When permits run late, what else runs late

How the permitting process itself works is something we covered in an earlier piece. This one is about a different question: what it costs the business when that process runs late.

One slip makes the next slip bigger

Here is what actually happened at the two properties our partner developed. Permitting ran later than planned, and total construction stretched by more than permitting had.

Stop one administrative step and every trade queued behind it moves back in order. Work that cannot begin until the preceding stage closes sits waiting, and while it waits, crews and equipment have to be rebooked. Delay does not add. It multiplies.

Where it actually caught

• Running major renovation, extension and demolition at once produced repeated requests for supplementary submissions at each step.
• The construction commencement filing took twice as long as usually expected.
• Fire safety and building departments held differing positions, which had to be reconciled.
• The landing point for the descending life line forced a design change and another round of consultation.
• Converting from low to high voltage required a new utility pole, delaying the electrical service connection.
• Roles between the architect, the engineer and the contractor were not clearly divided, so when something went wrong, time went into finding who owned it.
• The architecture practice was a long way from the site, which made checks and replies slow.

The cost lands outside the site fence

The invoice for delay does not arrive only in the construction line. Borrowing runs longer and financing swells; hiring, distribution preparation and the opening date all move with it. And a moved opening can mean an entire intended season of revenue simply not happening.

• Financing: interest keeps running for as long as the loan period stretches.
• Payroll: people hired for the opening wait on the payroll with no revenue behind them.
• Distribution: channel listings and rate setup move back, and the early visibility window is missed.
• Season: open after the peak and the first year sets its baseline revenue low.

So how should it be managed?

After two projects our partner reduced it to one sentence. Permitting is not an administrative errand you hand to somebody; it is a core project that has to stay wired to the design and the construction programme throughout.

• Put permitting items on the construction programme itself, marked with which trade each one gates.
• Divide the roles and liabilities of architect, engineer and contractor in writing at contract stage.
• Where departments may read a rule differently, record the consultation and confirm it with both.
• Start anything governed by an outside body’s calendar, such as the electrical connection, first.
• Secure one point of response that is physically close to the site.

In short

A permit delay looks like a paperwork problem and bills you through financing, payroll, distribution and season. Put the process on the programme, divide responsibility in writing, and start the items governed by outside calendars first. Reducing delay is, in the end, a question of how it is managed.