20 | April 2022
SUBCONTRACTORS USA
PERMITS
Contractors: 4 Ways to up Your Game in Using Electronic Permitting Portals By Helen Callier Contributing Writer
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n 2020, thousands of Contractors across the U.S. were thrown into a tizzy when they were turned away from walking into a permitting center to manually submit plans to being instructed to apply for a permit online. Frustrations ran high for Contractors, especially when it took more time to review plans for simple projects that were typically permitted in a few hours or in one day using hard copies of plans. While some large jurisdictions continue to have hiccups including outages with their online portals, the fact is that jurisdictions with electronic portals will not be going back to manual submissions; and more jurisdictions are coming aboard to improve internal processes that provide many benefits such as allowing staff to work remotely when there is a need (i.e. inclement weather, pandemic, etc.) to do so. As an example, when talking with a Planning Supervisor recently on permitting a project in Michigan, the Supervisor mentioned that their workload had significantly increased in 2021, and to help manage workload they had approved a budget to install a technology solution to replace their manual submissions. This was truly great news to hear because this would provide huge cost savings in the future for clients submitting plans electronically versus printing and having couriered 4 hard copies of plan sets. 2022 offers Contractors the opportunity to grow their business in many markets, especially when they are able to
obtain building permits in a timely manner. As more and more jurisdictions are adopting a technology platform for submitting plans, below are 4 ways that Contractors can up their game in using electronic portals. QA/QC Permit Package: Check your permit package thoroughly before submitting it through the online portal. If there are deficiencies with the package, missing prerequisite documents, incorrect building codes, and so on, after you hit the submit button, you will be unable to pull back those plans on most platforms which will subsequently result in rejection comments for missing items. So, take the time to review the checklist, permit application, plans, etc., prior to submitting online. Upload Files Properly: After making sure your permit package is complete and ready to submit, follow the instructions to ensure submitting plans are in the correct folders. To improperly upload files will generate rejection comments as the Plan Reviewers would be expecting, for example, the mechanical sheets to be in the mechanical folder, and so on.
Meet With Plan Reviewer: This step alone can save you time and money and encourage Contractors to reach out to jurisdiction Plan Reviewers to ask for clarification with a building code and if your approach will satisfy the code. Ask the Experts: Today’s platforms for submitting online for a permit are confusing and time-consuming for many Contractors. Consider focusing on what you like to do best – building – and contacting building permitting and code experts to handle your permits. Online permitting portals are here to stay with more jurisdictions converting from paper to electronic submissions. While some jurisdictions are still working out the bugs, have created delays in plan reviews for one-stop projects, experienced downtime, generated a slew of new types of rejection comments, and have stressed out Contractors, know that you can rise to the occasion when using permitting experts like PermitUsNow. At PermitUsNow, we are committed to pulling permits for our Architect, Contractor, and Project Owner clients without delay, eliminating their frustrations with the permitting process. Plus, we make it easy for you to work with us. Simply: 1) Email us your plans, 2) Follow up on our feedback for any missing items, and 3) Let us get your permitting done for you. So, send us your plans today and we’ll free you up to focus on doing what you love - building your customers’ dreams. Call the PermitUsNow team at 1.844.PERMIT.4. Visit us on the web at permitusnow.com. #BuildCustomersDreams
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