Every term, defined plainly.
Permit data has its own vocabulary. Here is what each word means the way Groundwork uses it — and, where it matters, what it does not mean.
Owner-pulled permit
A building permit filed by an individual at their own single property, with no contractor named on the permit. It is what Groundwork sells in the City of San Diego, and it is checkable because the permit holder’s name is public.
Permit holder
The name the jurisdiction records as having filed the permit. A person suggests an owner filed it; a company means a contractor did. It says who filed, not who owns.
Tier A (owner-pulled)
A jurisdiction that publishes the permit holder, so the owner-pulled filter can be applied. The City of San Diego is the primary Tier A source.
Tier B (all new permits)
A jurisdiction that publishes no permit holder, so nothing there can be called owner-pulled. You get the fresh filing and address and find out who is on it yourself.
Early-stage (Opened / Issued)
The permit statuses Groundwork keeps. Later statuses mean the work is already underway, so they are dropped.
Job site vs permit row
One project files a separate approval row per discipline (building, electrical, plumbing). Groundwork dedupes by address and counts job sites, never rows, so a single project is one lead.
Combination permit
A single permit covering more than one trade (for example a remodel with an electrical panel upgrade). It is why the per-trade counts can sum past the citywide total.
Valuation
The declared project value on the permit. Present on a minority of rows, so it is used to rank within a band rather than as a filter.
Parcel / APN
The Assessor’s Parcel Number identifying the property. It is the join key used to look up the owner of record for paid City leads.
Owner of record
The owner listed on the county assessment roll. Usually, but not always, the same person who filed the permit — so it is never stated as the filer.
DNC (Do Not Call)
The national Do Not Call registry. County contact numbers ship with a warning that no DNC data exists for them; check a number before dialing.
Region (north / south of I-8)
Groundwork splits the City of San Diego by latitude at Interstate 8. It is not North County or South County — those are different cities Groundwork does not cover.