There’s no denying that red tape and outdated systems contribute to permitting delays. But the real blocker for building departments is actually a simple math problem: too many permit applications coming in and a lack of staff bandwidth to review them.
It’s the reason why backlogs form, review times lengthen, and resubmissions balloon.
So, what’s the solution?
Well, if you want to actually speed up permit approvals, you need to fix both of the “levers” that determine how fast or slow permitting will be:
Both can be addressed with support from AI – but it’s important to understand that there are distinctly different AI tools that help with distinctly different things in the permitting lifecycle. And most don’t actually address the root case of delays.
Cities, architects, builders, and even software vendors often talk about “AI for permitting” as if it were a single technology. But in reality, there are five types of AI tools used in permitting, and understanding their differences is crucial if you want to adopt AI that truly speeds up your process.
Question answered: "What can I build on my land?"
Test Fit Solutions are early-stage planning tools that help owners, developers, and architects quickly understand what’s feasible on a parcel. They simulate building massing, setbacks, height limits, FAR, parking ratios, and other land-use regulations.
Though Test Fit AI is extremely valuable, it only answers the earliest question in the process.
Question answered: "What permits do I actually need?"
Permit Guides are rule-based tools that map a project’s scope to the permits required. This prevents costly delays caused by applicants missing a street-use permit, mechanical permit, MUP, grading permit, etc.
Permit Guides solve applicant confusion, but not overall delays.
Question answered: "Is my design code compliant?"
These tools analyze a design model (often inside Revit) to check for compliance with building codes. They work well during early design, especially for architects aiming to reduce liability and catch errors before CDs.
It’s worth emphasizing that last point, because it’s a common misconception that something being “code compliant” automatically means “permit ready”.
Why? Because Automated Code Compliance tools typically focus on the design model (checking if your building geometry meets code requirements), which is only helpful during design. And permitting is fundamentally based on what's shown in the submitted documents.
So even if your design is perfectly compliant, your submission will be rejected if it's missing essential information: dimensions, calculations, annotations, structural details, or jurisdiction-specific administrative requirements.
The real drivers of permitting delays aren't usually design violations. They're incomplete submittals, missing documents, absent calculations, or local requirements that weren't met.
These tools are valuable for architects, but they don’t ensure documents will pass permit review.
Question answered: "Will my submission get approved?"
This is one of the most impactful and fastest-growing categories. AI Permit Preparation tools (like CivCheck) scan an applicant’s draft submission and check for everything a plan reviewer will evaluate — completeness, missing documents, code citations, and whether compliance is actually demonstrated.
Yes! Because AI permit preparation tools help applicants submit higher-quality plans, which means fewer resubmittals, less intake back and forth, and ultimately fewer applications you have to process.
Question answered: "Should this project get a permit?"
AI Plan Review tools (like CivCheck) assist the plan reviewer directly by helping them analyze plans faster and more accurately. These tools either reduce the number of checks a reviewer must manually perform or reduce the time required to perform those checks.
Yes! AI plan review solutions help reviewers complete more checks in less time, therefore increasing throughput with existing staff.
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Now that we’ve established that only AI permit preparation and plan review software has the ability to actually reduce permit approval times, let’s dig into the ethics of AI use in permitting and why a human-in-the-loop approach is non-negotiable when it comes to protecting public safety and trust.
Because permitting protects life and property, the standard for any AI tool must be that it works reliably and ethically.
But the problem is that not every solution does.
Fully automated systems (artificial intelligence) rely on multi-step reasoning that suffers from compounding errors. The result? Five steps that may individually be 90% accurate, but only 59% accurate overall. And when it comes to public safety, that's simply unacceptable.
That’s why a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) approach to design is essential. Because AI systems that augment human experts rather than replace them ensure necessary "friction" where safety depends on human judgment.
Ethical AI solutions like CivCheck ensure multiple layers of protection against AI errors by:
Ultimately, if a system encourages the blind acceptance of what the AI says, it's a liability.
Think of it like air traffic control: You can have great tools for designing airplanes (Test Fit/Code Compliance) and great tools for buying tickets (Permit Guides), but if you don't have specialized tools to manage the planes waiting to take off (AI Permit Preparation) and speed up how fast the tower can handle them (AI Plan Review), the whole system stays congested.
If your community wants to reduce permitting times, the strategy is straightforward: Focus on solving the volume and capacity imbalance. Adopt AI Plan Review to help your staff work faster. Reduce resubmittals and intake back and forth with AI Permit Preparation.
Other AI tools are helpful, sure, but they won't help get permits approved faster.