The complexity and sheer number issued building permits for both residential and commercial projects have jumped in recent years thanks to easy financing and building demand. What’s different this time is that homeowners have started using a secret weapon used by commercial developers for years. That secret weapon is hiring building&planning permit expediters / project manager to help their projects through the permit process. Building permit expediters are consultants that play a behind-the-scenes role in helping get permits through Council & associated Building Surveyors. Basically, building permit expediters get paid to understand the local building codes and advise the owner’s, architects and engineers on how to get their building projects approved more quickly, run the file for them and to cover a wide area (all of Victoria). Express permit expediters will go to Council and discuss permits & revisions with planners/examiners. Express Permit Expeditersalso have extensive Planning experience and will be paid to represent their clients at zoning, architectural review and variance hearings.
Express permit expediters role is that of a facilitator between council and how staff may interpret their local building and zoning codes and the owner or the owner’s consultants such as Architects. The planning/building permit expediter may even work on behalf of the owner’s architect rather than the architect themselves as it often represents a cost savings to the owner and helps keep their architect’s overhead costs down. Rather than keep an expensive Land Use Planner and Code Consultant on staff, an architect can simply hire an Express building permit expediter to augment their permanent staff as their “insider” and these costs can passed onto their client rather than in their overhead. A building permit expediter will typically work with a dozen projects over different cities. This gives a building permit expediter a unique “inside” perspective and the owner can then have helping to guide the costs and scope of the project. Having someone on your side who has a good relationship and familiarity with local council and authorities and the process is the most effective way to ensure that permits arrive quickly instead of many months.
Planning/Building permit expediters charge by the hour or by the project. They typically multi-disciplined professionals that do more than act as a facilitator and deal on a peer to peer basis, levelling the playing field. A good building permit expediter should have one or more certifications in building & real estate development and have experience in both zoning and building code interpretation. Expediters are increasingly hired by engineers, architects and owners to advise them on complex problems like how to interpret zoning code to allow more squarage within a parcel or how to get all the documents in perfect order so that the project is accepted for submittal the first time. Like lawyers, expediters can bill by the hour or the project and usually retain a computer like memory of the current city codes and can negotiate for you from a place of knowledge with high-level officials. Expediters work best when brought in early and assigned the role to assist the owner and or architect in anticipating any design issues might pop up.
“Planning / Building Permit Expediters are becoming more and more accepted as professionals that can contribute significantly to reduce time and costs to the homeowner.” If you want to be successful with your development or homebuild project, speak to an expediter.”
express permit expediters will tell you what they know about a process before you have to commit to hiring them. They usually perform minor research or due diligence on the property in question and mayprovide you with a small report about what it will take to permit your project, how long, what applications and what the costs will be.We get building permits faster by simplifying the difficult and complicated building permit process. Our experts are local to your area, so we know the people and procedures that get your projects approved.
As soon as you start thinking about your new construction give us a call.The sooner we can begin coordinating and stream-lining the construction permit or entitlement process the faster you can begin construction. By managing the building permit process from the beginning, we can ensure that your building permit will be ready to issue as soon as possible.