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Building Radar vs Shovels

Two ways to find construction projects early for sales teams: an AI sales platform versus a public-records data provider. Building Radar is built around Jeane, an AI assistant that tracks, scores and enriches projects and drafts outreach; Shovels sells U.S. permit, contractor, property and zoning data, AI-classified, with an AI agent called Charlie. Desk research from vendor pages read Oct 19, 2026; not tested, no winner.

DESK RESEARCH, NOT TESTED. Compiled from vendors' public websites (accessed Oct 19, 2026). Vendor claims are not verified by Means & Methods Lab. No scores or rankings.

In short: Building Radar (AI project leads for construction sales; no public prices (quote / sales)) vs Shovels (Building permit & contractor data; vendor publishes prices). Facts last checked Oct 19, 2026. No winner declared; not tested.

Side by side

Building Radar vs Shovels: vendor-published facts side by side
Sheet rowBuilding RadarShovels
CategoryAI project leads for construction salesBuilding permit & contractor data
AI role (our label)AI-firstAI features added to established product
What it doesAI sales platform for construction project sales, built around an assistant called Jeane. The vendor says Jeane tracks projects from lead providers, news feeds, and public sources; scores each project against your offer; summarizes tender documents; enriches records with phase, volume, location, and contacts; finds decision-makers; drafts outreach emails; and turns uploaded PDFs, emails, or images into project records. Vendor figures (not verified): 5M+ projects tracked globally, data from 50+ countries, 200+ construction sales teams, and "94% AI match accuracy". Based in Munich, Germany (site footer). Re-read Oct 17, 2026: homepage and pricing page unchanged in substance; the homepage also cites EUR 2.3B gained order volume for customers, a 310% increased win rate and 80% less manual work, and the pricing FAQ says success-based pricing and multi-year discounts are available depending on the setup (vendor claims, not verified). Re-checked Oct 19, 2026: the homepage now says Jeane reads your website, product catalogs and technical data sheets to learn what you sell, uses CRM integration and email analysis to follow account history, and detects and merges duplicate records; it still cites 200+ construction sales teams and EUR 2.3B order volume and 310% win-rate figures (vendor claims, not verified).U.S. building permit, contractor, property and zoning data gathered from local jurisdictions, with permits AI-classified into structured records. Zoning and land-use decision data are included. Vendor figures (not verified): 196M+ building permits, 3.89M+ licensed contractors, 2,820+ jurisdictions, 7M+ new permits a month; it says land-use decisions can be public as much as 18 months before a permit is filed. Delivered through the Shovels Online web app, a REST API, and bulk data shares. Charlie, the AI agent inside Shovels Online, answers plain-English questions about permits, contractors, and city decisions, filters false positives, builds charts, and shows the SQL behind each answer. Re-read Oct 17, 2026: headline figures unchanged. The pricing page says the web app, API, CLI and Charlie share one credit balance, Charlie is included on every plan, the free plan returns up to 10 results per query, and Shovels is SOC 2 Type II certified; the Charlie FAQ says permit coverage spans jurisdictions covering roughly 85% of the U.S. population (vendor statements). Re-checked Oct 19, 2026: the homepage now calls Shovels the prediction engine for the built world and says its data is gathered directly from each jurisdiction rather than licensed or brokered; bulk delivery is parquet files or table shares in Snowflake, Databricks or BigQuery, and the data is also offered as hosted feature layers in Esri ArcGIS. The Charlie page is unchanged (plain-English questions, false-positive filtering, the SQL behind each answer, coverage of jurisdictions covering roughly 85% of the U.S. population).
Who it's forSales teams that sell into construction projects (sales leaders, field reps, and inside sales); a quoted customer is a building-materials specification manager.Building materials and equipment companies, construction technology firms, energy and climate, home services, real estate, insurance, telecom, and research teams (Shovels's industry list).
Pricing (as publicly stated)Not publicly listed. Three service models, all by quote: Self Starter (done by you, full platform access), Sales Accelerator (adds sales training and reports), and Fully Managed (Building Radar qualifies projects and handles cold outreach). Pricing page re-checked Oct 16, 2026: unchanged, each model routes to "Schedule a Meeting" and a "Get Personalized Quote" button; no figures. Re-checked Oct 17, 2026: unchanged. Re-checked Oct 19, 2026: unchanged (three service models, Get Personalized Quote; the FAQ still covers multi-year discounts and success-based pricing).Credit-based (a credit is one record retrieved). Free $0/mo (500 credits, 1 year of history, 1 seat); Basic $599/mo (25,000 credits, full history, 1 seat); Pro $999/mo (50,000 credits, up to 2 seats); Enterprise custom. Bulk Enterprise Data License by quote. (Pricing checked Oct 15, 2026.) Re-checked Oct 17, 2026: unchanged; Basic and Pro are billed monthly. Re-checked Oct 19, 2026 (headless Chrome): unchanged; one credit balance across the web app, API, CLI and Charlie, SOC 2 Type II, free plan up to 10 results per query.
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Sources

Facts last checked: Oct 19, 2026. Prices change; check the vendor page before relying on them.

Where the vendor descriptions differ

  • What you buy: Building Radar sells a sales platform with three service models, from Self Starter (full platform access) to Sales Accelerator (adds training and reports) and Fully Managed (Building Radar qualifies projects and handles cold outreach). Shovels sells data, through its Shovels Online web app, a REST API, a CLI and bulk delivery as parquet files or table shares in Snowflake, Databricks or BigQuery, plus hosted layers in Esri ArcGIS.
  • Where the signal comes from: Building Radar says Jeane combines lead providers, news feeds and public sources and turns uploaded PDFs, emails or images into project records; it is based in Munich and lists project data across many countries. Shovels says it gathers permits, contractor licenses, parcels and land-use decisions directly from U.S. jurisdictions, not licensed or brokered, and that land-use decisions can be public as much as 18 months before a permit is filed.
  • AI: Building Radar is AI-first; Jeane scores projects against your offer, summarizes tender documents, enriches phase, volume, location and contacts, finds decision-makers, drafts outreach emails and merges duplicate records. Shovels classifies permits with AI, and Charlie answers plain-English questions about permits, contractors and city decisions, filters false positives and shows the SQL behind each answer (tagged AI features added).
  • Fit with your stack: Building Radar describes CRM integration and email analysis so Jeane follows account history. Shovels is aimed at teams that want the records in their own tools or warehouse, and its pricing page says the web app, API, CLI and Charlie share one credit balance.
  • Claims (vendor statements, not verified): Building Radar cites 200+ construction sales teams, EUR 2.3B gained order volume and a 310% higher win rate. Shovels says its permit coverage spans jurisdictions covering roughly 85% of the U.S. population and that it is SOC 2 Type II certified.
  • Pricing (checked Oct 19, 2026): Shovels publishes credit-based plans: Free (500 credits a month, one year of history, up to 10 results per query), Basic $599 a month (25,000 credits) and Pro $999 a month (50,000 credits, up to 2 seats), billed monthly, with Enterprise and an Enterprise Data License by agreement. Building Radar quotes every model and its FAQ mentions multi-year discounts and success-based pricing. Neither tool has been tested by Means & Methods Lab.

Paraphrased from the sources listed above. Vendor claims are reported as claims.

What users say

The facts above come from vendor websites. Whether either tool is any good for your work is something only people who use them can say. These are member reviews, all ratings shown, never edited or removed for being negative.

Used either of these? Share your take

Good or bad, an honest review from an estimator, PM or super helps the next team more than another vendor demo. You post under a handle; your email is never shown.

Questions to ask in your review

  • How many of the same local projects each surfaces for one metro and trade over a quarter
  • How deep Building Radar's U.S. coverage is compared with its European coverage
  • How many Shovels credits a typical monthly prospect list uses
  • What did you use it for, on what kind of work and project size?
  • How long did setup and training take, and who on your team did it?
  • What does it cost you in practice, compared with what the sales call said?

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