Permit Expediter

They aren't going to get any kind of advantage. That just isn't the way the system works.

So unless they have some bribery scheme working where they have an insider that can pull and review permits, I don't see how they are going to get a couple of hours of turn around time.


It might work for people that hate paperwork or are not great at speaking/reading English. Then it helps to have someone doing the paperwork on your behalf.

Granted, some of the systems that exist are abysmal. How ever much that is worth lol. It is still your permit, your plans, your inspections and your work.

It reminds me of the traffic lawyers. They have no real advantage during ticket hearings for speeding tickets but sometimes they can get things waved or get you traffic school by cutting deals and gaming the system. Sometimes you pay them and you get the expected outcome.
 
Before I retired many of ours were done online. If we were under a GC there was one permit and subs license numbers were carried by that permit.
 
From what I can tell, in some places they're good at making sure that all the info is correct, the totals match, things agree with local practice, etc. When the reviewers see it came from someone with a reputation for being correct those things may sail through faster. This probably isn't going to help on smaller projects.
 
There would also be a market for homeowners getting permits to do their own work. Getting though permitting if you have never done it before might be quite intimidating.
 
Elect117 said:
don't see how they are going to get a couple of hours of turn around time.
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They did answer my questions over the phone.

They avoid online systems, walk up to counter with a notarized letter of authorization letting them pull permits on behalf of your company, and promise $120 per permit, regardless of delays.

The address on the business card was 50 miles away. They are not making money driving all day long in traffic.
 
Would be useless for electrical permits here.

First, only the EC that is doing the work can file the permits, as well as homeowners if the work is for their primary residence.

The EC that is filing must have a current insurance certificate on file with the AHJ or no permit will be issued. On line filing simply won't let you proceed if insurance isn't up to date in their records once you try to log in.

There is no plans review. As long as your license and insurance info is current on their records you can have an online permit in just a few minutes. If inspector finds you didn't file the permit correctly, particularly if information entered results in not paying enough fees at time of filing, they will bill you later when the inspector submits info to the system to get the correct billing. Really is no penalty, unless you don't pay within allowed time then they add some more fees. They also won't give you a clear final on the project until all associated fees have been paid.
 
kwired said:
First, only the EC that is doing the work can file the permits
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Right, since insurances are required before granting a State license, in my area the AHJ's ask for a license, before plans, etc..

Here is the information the permit expediter requests from the contractor:
Msg1
Hi roger for the first project we will hopefully complete together I would need this info : Your company name State license # Current address Ein # Best email for company Work property address Homeowner name/phone number Scope of work Valuation of project (can be estimated )

Msg2
Also for the first time only I would need a notarized letter of authorization listing our names to pull permits on behalf of your company.. I will send you an example now .. remember this will only be needed the first time , after that we can re use it at all cities

Msg3
This is example of letter of authorization that needs to be notarized (contractor ‘s name and address and license number) (Date) Authorization to pull permits and city business license To whom it may concern, I (owner of the corporation has to match Cslb) (license #xxxxxxx) authorize Coral deras Loren kraizberger To pull all necessary building permits and city license on my behalf , if you have any questions please contact us at (phone number) Sincerely, (Owner of license name) Sign here xxxxxxxxxx
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kwired said:
you can have an online permit in just a few minutes.
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The Microsoft system for building departments in my area is broken.
Its called Citizen Portal Access
"https://aca-prod.accela.com/"

Local AHJ permit technicians using this system are only allowing 1-correction per re-Que, techs are not accessible to remote users, send everything back into the Que for another week of waiting, and techs can't read attachments unless all files are submitted on the same date, rejecting corrections without a "complete date set," resulting in the endless loop.

This system doesn't work, so contractors must travel to the counter of remote AHJ's multiple times.

A permit expediter is very tempting, but authorizing them to pull permits in your name can be abused for house flippers & hacks.
 
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When you have multiple jurisdictions like we do, all of whom want it done "their way". There is one in particular where you submit a permit and it does not get a response for months sometimes. An expediter can be really useful. They know who to call to get things run through. They can visit the desk in person even though it is an hour away from your shop.
 
ramsy said:
Right, since insurances are required before granting a State license, in my area the AHJ's ask for a license, before plans, etc..
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My EC license is good as long as I take required CEU's and continue to renew it. I think you have up to 60 or 90 days after it expires and you still can renew, you are not supposed to work (at all) with an expired license at any licensing level though.

I don't have to have insurance to hold a EC license. I do need to have insurance and an EC license to file electrical permits.

I can still work for some other EC with my EC license and not need any insurance. There are guys that quit contracting whether temporarily, semi retired, or whatever that still essentially are working as a journeyman for someone else that hold a contractor license, you do not need to downgrade it in anyway just because you are not contracting.

I worked for my previous employer for several months after I obtained my EC license. I did not pull any permits or do any "contracting activity of my own until I left that employer and of course had to acquire insurance to be able to pull permits and do the contracting in a legal manner. And do some things that most any business has to do with other state departments, county etc. which the Electrical AHJ has nothing to do with here. They could care less about things like income, property, sales taxes, etc. or department of labor related issues. They are about electrical safety, and related inspections and licensing and that is about it. Is technically a state government entity, but receives no public funding and operates entirely on it's own fees it charges for licenses, permits etc. Unlike what I hear about some areas of the country where local AHJ's kind of turn into a revenue making thing for local governments and get pretty involved in all aspects of buildings, construction, maintenance, etc.
 
kwired said:
don't have to have insurance to hold a EC license. I do need to have insurance and an EC license to file electrical permits.
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Our State license board puts the burden of proof on applicants for Journey-level work experience & WC, before letting them sit for an exam. General Liability is not mandated by our State license board.

Even if AHJ's required a GL policy, insurance agents in my area sell policies to any unlicensed, Spanish-speaking contractor, or gardener doing all kinds of commercial work. It's the insurance underwriters that wont pay claims for violating State license law.

Insurance is known for keeping all premiums for denied claims, and most property owners have no clue the policy is void by unlicensed activity. So, after casualty, contractors learn the bad news, and either disappear, file BK, or change corporate names, and resume business as usual.

In my State work is uninsurable if unlicensed contractors 1) use helpers, 2) avoid permits, 3) exceed $999 in valuation, or 4) omit the term "unlicensed" on any advertising, among other things.

So the law makes work illegal without a license, but nobody understands the law. AHJ's only enforce the license, while insurance agents willfully sell GL policies that underwriters may not honor. They see no evil, and hear no evil. Blissful ignorance flashes their snake oil certificate of insurance, and property managers buy it.

Everybody can exploit the lowest bidder, if they are willing to gamble on who is subject to liability.
 
In California, the CSLB (Contractors State License Board) comes into the picture only when a complaint is filed, because they have a limited staff. So, unlicensed contractors are free to pray on the consumer at will. But if something goes wrong on the job and the customer or AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) file a complaint, that's when the CSLB pull out the magnifying glass.

This permit service started a couple of years ago with solar permits. The HERS (Home Energy Rating Service) inspectors offered it to the solar contractors. But it started getting out of hand and became a conflict of interest. The HERS inspectors that filed the permit were inspecting the same project with the same contractor.

The CEC (California Energy Commission) is in the process of updating the HERS program to address this conflict of interest with stricter requirements on this and many other issues.
 
ramsy said:
Anyone see such business cards at your building department?

View attachment 2577012
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My brother in law was a boss in a large company that would pay a retired guy from our large cities L&I to drive down town a few times a week to secure permits. He walked right behind counter and was usually back in a few hours. When my brother in law or other workers went down they would never get back until way after noon. That guy had all kind of connections including free parking. Company was top notch and had great people doing the necessary drawings.
 
garbo said:
My brother in law was a boss in a large company that would pay a retired guy from our large cities L&I to drive down town a few times a week to secure permits. He walked right behind counter and was usually back in a few hours. When my brother in law or other workers went down they would never get back until way after noon. That guy had all kind of connections including free parking. Company was top notch and had great people doing the necessary drawings.
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This is an added reason why construction costs are usually higher in larger cities. All the red tape stuff takes time and someone usually needs to be paid for that time even though it is somewhat a non productive thing to the project itself. I can still fill out paper permit application for my electrical permits. doesn't take long to fill out, doesn't take the AHJ long to process it, waiting for the mail to get it there and a copy of permit back takes a few days is a major reason to file on line. Could possibly speed it up some by faxing or emailing copy and have them send permit info back that way, payment would also need to be electronically processed though. Can legally start process to file for permit just minutes before starting a project if you wish.
 
kwired said:
This is an added reason why construction costs are usually higher in larger cities. All the red tape stuff takes time and someone usually needs to be paid for that time even though it is somewhat a non productive thing to the project itself. I can still fill out paper permit application for my electrical permits. doesn't take long to fill out, doesn't take the AHJ long to process it, waiting for the mail to get it there and a copy of permit back takes a few days is a major reason to file on line. Could possibly speed it up some by faxing or emailing copy and have them send permit info back that way, payment would also need to be electronically processed though. Can legally start process to file for permit just minutes before starting a project if you wish.
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Our big city was making you travel several floors away once a month to verify that all of your business taxes are paid up before you could get any permits. 20 years ago Exelon foot dragging local electrical.provider stated they were working on be able to submit basic 100 & 200 amp service upgrades and other things over the internet like all of the surrounding power suppliers, fast forward ten years later they still were working on it. Retired and don't know if they ever made the switch.Took a coworker 11 months and at least six down town visits to finally get his electrical license after passing the test. Hoping locations with state electric license have less hoops to pass thru to get permits. One time when I was getting 2 easy permits and one with only a one page drawing the L & I electrical person handed me a $5 chance for something, then after approving the second permit another chance. After third permit he handed me a third chance but showed him my wallet and told him that the rest of the money was for the $25 or 30 parking charge. To!d me next visit to bring more cash. I know he was retiring soon and laughing it off
 
Elect117 said:
They aren't going to get any kind of advantage. That just isn't the way the system works.

So unless they have some bribery scheme working where they have an insider that can pull and review permits, I don't see how they are going to get a couple of hours of turn around time.


It might work for people that hate paperwork or are not great at speaking/reading English. Then it helps to have someone doing the paperwork on your behalf.

Granted, some of the systems that exist are abysmal. How ever much that is worth lol. It is still your permit, your plans, your inspections and your work.

It reminds me of the traffic lawyers. They have no real advantage during ticket hearings for speeding tickets but sometimes they can get things waved or get you traffic school by cutting deals and gaming the system. Sometimes you pay them and you get the expected outcome.
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Dear sweet, sweet, child, you have never dealt with New York City. In fact, in NYC, you almost HAVE to be an expediter in order to submit permits. Expediters will charge you between $2,000 and $8,000 depending on how large the project is and how many trades are involved. You can try to do it yourself, but as they say, the process is the punishment.
 
Did a lot of electrical work for a busy plumbing contractor. The city had to make a new connection to the underground water main after he replaced a water service. If you did not tip the guy that came out and his boss they would make you wait all day before showing g up for the 5 minute job. He asked if he could purchase his own machine and install the connection and leave dirt out until they inspected it. Told him they were the only ones allowed to install the connectiin.
 
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