Private Providers are a significant benefit to Florida property owners and developers who are seeking to save time and money in the design and construction process. A private provider is a person authorized to act as a third-party building code administrator, allowing development teams to work with them instead of having to work directly with the local building department. Since 2002, project development teams have been able to take advantage of Alternative Plan Reviews and Inspections through appropriately licensed and authorized professional firms who offer these third party, time saving services to development teams.
Advantages
Expedited plan reviews and progress reviews for general code compliance can be conducted to generate consensus within project teams. Increased involvement during the design process can help to clarify issues that may be compounded by waiting for a final permit review. Consensus building can save weeks in the typical response and rework time that is sometimes encountered during a typical building department review. As a private entity, the private provider also has the freedom to prioritize reviews, inspections, revisions, and advocate for the owners by working directly with the local building department.
Most municipal building departments have rigorous rules and work flows that do not permit the flexibility needed to speed along urgent projects. Higher levels of communication, advice, expedited plan review timelines and quick progress reviews are completely lost or do not exist by going through the traditional process. These benefits become immediately apparent in the project during the earliest phases of design and continue through construction. Flexibility and accessibility not permitted with government employees leads to a much smoother and efficient building process that prevents costly delays and additional labor cost, while maintaining quality throughout project development.
Working directly with the local building department requires scheduling visits in advance. The appointments are serviced based on order received, they have limited hours, and inspectors do not provide a set time during the day when they will arrive… It is a lot like waiting at home for the cable company. Private Providers alleviate this and the need for excessive visits and broad visitation windows of time. While private providers can perform multidisciplinary inspections during a single site visit, often the municipality must schedule separate visits to accomplish the same number of inspections.
Disadvantage
Despite all of the advantages, there are parts of the permitting process that are unchanged. Your Private Provider is not permitted to authorize the parts of your project related to environmental reviews, zoning, and the fire department.
Teamwork
In the modern fast-paced world of design and construction, the opportunity to use a Private Provider is a very beneficial service that should not be overlooked where time is of the essence. They can provide clarity early in the design process and can become a valuable part of your design and construction team to keep the design and construction process moving quickly and smoothly.
We hope when the opportunity presents itself that you would consider the addition of a Private Provider to your project team. Use them to give clarity to your designers, and responsive inspections to your contractors. Start earning a return on your development faster than is possible through the traditional process. If you would like additional information, please contact us. We would be happy to answer any questions you may want to ask.