How Building Permit Software Helps Scale Your Construction Business

Submitting a single building permit can be a hassle—but managing multiple permits simultaneously can create a mountain of paperwork and meetings, leading to significant project delays. Effectively handling multiple permits is crucial for scaling your construction business, and the best way to achieve this is by using building permit software.

In this article, we explore how building permit software can streamline your permitting processes and help scale your construction business.

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The challenges of manual building permit management

Building permits are essential to ensure that a construction project complies with local laws and regulations, safeguarding the safety and security of its occupants. However, these complex regulations make managing permit submissions manually a challenging task.

Common issues you may encounter when managing multiple building permits include:

• Long submission timelines: When permits are managed manually, submissions must be created one by one, a time-consuming process that can delay the progress of other projects in the pipeline.
• Error-prone processes: Manually submitting permits project-by-project can be prone to errors, such as incorrect information or missing documentation, leading to delays or unexpected fines.
• Minimal real-time tracking and updates: Most municipalities do not offer real-time tracking or updates for permit submissions, leaving you waiting until you hear back from the appropriate department.
• Communication issues: Effective communication among all stakeholders—such as architects, project managers, and permit expediters—is vital. However, permit submissions typically have only one main point of contact, which can create bottlenecks and delays.
• Managing multiple permits simultaneously: When juggling multiple permit submissions, all of these challenges are compounded. Some municipalities may offer building permit templates or easy-to-submit forms, but this is not always the case.
• Lack of document management: Permit submissions require various documents, including blueprints, forms, and project plans. Manually managing these documents can be challenging, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved, and ensuring the correct versions are submitted can be difficult.
• Minimal data and reporting analytics: Manual submissions provide limited data beyond the standard submission timeline. To identify areas for improvement, it’s best to use a tool that tracks and analyzes relevant information.
• Scalability issues: Expanding your construction business into new municipalities while manually submitting permits can hinder growth. You’ll need scalable processes that streamline submissions while ensuring compliance with local regulations.

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Building permit software’s role in the permit process

What is building permit software?

Building permit software is a specialized tool designed to manage and organize the process of applying for and submitting building permits. The best building permit software typically includes features such as:

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• Digital permit submission: Submit permits electronically to speed up approvals and reduce paperwork.
• Clear permit requirements: Access all municipal permit requirements in one place to ensure compliance.
• Communication platforms: Communicate directly within the software to keep all stakeholders aligned.
• Streamlined submission processes: Automate steps to simplify and expedite permit submissions.
• Document consolidation: Store and manage all documents in a central location to avoid errors and duplication.

How building permit software streamlines for business growth

While there are many ways you can grow your construction business, streamlining your building permit processes is a good step you can take to expand your business to other avenues. Building permits are a foundational part of any construction process—and submitting those permits is a notoriously complex process. Finding ways to streamline and reduce the time it takes to receive a permit can accelerate projects and provide your team with more time to take on new ones. 

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Implementing building permit software like PermitFlow can help you:

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• Identify permit requirements across multiple municipalities: Different municipalities have different requirements, often scattered across various sources. PermitFlow consolidates all the necessary information in one place, removing the guesswork.
• Centralize document management: PermitFlow provides a single platform for storing and managing documents, eliminating the need to juggle multiple versions. Your team can make notes and edits directly within the platform, ensuring consistency.
• Encourage collaborative communication: Instead of relying on lengthy email chains, PermitFlow allows for direct communication on specific documents or permits within the submission file. This streamlines discussions and keeps everyone on the same page.

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Streamlining permit operations in these three ways helps to minimize the amount of time your team spends managing and organizing permit submissions, and helps to make space for new projects and other opportunities. 

Reducing risk and ensuring compliance with building permit software

One of the dangers of manually submitting building permit applications is the risk of submitting non-compliant information or running into high-risk builds. Building permit software like PermitFlow helps to identify local, state, and federal regulations and whether or not your submission meets those specific requirements. When those regulations are not met, the software flags this information to you before you submit the permit, minimizing the chances of resubmission, rejection, or other fines and legal issues. 

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The other major benefit of utilizing permit submission software is the digital paper trail. Using building permit software regularly will help to establish an accurate record of all of your submissions. Should there ever be a reason to audit your permit submissions or go back to historical projects, you can easily go back into the software to find previous submissions.

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Establishing scalability with building permit software

If you’re looking to grow your construction business, whether that’s tackling more complex projects that require several different permits, or balancing multiple projects in different municipalities, streamlining your permitting process is a good step towards business growth. With building permit software, your team will be better equipped to handle the complexities of larger projects. 

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In addition, building permit software should grow as your business grows. If you’re looking to add additional team members or manage more projects, your software should grow with you for minimal cost. If you’re considering permit management software and considering the costs, be sure the consider the savings that you will make in other areas, such as labor and resources through automation. While implementing software often has an initial startup cost, the long-term savings greatly outweigh the initial investment.

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Begin scaling your construction business with PermitFlow

If you’re looking to expand into new municipalities, new projects, or streamline your current permit workflow, consider PermitFlow to help start the process. With PermitFlow, your construction team will have a clear idea of what you’ll need for submission, where your permits are during the process, and if any need attention or communication. 

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Interested in seeing how it works? Talk with one of our permitting experts today so you can learn about how PermitFlow helps scale construction businesses.

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