Building Permit Processing

Acquiring building permits is a complex and time-consuming process. Building permits are required for construction of new buildings, remodels of existing buildings (interior or exterior), gates, fences, walls, patio covers, and most other major structural, electrical or plumbing changes made to a building regardless if it is a residential or commercial building.

Often for existing buildings the home owner or business owner is unaware of the need the go through the building permit process prior to making changes, or they think the change isn’t significant enough to qualify for a building permit.  This can lead to issues later on, especially if the unpermitted work comes to the attention of a Code Enforcement Officer.  If that happens it is the home owner or business owner’s responsibility to go back after the changes have been made to have the permit pulled.  This can cause multiple headaches as drawn plans are required and the person who did the work may not be licensed to draw the plans (they are not always the same person), or may not even still be in business at all.  There’s also the chance that the work completed was not done to code, meaning not only does the permit process need to be done, but the work will need to be re-done to bring it in compliance with the current code. The bottom line is you are better off finding out if you need a building permit and going through the permit process than taking the risk of multiple headaches and a greater cost later on.

This is where G.C. Garcia Inc. can come in to help.  We work with your engineers, architect and general contractor to process the building permit. If you don’t have an engineer, architect or need a general contractor we can help you to get estimates and contracts as needed. We review the plans to catch any missing items before they are given to the local jurisdiction for review.  The fewer items missing or incorrect the faster the building permit can be received. This is because each correction requires a new submittal of the corrected plans which then also needs to be reviewed. This prolongs the building permit plan review process.

We also monitor the responsiveness from the local jurisdiction in reviewing the plans.  In addition, we monitor the responses from the project team to ensure they are responding in a timely manner, and that they are addressing all comments received.  We step in as needed to work with the local jurisdictions staff, including Code Enforcement, to overcome any issues that may come up before or during the building permit process. By making sure that these items that seem simple, but are so often overlooked, are completed we are able to make sure that the building permits are received in the fastest possible time frame.

Building Permit Expediting

When you have an extremely tight timeline there is the option to have building permits expedited. Expediting is typically four times the cost of a standard building permit review, but sometimes timelines don’t allow much wiggle room and the cost of the expedite is justified.  One thing to understand is that in some jurisdictions the building permit expedite is a request and not a guarantee that it will be expedited.  This is often based on the amount of work already coming in and the amount of staff available for these expedited reviews.  We can help with getting building permit expedite requests approved as well as monitoring to make sure that the expedited review occurs within the shortened timeframe that is given. As with a regular review we will monitor local jurisdiction staff as well as the team for responsiveness and accuracy.

Whether or not you are ready to start the building permit process for work not yet completed, or you’ve been given a code violation notice for unpermitted work give us a call to see how G.C. Garcia, Inc may be able to help you.

Building Permit

  • Scheduling Assistance
  • Coordination and Monitoring
  • Civil Improvement Plans Expedited Processing
  • Building Permit Expedited Processing

Mapping

  • Scheduling Assistance
  • Coordination and Monitoring
  • Tentative Map Processing
  • Civil Improvement Plans Expedited Processing
  • Final Map Processing