• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

100% Paperless 100% Online Building Department

Is your Building Department 100% Online and 100% Paperless?

  • YES

    Votes: 5 41.7%

  • NO

    Votes: 7 58.3%
  • Total voters
    12
jar546

jar546

Forum Coordinator
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
11,020
Location
Somewhere Too Hot & Humid
Is your Building Department 100% Paperless and 100% Online?
This means that you have no paper folders for inspectors or plan review. All submissions are done online and processed electronically. The contractor then downloads the approved drawings and permit cards/inspection cards, prints them and keeps them on the jobsite.

If you are 100% online, and 100% paperless, how long have you been doing it? Please comment below.

IF you are not, please answer the survey question so we can get an idea of percentage. Thank you.
 
Since COVID, we are 100% (er, well 99%).

We will still get the odd old-timer who cant figure out email and will mail (or the dreaded fax) something in. We then scan and convert to electronic. If needed, we will print and mail back to them. This is few and far between, and is limited to those of a certain generation who will not do anything electronic.
 
It is going to take awhile to change

Plus, budget hit hard, so cannot buy the needed electronic stuff.
 
classicT said:
Since COVID, we are 100% (er, well 99%).

We will still get the odd old-timer who cant figure out email and will mail (or the dreaded fax) something in. We then scan and convert to electronic. If needed, we will print and mail back to them. This is few and far between, and is limited to those of a certain generation who will not do anything electronic.
Click to expand...
Same, we are essentially 100% but still have an occasional very rare situation where we scan.
WE WILL NOT scan plans as all drawings from RDPs must be electronically signed and sealed.
WE WILL NOT ACCEPT scanned plans that come from an RDP. No more wet seals.
 
Keystone said:
Jar or any of ya that are mostly online,, How many people actually input all the info correctly for plan review and fee calculator??
Click to expand...
We haven't made it this far yet. But are hopefully on our way to a new system that can do this as well. We are in the midst of moving to a new webbased permitting suite.

Right now, we have a pdf application that gets filled in and emailed to us with the plans (or link to plans if large file).

In the future, the application will be done via a webpage, which will end with a quote. But per our developer, the customer will not be able to pay until we have had a permit technician review and approve the application (i.e. verify inputs made by customer).
 
Last edited:
We are 100% online for obtaining permits and getting there for plans but paper plans are still in the works.

I have noticed a trend....a building permit will be obtained for an addition but not the MEP. Then there’s a request for under-slab plumbing but no permit. Nobody is gaming the system....they just don’t understand the system.
 
Keystone said:
Jar or any of ya that are mostly online,, How many people actually input all the info correctly for plan review and fee calculator??
Click to expand...
The permit techs verify the info before it is allowed to go to plan review. Part of the plan review process is checking the valuations again.
No, we did not eliminate a permit tech, they are both just as busy as they were before.
 
Beniah Naylor said:
I was not able to take the survey, I don't know it's because I'm not a Sawhorse or if the website doesn't like my server. So mine will have to be a provisional ballot...
Click to expand...
All registered members can take surveys. You don't need to be a Sawhorse so I think this may be something on your end. I use Chrome and it seems to work well with the forum.
 
jar546 said:
The permit techs verify the info before it is allowed to go to plan review. Part of the plan review process is checking the valuations again.
No, we did not eliminate a permit tech, they are both just as busy as they were before.
Click to expand...

How many applications does your office receive a day?
 
jar546 said:
All registered members can take surveys. You don't need to be a Sawhorse so I think this may be something on your end. I use Chrome and it seems to work well with the forum.
Click to expand...
Probably is on my end, my computer was set up by someone else and they did things differently than I would have. I was using Chrome, it must be some other issue. We shall see.
 
jar546 said:
We received 110 online permit applications in the month of October if that helps. We had 21 working days in October. That is about average.
Click to expand...

Bigger government than mine is fascinating to me, in a way. I don't want any part of it, but it's interesting to hear about.
 
JCraver said:
Bigger government than mine is fascinating to me, in a way. I don't want any part of it, but it's interesting to hear about.
Click to expand...
We are very small. I did electrical inspections in the city of West Palm Beach and they had a numbering system that reset to zero every month. I remember in June of 2019 I did an inspection on the 4th of the month for a permit that was issued on June 3rd. The permit number was 19-06-0234 which means that they had at least 234 permits in the queue by day 3 of June for the month of June. Imagine that, 234 permits in 3 days.
 
We have been trending towards all electronic processes even prior to Covid but more so now and I would guesstimate that we are probably at 85 + at this point and I'm sure as Covid 2.0 is right around the corner in this area that we will be pushing 100 percent shortly. Our planning and zoning submittals are at 100 percent as a result of the respective board members opting for Zoom meeting which I don't see changing for the several months at a minimum.

Have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving
 
VillageInspector said:
We have been trending towards all electronic processes even prior to Covid but more so now and I would guesstimate that we are probably at 85 + at this point and I'm sure as Covid 2.0 is right around the corner in this area that we will be pushing 100 percent shortly. Our planning and zoning submittals are at 100 percent as a result of the respective board members opting for Zoom meeting which I don't see changing for the several months at a minimum.

Have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving
Click to expand...
Great news. Only 15% to go! I am seeing this more and more. Thanks COVID,..... but in a good way.
 
I worked for a few 3rd party inspection companies. They are usually in the stone age when it comes to electronics. Unless they see more profit in doing things paperless I don't see any changes. We are lucky just to get updated code books from them.
 
No and No.

Still require two full sets, stamped, signed and dated plans. One set gets returned and required to be at the job site. We have requested PDF's for our electronic files but we have no legal authority to do so until I change the ordinance. We use to require a Mylar, but not any more.

1) Have you an ordinance supporting your request that allows paper only submittals?
2) Do the projects have a set of approved paper plans at the site to view?
3) Are you seeing or not seeing plan addendums and change orders on projects? How's that handled?

I think budgets have a lot to do with this modernization for some jurisdictions.

Just curious, I thought I could get out before this.
 
Also when you have to go to court, will you have the documents needed?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top