Online building permitting service represents a significant advancement in the way local governments handle the development approval and inspection processes. This innovative service streamlines the often complex and time-consuming tasks associated with building permits, offering numerous benefits to government agencies, builders, designers and citizens. This article will delve into the various features and advantages of online building permitting service, illustrating how it facilitates a more efficient, transparent, and user-friendly permitting process, which was also a prerequisite for BIM-based permit processing.
Cloudpermit Building Permit service offers the following advantages:
-
- Send required and validated data
One of the primary advantages of online building permitting service is its ability to validate and enforce mandatory information. This feature significantly reduces the chances of incomplete or erroneous applications, thereby reducing the number and duration for change request cycles. Applicants are no longer able to submit incomplete applications, which traditionally led to delays and additional administrative workload. WIth Cloudpermit’s permitting service, the application data can be provided in IFC or inserted through online forms.
-
- Communicate and send real-time updates to applicants and all involved parties
Cloudpermit enables applicants and local authorities to communicate effectively using a messaging feature, that links the discussions to the permit and can be found easily at any time. Throughout the process, the software offers automatic real-time updates to applicants and all involved parties. They are automatically notified for example about the progress of their application, changes or comments required, or inspections carried out. These features are particularly beneficial in maintaining open lines of communication between the local government and citizens, building transparency and trust, and reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings or misinformation.
-
- Manage work and organize information
The ability to filter and organize applications is another key feature in the service. Users can search and sort applications based on various criteria such as property, property owner, property identification number, and parcel identifying number. This organization capability enables government agencies to manage application processing queues more efficiently, ensuring quicker response times and more effective service delivery.
-
- Determine exact application requirements
Cloudpermit enables high configurability through exact application requirements. Local governments can determine and specify for example the precise data, documents, process and reviews needed for each application, reducing the back-and-forth communication often necessary in traditional permitting processes. This clarity assists applicants in submitting complete and accurate applications the first time, avoiding requiring information and plans that are not needed for certain types of projects, enhancing the overall efficiency of the process.
-
- Perform on-site building inspections
Perhaps one of the most groundbreaking features of this service is the ability to perform on-site building inspections using mobile devices like phones, laptops, or tablets. The service also facilitates the scheduling of additional inspections and the management of multiple inspectors and inspections. This is particularly beneficial for sites with multiple permits, as it allows for a comprehensive view of the status of all inspections.
Inspectors can enter notes and complete reports in the field, manage deficiencies, orders, and inspections (both past and upcoming), and update all parties involved on the construction and inspection status in real time. This mobile capability significantly increases the efficiency of the inspection process, allowing for more inspections to be completed in less time.
-
- Circulate applications to multiple stakeholders
Most applications are circulated to other stakeholders for information, comments or approvals. Cloudpermit enables local governments to facilitate multiple simultaneous commenting streams. When the stakeholders are provided with all necessary information online and their information can be collected through the same service, the time needed to collect the comments and approvals shortens dramatically.
-
- Increase automatization with integrations
Efficiency, high level of automatization, improved quality of data and decreased amount of manual processing are all results of integrations in the permitting service. Cloudpermit provides configurable, productized integrations, for example, to various online payment systems, ECMs and digital archives, review tools, code compliance checking tools, 3D city models, financial systems, municipal back-end software and reporting software. Cloudpermit also provides an API for third party software to integrate.
An integral part of Cloudpermit is its integration with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This integration allows users to find locations using various methods like address search, property identification numbers, or direct map selection. It also provides access to different map layers such as flood maps, heritage zones, and construction zones, aiding in better planning and decision-making.
In summary, online building permitting service offers a comprehensive solution to streamline the building permit process. By ensuring complete applications, providing real-time updates, organizing and managing applications efficiently, securing data, enabling on-site inspections, and integrating with systems such as GIS, this service significantly enhances the efficiency, transparency, and user-friendliness of the permitting process. The digital process of the permitting service enables local governments to manage and highly automate high volumes of applications effectively. A well-functioning digital process is also a prerequisite before transitioning to next levels of automatization and self-service using BIM.
Video:
https://cloudpermit.com/solutions/building-permitting
