939 New Contractors Join New York’s 58,627-Permit Market

New contractors expanded an already broad base

New York recorded 58,627 permits in the last 12 months, with 7,360 active named contractors attached to the filings. Of those contractors, 939 were newcomers during the period, representing 12.8% of the active named-contractor base.

The breadth of named-contractor coverage matters in records published by the NYC Department of Buildings. Contractor names appear on 99.9% of permits in the last 12 months, giving the newcomer count a near-complete view of named firms rather than a small attributed subset.

That contractor base operated alongside a $66,000 median declared value in the last 12 months. Building work appears on 48.1% of all permits, while plumbing is included on 28.5%, making those trades the clearest backdrop for the leading named filers.

Top 10 filers held 5.9% of named permits

The 10 contractors with the most permits represented 5.9% of named permits in New York during the last 12 months. That is a dispersed filing pattern across the city’s 7,360 active named contractors rather than one led by a narrow group of high-count filers.

New York’s top-10 share was lower than Austin’s 16.0% share, a difference of 10.1 percentage points in the comparison market data. The contrast is material for suppliers and subcontractors assessing where permit volume is distributed across a wider list of contractors rather than concentrated among a few frequent applicants.

Kale Construction Inc led New York by permit count with 546 building permits. American Standard P&H Corp followed with 528 plumbing permits, and Structure Tone, LLC recorded 445 building permits. JRM Construction Mgmt LLC had 325 building permits, while Watson's Plbg, HTG, & BDG had 311 plumbing permits.

Permit volume rose as July led the calendar

The city’s 58,627 permits over the last 12 months were up 4.0% from 56,385 in the preceding 12-month period, an increase of 2,242 permits. That comparison provides the usable current-volume measure because 2026 totals cover only the period through October 11, 2026 and should not be compared with full calendar years.

Across the latest 36 months, July was the busiest month, containing 9.0% of permits, while February was the quietest at 7.3%. The busiest-to-quietest ratio was 1.2, indicating a defined but limited calendar swing in a market with substantial year-round filing volume.

Mechanical work is included on 20.9% of all permits, and fire work appears on 11.0%. Those shares show that the market’s filing mix extends beyond the building and plumbing categories represented most heavily among the top permit-count firms.

Plumbing firms filled much of the top-filer list

Six of the 10 highest permit-count contractors had plumbing as their main trade: American Standard P&H Corp, Watson's Plbg, HTG, & BDG, Par Plumbing Co., Inc, Infiniti Esc Plumbing Corp, All Pro Plbg & HTG Inc, and A&a Plumbing Corp. Their permit counts ranged from 528 to 248.

Abco-peerless Sprklr Corp was the leading fire-trade firm in the top 10 with 264 permits. The remaining leading firms were building contractors, including Kale Construction Inc, Structure Tone, LLC, and JRM Construction Mgmt LLC.

These figures cover distinct permit numbers in NYC Department of Buildings records since 2019, through October 11, 2026. Permits are filings rather than completed jobs, contractor names are not present on every record, and the records do not link permits into projects with measured accuracy, so trade timing between permits is not reported.