Local Rules, National Reach: Navigating the building permits maze
A regional coffee brand signs a lease for a standard space in a fast-growing suburban retail center. The city’s website says the typical review time is 10-15 business days. Thinking the process should be easy, the company submits without conducting full due diligence or consulting an expert with building permitting knowledge.
But it isn’t easy at all. The first review flags incorrect paperwork. The fire marshal requires an additional review, and the health department wants a different grease trap and additional review. Planning asks for further zoning approvals. By the time the company completes the unexpected revision and resubmits, the original reviewer is on leave, and a new reviewer asks for extra structural calculations. The fire department has more comments, and the health department’s portion hasn’t moved because someone forgot about it. The project goes irretrievably off schedule.
“Every issue in that story was predictable, preventable, and manageable with the right permitting strategy,” says Nina Berg, Project Manager at Gaskins + LeCraw, a Pape-Dawson company. And although it may lack the fireworks of some other parts of the process, doing permitting right reduces risk, preserves timelines, and saves money.
As part of a growing trend, many brands rely on trusted partners for permitting so they can focus on their core mission. While a company’s internal architects or project manager might often have handled permitting, those tasks are outside their typical competencies. The wider an organization’s reach across the country, the more likely they are to partner with a permitting manager with an established history of nationwide work. Because local jurisdictions set most permitting requirements, building across the U.S. requires mastering a wide range of online portals and a patchwork of regulations, a hard-won Gaskins + LeCraw strength.
Their method combines high-tech and high-touch approaches. On the tech side, an internal Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform tracks progress for each project, “It keeps data for all the jurisdictions we submit to, so we can use that information next time. We become increasingly proficient,” says Gaskins + LeCraw VP of Engineering, Mark LeCraw, P.E. The CRM jump-starts subsequent permit requests and minimizes the time it takes to relearn a jurisdiction’s system. Surprisingly, many third-party permitting experts continue working with spreadsheets—or even pen to paper—to monitor progress. That may work well enough for small-scale operations, but will slow the effort of companies with regional or national scope.
The CRM shines in helping the permitting team navigate complex approvals across overlapping jurisdictions. “For example, some places require a health approval from the county, but the city releases the building permit,” Nina explains. “The CRM can link those to the fire department, planning and zoning, health department, and other parts of local government, as well as the relevant state requirements.” For each effort, it can help confirm who approves and how to route requests.
The personal touch remains a central part of the business, however. Most national firms don’t want to manage each individual permit process across counties, parishes, cities, and towns. That makes the relationship with a trustworthy permitting agency crucial. “Our clients really value having one dedicated permitting management representative to work with, no matter where the projects are,” says Nina. “They don’t have to try and find somebody in Florida, somebody in California, and somebody else in New York.”
That’s especially attractive as the permitting process has become more burdensome, Mark says. “The permitting requirements and processes are getting more and more challenging. At the same time, staff shortages and an increasing number of requests are stretching local jurisdiction personnel thinner.” An expert guide not only shepherds requests through but also saves time and money, which are often interchangeable in such projects. “Close attention to permitting allows us to get the final construction plan approvals quickly, so the construction can start on time or even early,” Nina says. “When locations can make $50,000 or more a week, each day in a construction schedule matters.”
It’s also important to keep realistic about completion windows, adds Mark. “Internal project managers may inadvertently set unrealistic expectations because they don’t have expertise in the area. We help give a better understanding of the possibilities, which really leads to more repeat business for us.”
In another sense, though, personal relationships seem to be diminishing in importance. “A few decades ago, a professional permit expediter could walk in, get it done on a handshake, and walk out the door with a permit,” recalls Mark. “It doesn’t happen that way anymore.” Nina explains: “Jurisdictions have their timelines and regulations, and we follow them precisely. Through constant monitoring and follow-through, we can make sure an eight-week plan review doesn’t expand to 12, but we can’t cut it to two. We simply do not have control over the people who work in the jurisdiction.”
They might not control their counterparts in jurisdictions across North America (including Canada and Puerto Rico)—but Gaskins + LeCraw keeps clients’ projects moving forward across an array of complex rules and approval processes. Through an outsourced permitting approach that’s both high-touch and high-tech, firms achieve the on-budget, on-schedule completions they need.