How to Draw Your Own Plans

The world of design and construction can seem impossible to jump into when you are first starting. Picture this: you recently bought a house and decide that the beautiful, spacious backyard can fit a small guest house perfectly. To save money, you decide to forgo hiring an architect and instead draw your own plans yourself to gain city approval and finally begin construction. The only problem is you have never designed anything before, let alone an entire guest house. At Permit Advisors, many of our employees are licensed architects. We deal with plans all day long. If we’re not going …

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Feb 13, 2020 By Bridget Foley

A Permit Expediter’s Guide to Florida Permits

A question we receive from clients frequently is, “how do I navigate Florida permits?” The permitting process in Florida is famously difficult. Long wait times, lack of communication from government officials, and a confusing over-all process results in many people frustrated with their experience. On average, it takes months for a permit to be approved, sometimes even years. At Permit Advisors, we understand that this is annoying to people who have never applied for a permit before. That is why we have started a series offering insider tips for different jurisdictions. Our last post was centered around Austin, Texas, but …

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Jan 20, 2020 By Bridget Foley

Should You Pull Your Own Permit?

Here you are, the end of the road. You’ve gone through the process; the long nights of due diligence, the countless meetings with the city, the painful ups and downs of submitting your permit. But it is finally time, your permit has been approved! Now just one question remains: Should I pull my own permit? You may wish to pull your own permit for a number of reasons: to save money, your contractor is not licensed or is being paid under the table, they may not be certified to do the work, etc. However, for many reasons that we will …

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Dec 27, 2019 By Bridget Foley

A Permit Expediter’s Guide to Austin, TX

Austin, Texas: a place you can find amazing barbeque, fantastic live bands, and a notoriously complicated permitting process. In 2015, Zucker Systems issued a report detailing Austin’s weaknesses in their planning and building department. They go into detail the exorbitantly high costs and wait time that Austin business owners must suffer through just to receive a building permit. For a commercial project, it is estimated that time to complete zoning and permitting could be 12 to 14 months. This puts a large strain, both in time and money, on potential businesses delayed in opening. While Austin has tried to offer …

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Nov 7, 2019 By Bridget Foley