Streamlining the Permitting Process: Breaking Bottlenecks with Electronic Plan Review

The permitting process has long been a source of frustration for developers, architects, engineers, and municipalities alike. Delays, incomplete submittals, and lack of communication between stakeholders often slow projects to a crawl, resulting in missed deadlines and increased costs. But after nearly two decades of innovation, plan review technology is finally poised to deliver transformative change. 

The Core Challenge: Time

Across the industry, the pain point is universal: permitting takes too long. Whether it’s a developer awaiting a permit or a city trying to manage a backlog of plan reviews, everyone wants the same thing - faster, more efficient permitting. This inefficiency isn't just an inconvenience, it's a financial burden. When a building sits idle waiting for a permit, the clock is ticking on loans and financing. Delays translate directly into lost revenue.

The Evolution of Digital Plan Review

The shift to digital plan review began around 2005, marking the start of a move away from traditional pen-and-paper methods. These solutions marked a critical shift from manual processes to data-driven workflows.

Over the last 20 years, that evolution has continued, slowly but steadily, toward AI-assisted reviews. Today, plan review systems are beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning to further reduce permitting times and improve accuracy.

 

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The Future: Human + Artificial Intelligence (HI+AI) in Plan Review

The next evolution in plan review and permitting lies in human + artificial intelligence (HI+AI) collaboration. In this co-pilot model, AI will augment, not replace, the expertise of human plan reviewers.

With this approach, reviewers will interact with an AI chatbot that understands code libraries and comment archives, offering real-time responses to questions and surfacing potential code violations. This provides a smarter, faster way for reviewers to obtain reliable answers and flag out code issues early in the process, ensuring the completeness of submissions while keeping human insight at the center of the review.

Platform Flexibility: Start Small, Scale Smart

One of the key differentiators of today’s smarter solutions, like e-PlanSoft’s e-PlanVUE platform, is flexibility. Whether you’re a one-person planning department in a rural district or managing reviews for a major metro area, a platform should adapt to your needs.

For smaller agencies, a basic setup may be sufficient with no need for AI or advanced integrations. But as needs grow, the platform should grow with you with the option to add AI features, third-party integrations, or even full 3D model compatibility when your agency is ready. This modular approach means agencies won’t need to rip and replace their systems every few years, they can simply scale up.

Laying the Foundation for the Future

Plan review isn’t just code compliance. It includes constructability review, RFI tracking, and more. Agencies need tools that allow applicants, third-party reviewers, and inspectors to collaborate on a shared platform. And most importantly, they need solutions that save time - today and tomorrow.

20 years into the digital permitting journey, the solutions are smarter, the systems are more flexible, and the vision for AI-assisted plan review is finally within reach.