Eliminate permitting bottlenecks by delivering quick turnarounds for applications, plan reviews/approvals, and building inspections.
The Accela Civic Application for Building is a pre-built solution
- Cut turnaround times with digital permitting processes
- Automate tracking and management of permit applications from intake to project completion
- Provide total visibility throughout the process for agency staff and builders alike
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Find out how Accela Building can help you simplify the permitting process.
Benefits
Improve builder productivity
Being able to interact in the process from a friendly website, instead of standing in line means builders can save time and money. And faster turnaround times means they can schedule jobs more effectively and do at keeping development projects on schedule and on budget.
Faster permitting for increased revenue
Help office staff process more requests in a shorter amount of time with automated workflows, complete data access and an intuitive user interface. Plus, increase inspector speed and effectiveness by providing the right tools to route, complete and result inspections on a mobile device keeping them 100% in the field.
Reduced carbon footprint
Paperless building solutions decrease the volume of phone inquiries, office foot traffic, and paper handling and storage typically required throughout the permitting process. Now agencies can become “greener” while providing an accelerated consumer-like experience.
Improved resident satisfaction
Making it easier for builders to do business with their local government improves resident and business satisfaction, attracts new development, and helps communities grow and thrive.
Features
- Workflow Management System
Automate the steps needed for permit processing including the assignment of tasks, tracking of reviews and sending notifications to keep processes running smoothly and on time.
- Online Resident Portal
Easily upload documents, submit permit applications, make payments, check for status updates and schedule inspections from a desktop or mobile device 24/7 for better project management.
- Electronic Document Review
Digitally engage with builders on plan reviews. Agencies can easily upload documents, comment and markup plans for revisions, and submit approvals while builders can submit changes electronically.
- Built-In Reporting
Access reports and metrics to measure, track, and analyze agency performance for things such as number of permits issued, and visibility into employee productivity to optimize land management processes.
- Platform-Wide Integration
APIs, SDKs, and open data allow agencies to integrate information and processes across complementary solutions to meet their unique needs.
- GIS Mapping
GIS integration provides intuitive visualizations to access land parcel permit history, view code and zoning details, and map and route inspections efficiently.
- Code Enforcement
Ensure public compliance with city code and regulation by managing complaints and violations to achieve resolution quickly and efficiently.
- Mobile Inspections
Mobile capability to conduct inspections, view documents, and information in real-time in the field to increase efficiencies.
Workflow Management System
Automate the steps needed for permit processing including the assignment of tasks, tracking of reviews and sending notifications to keep processes running smoothly and on time.
Online Resident Portal
Easily upload documents, submit permit applications, make payments, check for status updates and schedule inspections from a desktop or mobile device 24/7 for better project management.
Electronic Document Review
Digitally engage with builders on plan reviews. Agencies can easily upload documents, comment and markup plans for revisions, and submit approvals while builders can submit changes electronically.
Built-In Reporting
Access reports and metrics to measure, track, and analyze agency performance for things such as number of permits issued, and visibility into employee productivity to optimize land management processes.
Platform-Wide Integration
APIs, SDKs, and open data allow agencies to integrate information and processes across complementary solutions to meet their unique needs.
GIS Mapping
GIS integration provides intuitive visualizations to access land parcel permit history, view code and zoning details, and map and route inspections efficiently.
Code Enforcement
Ensure public compliance with city code and regulation by managing complaints and violations to achieve resolution quickly and efficiently.
Mobile Inspections
Mobile capability to conduct inspections, view documents, and information in real-time in the field to increase efficiencies.
“$250,000 annual cost savings by discontinuing legacy software and maintenance due to efficiencies Accela provides.”
— Glenna Campana, Building and Development Services Department, Manatee County, FL
“We now have the ability to deploy and assess damage within 24 hours of a natural event using Accela code enforcement.”
— Claire Jubb, Community Devlopment Director, Charlotte County, FL
“Able to keep up with 178% increase in demand for building inspections.”
— Debbie Brannan, Area Manager of Technology and Innovation, Cabarrus County, NC
“We were able to preform more than double the number of inspections with fewer full time employees.”
— Debbie Brannan, Area Manager of Technology and Innovation, Cabarrus County, NC
“Accela is helping eliminate errors on plans and land development applications that are turned in.”
— John Barnott, Director of Building Development Services, Manatee County, FL
“By investing in Accela, we are better positioned to help our customers work through the permitting process by providing swift, real-time information most important to them.”
— Mark Hendrickson, Director of Community and Economic Development, Merced County, CA
“Going paperless has helped to save every employee eight hours a week from just the physical stamping of plans.”
— Tracey Gutheim, Operations Manager for Development Services, Pima County, AZ
“Having a developer praise a building department is unusual. Project owners from Babco*ck Ranch have been extremely happy with Charlotte County.”
— Claire Jubb, Community Devlopment Director, Charlotte County, FL
“Accela helped reduce plan issuance turnaround times. They have gone from 20 days to 3-5 days.”
— Tracey Gutheim, Operations Manager for Development Services, Pima County, AZ
“Plan reviews for single-family homes have gone from 7 to 3 days since more than one reviewer can look at the same record simultaniously.”
— Glenna Campana, Building and Development Services Department, Manatee County, FL
“Accela reduced office foot traffic by 30%-40%.”
— Claire Jubb, Community Devlopment Director, Charlotte County, FL
“Reduced permit turnaround times for single family homes from 15 to 20 days to 5 to 10 days.”
— Claire Jubb, Community Devlopment Director, Charlotte County, FL
“Reduced turnaround times for residential permits from three weeks to three days and for commercial permits from two months to five to ten days.”
— Luis Vasquez, Chief Building Official, City of McAllen
“Saved 30 hours a month in processing over-the-counter permits. Now permits applied for, reviewed, and issued the same day.”
— Jennifer Ward, Innovation Team, Tacoma, WA
“Saved 44 hours a month by offering ePermits. Permits that require no review and can be obtained 24/7 - previously unavailable without Accela.”
— Jennifer Ward, Innovation Team, Tacoma, WA
“Accela streamlined processes to attract and facilitate a new community of 19,000 single family homes.”
— Claire Jubb, Community Devlopment Director, Charlotte County, FL
“The cost for waiting on a customer face-to-face is roughly five times what it costs to interact with customers via Accela’s technology.”
— John Barnott, Director of Building Development Services, Manatee County, FL
“The county is now accepting more than 80% of permits online, resulting in lower wait times.”
— Glenna Campana, Building and Development Services Department, Manatee County, FL
“We’re breaking records for permits and construction. We are more efficient at tracking our own records, and are creating a systematic process.”
— Tom Vanover, Building Commisioner, City of Cleveland, OH
“With Accela, customers now have an arrival window with a buffer of 45 minutes on either side of the expected start time, reducing inspector expected time of arrival (ETAs) by 62.5%.”
— Tracey Gutheim, Operations Manager for Development Services, Pima County, AZ
Shelby County
Shelby County, Tennessee Meets COVID-19 Head On and Improves Customer Experience for Community Development Services
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Tacoma
Tacoma, WA Improving The Permit Process – A Quest to Hear The Customer and Support Innovative Solutions Services
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McAllen
McAllen, Texas, Streamlines Building Permitting and Offers Online Citizen Access across State
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Pima County
Pima County Modernizes Planning, Permitting and Inspection Processes with Accela Community Development Solutions
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Manatee County
Manatee County Deploys Accela Planning and Building to Reduce Office Foot Traffic, Turnaround Times and Overall Expenses
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Charlotte County
Charlotte County Leverages Technology to Speed Disaster Recovery, Enhance the User Experience and Foster Community Development
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Deschutes County
Deschutes County Tackles Explosive Growth with Cloud Technology
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View our on-demand webinars featuring industry experts and Accela partners, products and customers.
Featured Resources
White Paper
Shrinking Permit Turnaround Times
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Infographic
Cut Permit Turnaround Times By 50%
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White Paper
From Planning to Permits, Zoning to Compliance: Research on the 50 largest U.S. cities’ use of automated land management systems
Read more