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William Velasco has over a decade of experience advising government agencies in selecting innovative technology that helps them work more efficiently and effectively.
Staying compliant with rules and regulations is an important part of managing permits for cities and counties. Governments must meet deadlines, keep accurate records, and follow changing laws to avoid costly delays or losing funding. Without the right tools, managing all of this can be stressful and time-consuming.
In this blog, GovBuilt Account Executive William Velasco explains common compliance challenges—and how GovBuilt’s permitting solution helps solve these problems.
Challenge #1: Timeliness
The number one compliance challenge that agencies face in their permitting processes is application turnaround time.
“It could be that you have service level agreements (SLAs) that are internal, or maybe you have state-mandated legal timeline compliance,” William said.
Legal requirements vary depending on your state and the permit type. A few examples:
- In California, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have a 60-day approval window.
- Texas mandates that residential and commercial building permits must be processed within 45 days.
- As of Jan. 1, 2025, Florida requires most permits to be approved or denied within 10-30 business days for most residential or 60 days for most commercial permits. The building permit fee must be reduced by 10% per day past the deadline.
- Failing to meet these deadlines could jeopardize funding or result in legal challenges.
How GovBuilt Helps
- Reminders: Workflows track deadlines and send reminders to staff as due dates approach. This helps you make sure that no applications slip through the cracks.
- Simplified Correspondence: Find yourself making the same responses to applicants over and over (such as payment reminders)? In GovBuilt, you can configure “canned” emails with your most-used comments to send in a few clicks. This reduces hands-on time on each permit so you can approve or deny them faster.
- Smart Forms: GovBuilt’s smart forms can automatically reject an application based on your local permitting guidelines. William explained, “Suppose someone wants to build a pergola in their backyard. As they’re filling out the form, it asks how many square feet the pergola is. They enter 600, but by regulation they’re only allowed 200 square feet. It will display a message that explains the regulation and it just won’t let them submit the form unless it’s corrected.” Automatically rejecting permits that don’t meet basic requirements means you have more time to deal with other applications.
Challenge #2: Documentation and Data Management
Important documents related to permits, like water table and percolation tests, need to be well organized so they can be found quickly when needed. If records are scattered across different systems or locations, you’ll have trouble responding to audits or requests for information, such as FOIA requests.
William gave the example of storing records related to a percolation test for a septic system: “Let’s say a year down the road, somebody gets sick, and now there’s a request for information about it. Did it meet the requirements of the state before you issued the permit? You need to go back and say, ‘Yeah, well, we documented [it]. Here’s the document that we got from the laboratory.’”
Without proper documentation, it’s hard to prove compliance, but good records management protects your agency if something goes wrong.
How GovBuilt Helps
- Case Files. GovBuilt stores all data related to a permit in a single location so you can access it quickly and easily. This provides a single “source of truth” that you can refer to for the most accurate information.
- File Export. If you get a FOIA or other information request, you can export the files you want from GovBuilt into a single file or folder. William explained that without GovBuilt, cities say it takes them up to an hour to compile documents: “They tell me, ‘We have to go to this system or that system, cloud storage, someone’s local computer, maybe the file cabinet.’ But with GovBuilt it’s just a few clicks.”
- Laserfiche Integration. For even more advanced records management capabilities, GovBuilt integrates with Laserfiche. This allows you to automatically apply retention schedules and store vast quantities of data without slowing down your GovBuilt system.
Challenge #3: Licensing and Contractor Validation
Unlicensed contractors can cause serious problems. Their work may be unsafe, and they may not have insurance in case someone gets injured. Contractors could also be working with expired or invalid licenses, which can slip through the cracks if staff rely on manual checks.
Cities and counties should do their due diligence to ensure that residents and businesses aren’t hiring unlicensed contractors. Without an easy way to validate licenses, cities may accidentally allow unqualified contractors to work and put residents at risk.
How GovBuilt Helps
GovBuilt can integrate with state databases to validate contractor licenses automatically. This eliminates the need for staff to manually check each contractor’s status. If a license is expired, the system flags it so the contractor cannot be approved to work until they renew their license.
The integration also allows the public to check a contractor’s license online without having to call the city or county office—saving time for both you and them.
Challenge #4: Reporting
Cities and counties often need to create detailed reports to meet state or federal requirements. These reports are essential for compliance audits, tracking housing development, or applying for grants. Without accurate and up-to-date data, municipalities risk losing funding or failing to meet important goals.
For example, in California, local governments have to develop Housing Elements as part of their general plans to ensure they accommodate the housing needs of all income levels. City and county building departments need to generate reports to demonstrate their compliance with state housing law.
You may also need reporting to demonstrate compliance with grant funding requirements, such as the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
But generating these reports manually can take a lot of time and lead to mistakes, especially when staff have to pull information from multiple systems.
How GovBuilt Helps
- Standard and Custom Reports. Your GovBuilt system comes with 25 reports pre-configured, such as location reports and permits issued by type. We can also work with you to configure additional reports based on your individual needs.
- Automated Reports. “What people love about our reporting is that you can automate it,” William said. “If you need a certain report once a month, every quarter, or at the end of the year, we can set them up to be pushed out fully automatically.”
- PowerBI Integration. For those with particularly complex reporting needs, your GovBuilt database can integrate with Microsoft PowerBI.
Feel Confident About Compliance with GovBuilt
“Our use of the GovBuilt platform has evolved a lot since the beginning, and they've kept pace with our needs. I've never heard ‘that can't be done’ from anybody at GovBuilt. If we need it, they always find a way.”
Stephan M., County Planner at Pottawatomie County, KS
From managing application timelines to generating accurate reports and verifying contractor licenses, GovBuilt empowers you to handle complex compliance challenges with confidence.
Ready to see how GovBuilt can transform your permitting process? Contact us today to learn more and schedule a demo. Let’s work together to make compliance simple and efficient for your agency!