Key Concepts

Introduction

Permitful is designed to help architects manage their permits efficiently and effectively. By understanding the key concepts of projects, permits, and milestones, you can start using Permitful to streamline your permit tracking process and improve collaboration with your team and clients.

Projects

After signing up, you can create a project in Permitful. Each account belongs to one person, so each person who tracks projects signs up for their own.

A project in Permitful is a collection of permits that you are tracking. A key feature of Permitful is the public project dashboard, which allows you to share the status of your permits with clients and consultants.

When you create a project, you can choose to make it public or private. A public project, available with Pro, will have a unique URL that you can share with anyone, including colleagues, while a private project will only be visible to you. You can change the visibility of a project at any time.

When a project is finished or on hold, archive it. Archived projects keep their permits and milestones but drop off your dashboard and calendar feed, and they don't count toward the free plan's one active project.

Permits

A permit is a specific approval required for a project. Permits fall into two phases: zoning and plan check. Zoning permits are required to ensure that the proposed project complies with local zoning laws, while plan check permits are required to ensure that the project plans meet all building codes and regulations.

Permitful has over 100 permit types to choose from, covering a wide range of jurisdictions and project types. Each permit has its own milestones, which are essential for tracking.

Every permit has a status: Draft, Submitted, Pending, In Review, Approved or Issued, or Expired, Revoked or Denied. A new permit starts as Draft, and Permitful records each status change so you can see how long the permit spent at each stage.

A permit can also have an expiry date, the date printed on it after which it lapses. Permitful warns you from 30 days before, so you can start work or ask the agency for an extension in time.

Milestones

A milestone is a specific step in the permit process with a due date. Each permit can have multiple milestones, customized to fit your workflow: add them yourself, or add the permit type's standard milestones in one click and edit them. For example, a permit might have milestones for submitting drawings or the anticipated date to receive plan check corrections.

Due dates are important for tracking progress and ensuring that permits are processed in a timely manner. You can set due dates for each milestone to help you stay on track.

Milestones you add yourself appear on the project's public dashboard unless you mark them private. Standard milestones start private, since their dates are estimates; show them when you're ready. Notes are always private.