Digital Building Permits

Effective October 1, 2017, the Sixth Edition of the South Florida Building Code requires building permit applications to be able to be submitted electronically. It does not define what specific method is used to submit permit applications, or associated documents. The drawings and other documents required as part of the permit application may still be submitted in person in a non-electronic form, at the discretion of the building official. This leaves it up to each municipality to decide what process they use to accept digital permit applications, and if, and how they will accept, and process the required documents in an electronic format.

As usual, this open ended directive created by the Florida Building Code has caused problems for contractors in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County. There is no consistency on digital permit submissions by the tri-county municipal Building Departments. There are even a few municipal Building Departments that no longer allow walk-in building permit submissions. Digital permit submissions currently include everything from simple email submissions to third party software like ProjectDox to uploaded permit documents for electronic plan review. ProjectDox is not the only software you will run into, and for every third party digital building permit submission software there is a learning curve required.

Even if you are pretty savvy when it comes to using computers, and experienced at learning how to use new software, there all sorts of other pit falls you will run into. Such as, file naming, electronically sealed documents, and even the printing of the approved documents. If you name the files wrong, or upload them into the wrong directory, it will cause a delay in your approval. If you upload sealed documents without verification, or do not follow Florida Statues, your digital documents will be denied. If you print the approved documents the wrong size, you could fail your inspection.

Then there are the emails. If you think you get way too much email now, it is only going to get worse as more and more Building Departments convert to digital permitting. There are now many Cities that send out system generated emails for every step of the submission and review process, and some that will automatically email you the approved permit documents. In addition, system generated emails are sent by many Cities for inspection scheduling and status. I highly recommend that Contractors who decide to do their own digital building permit processing setup a dedicated email just for digital permitting.

If all the above isn’t enough to make you pull your hair out, a high percentage of Building Department websites require logins with password access. Now you have to keep a record of your login information for dozens of municipal websites.

In summation, digital building permits in South Florida are nothing new. Miami-Dade County has been issuing digitally reviewed building permits for almost ten years. Tamarac, Pompano Beach and Boca Raton have been processing building permits digitally for almost five years. We have been processing building permits in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County for 15 years and are experienced in digital building permit processing. If you have questions, or would like us to take over the headache of dealing with your building permit processing needs, give us a call. We can offer free advice, or manage the process for you.

Active October 1, 2017, the Sixth Edition of the South Florida Building Code requires building permit applications to be able to be submitted electronically. It does not define what specific method is used to submit permit applications, or associated documents. The drawings and other documents required as part of the permit application may still be submitted in person in a non-electronic form, at the discretion of the building official. This leaves it up to each municipality to decide what process they use to accept digital permit applications, and if, and how they will accept, and process the required documents in an electronic format.

As usual, this open ended directive created by the Florida Building Code has caused problems for contractors in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County. There is no consistency on digital permit submissions by the tri-county municipal Building Departments. There are even a few municipal Building Departments that no longer allow walk-in building permit submissions. Digital permit submissions currently include everything from simple email submissions to third party software like ProjectDox to uploaded permit documents for electronic plan review. ProjectDox is not the only software you will run into, and for every third party digital building permit submission software there is a learning curve required.

Even if you are pretty savvy when it comes to using computers, and experienced at learning how to use new software, there all sorts of other pit falls you will run into. Such as, file naming, electronically sealed documents, and even the printing of the approved documents. If you name the files wrong, or upload them into the wrong directory, it will cause a delay in your approval. If you upload sealed documents without verification, or do not follow Florida Statues, your digital documents will be denied. If you print the approved documents the wrong size, you could fail your inspection.

Then there are the emails. If you think you get way too much email now, it is only going to get worse as more and more Building Departments convert to digital permitting. There are now many Cities that send out system generated emails for every step of the submission and review process, and some that will automatically email you the approved permit documents. In addition, system generated emails are sent by many Cities for inspection scheduling and status. I highly recommend that Contractors who decide to do their own digital building permit processing setup a dedicated email just for digital permitting.

If all the above isn’t enough to make you pull your hair out, a high percentage of Building Department websites require logins with password access. Now you have to keep a record of your login information for dozens of municipal websites.

In summation, digital building permits in South Florida are nothing new. Miami-Dade County has been issuing digitally reviewed building permits for almost ten years. Tamarac, Pompano Beach and Boca Raton have been processing building permits digitally for almost five years. We have been processing building permits in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County for 15 years and are experienced in digital building permit processing. If you have questions, or would like us to take over the headache of dealing with your building permit processing needs, give us a call.  We can offer free advice, or manage the process for you.