How to Find Permit Expediters Outside of My Area

There are five basic principles to finding permit expediters outside of an area you are more knowledgeable about:

 

  1. Ask the city. City officials know whom they prefer to work with and whom they see on a daily basis. To truly understand which permit expediters have the best relationship with the city you should go straight to the source. Larger cities commonly have a list of preferred expediters. However, some cities shy away from answering this question to avoid the perception of favoritism, and you will need to use another avenue.
  2. Chamber of Commerce Associations. Incorporated cities and towns have chambers of commerce associations wherein local business participate as well as land use professionals. Land use attorneys and development professionals can provide referrals as well as past performance. This allows you to vet out firms through steps covered in my prior article: Vetting a Building Permit Expediter.
  3. General Contractors. As a species general contractors are known for being more honest than most are comfortable with and finding a permit expediting firm in a region is no exception. But, in this case it works for you and helps you know the good, the bad and the ugly of permit expediting firms. They know how the firm operates, charges customers, as well as the reputation in the industry.
  4. City Council Meetings and Records. Matters before city council are public and are recorded with the city clerk’s office, and this means you can look through some of the city’s largest projects or most complex and find which firms worked those projects. By finding a project similar to yours and tracing it through the city archives you now have an impartial record from city council and planning through to permit issuance. This process is time intensive however, you do get a better understanding of the firms in the area.
  5. The internet is a great source for information on permit expediting firms because you can see what types of resources they have, how they view customers and projects, and more importantly the relationships they have with cities and customers.

 

These 5 principles will help you answer the question, “How to find a permit expediter outside of my area?” If you are confused or needing someone to talk to give Permit Advisors Inc a call and someone from my team will get you the help you need. We can provide referrals to you based on project type and location.