Thoughts on construction, AI, and building a better future.
HUD just opened the door for building departments to adopt AI at zero local cost. The Automated Permitting Systems Demonstration puts $15 million on the table for local governments to pilot AI and automation in their permitting operations.
Read more →The 2024 International Building Code introduces changes to egress, sprinkler thresholds, and mass timber provisions that will reshape plan review workflows. Here's what building departments need to prepare for before adoption hits.
Read more →Permit backlogs are not a volume problem — they are a capacity allocation problem. Here are the specific operational changes that actually reduce review cycle times, based on what high-performing departments do differently.
Read more →Building departments handle residential and commercial permits through the same queue, but the review processes are fundamentally different. Understanding the distinctions is what separates a functional department from a backlogged one.
Read more →Most plan review corrections are not obscure code conflicts. They are the same recurring violations — egress widths, accessibility clearances, fire separation ratings — missed across thousands of submissions. Here's what gets flagged most and why it keeps happening.
Read more →Fire and life safety review is the most consequential part of the permit process. It is also the most understaffed, the most complex, and the most likely to produce inconsistent results across reviewers.
Read more →Most building departments adopt technology reactively — one vendor at a time, one problem at a time. The result is a patchwork of systems that don't talk to each other and a staff that spends more time managing tools than using them.
Read more →Every vendor calls themselves 'permitting software.' The term covers three genuinely different product categories. Here's how to tell them apart and pick the right one.
Read more →Most building departments have moved to digital plan submissions. Few have changed how they actually review them. The gap between digital intake and digital review is where permits go to wait.
Read more →Building departments are losing experienced plan reviewers faster than they can replace them. AI-assisted review addresses the labor shortage, cuts cycle times, and eliminates the inconsistency that makes the permitting process unpredictable.
Read more →How a quiet crisis in municipal administration is distorting the American economy, driving migration, and deciding where the future gets built.
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