slovenian tech community. His ambitious goal? El Capitan. Matej also swims, paddles, and shares a love of pottery. Looking forward to having you on the team, Matej! 🚀

California homes are rewiring fast. We looked at 5 years of trade permit data across 213 CA jurisdictions to see what’s actually getting installed, and the story is clear: ☀️ Solar permits peaked in 2022, then fell hard after NEM 3.0 🔋 Battery storage surged as solar-only economics weakened 🚘 EV charger installs climbed (Title 24 “EV-ready” is real) 📶 Heat pump permits nearly quadrupled ⛽ Gas appliance permits kept sliding In this post, we break down the policy shifts behind the numbers (Title 24, NEM 3.0, and federal incentives) and what they mean for contractors, energy vendors, and real estate. Read on: https://lnkd.in/gPJ-UnnR