BuildSignal's numbers are only as useful as how current they are — here's what "current" actually means.
BuildSignal draws directly from Philadelphia's public L&I construction and building permit filings, reflecting permits as the city itself has published them — not a periodic export or a third-party summary.
A permit shows up in BuildSignal once the underlying city dataset reflects it. That means BuildSignal's freshness is tied to how often Philadelphia's own permit system publishes updates, not a separate delay layered on top by ALKARTIS.
Because filed-permit data is a matter of record the moment it's filed with the city, quarter-over-quarter comparisons reflect real activity rather than an estimate — see Reading Permit Activity and Investment Trends for how those comparisons are built.
It reflects live Philadelphia L&I permit filings as published.
Any lag comes from how quickly the city's own permit system publishes a given filing — BuildSignal reflects the public dataset as-is, without adding its own separate delay.
BuildSignal reflects the permit record as filed with the city; whether a specific permit's status has since changed depends on what the underlying public filing itself shows.