The permitting side of construction projects can be an extremely time consuming and daunting process, especially for contractors that are juggling multiple parts of their business while also looking to dedicate more time into the growth of their company. Every little piece, from doing the permitting research for your project, to actually completing the applications, and tracking the approval process while simultaneously keeping up with correspondence and revisions add up and take up hours of your time if you don’t have processes set in place to counteract this inevitable part of the business. The marine construction industry is an entirely different ball game because of the different approvals you need to obtain and because now, you’re not only dealing with the city like a lot of other construction projects but rather with bigger regulatory agencies that hold a lot more jurisdiction. In the state of Florida, the two main regulatory approvals needed for marine construction projects include United States Army Corps Approval (USACOE) and approval from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, but depending on your exact project site you might also have to obtain approvals from local regulatory agencies. Some examples of local regulatory agencies with jurisdiction specifically in South Florida include the South Florida Water Management District (SFMWD), Lake Worth Drainage District, Broward County Environmental Resource Protected, and DERM. Army Corps approval is typically the longest and can take anywhere from 3-6 months, while approval from the FDEP generally takes between 1-2 months.
Regardless of the regulatory agencies you’ll be required to submit to for your projects the entire permitting process can easily become a daunting task but by taking the time to hire a team of permit specialists that are qualified in the industry and specialize in marine construction, you can save your team a lot of both time, and energy that can be used to fuel the growth of your business. Our team here at Breezy Permits understands exactly how important it is to have a permitting team you can trust and throughout this article we’ll be highlighting the top 5 reasons (although there are many more) to choose Breezy Permits for your marine construction permit processing.
Reason #1: Completed Permit Package Within 48hrs Hours of Receiving Payment
The quicker your application gets in the system, the quicker you’ll be assigned to a reviewer for your project and the closer you are to obtaining approval for your project. In the marine construction industry, obtaining regulatory review can be the most time consuming aspect of the entire process. Army Corps approval can take up to 6 months on some projects, and FDEP approval anywhere from 1-4 months, depending on your project site. The first thing we can do to get your projects approved as soon as possible is to get your permit package ready for signatures and we do this within 24 hrs of receiving payment here at Breezy Permits. Then, as soon as we receive signatures on the permit package we’ll be able to submit to the regulatory agencies for your project.
Reason #2: Extremely Organized and Responsive
In our experience, responsiveness and keeping up with correspondence is key to success in this industry. With the construction permitting process, a lot of this correspondence comes in via email and one thing we take pride in here is being extremely responsive with everything that comes into our inbox. We clear our inbox multiple times per day, ensuring that nothing is missed and any revisions/comments that come in are responded to as soon as possible so that your projects can continue with the review process.
Reason #3: Specialist in the Marine Construction Industry
Marine construction permits can often become overwhelming not only because of the various approvals you often have to obtain but also because of the array of supplemental information that is requested along the way that’s specific to the industry and can easily be confusing to someone who isn’t familiar with the field. For example, one of the most important tasks in the permitting side of marine construction projects is ensuring that you obtain the necessary approvals from ALL regulatory agencies that have jurisdiction over your project site. In South Florida these approvals range from Army Corps, DERM, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), and a few others. By failing to obtain a permit with an agency that has jurisdiction over your project, you’ll end up holding your project up because the city will not approve your project and issue your permit without the necessary regulatory approvals submitted for review. Not only that, but each agency has their own specific processes and form submittal requirements etc. Because of all of this, when you’re looking to outsource the permitting side of your projects it is important to do your due diligence and hire a team of specialists in marine construction to save yourself time, the headache, and oftentimes money in the long run. Our team here specializes in marine construction projects and is dedicated to being professionals in the industry.
Reason #4: Dedicated Inspection Team to Schedule and Oversee Inspections
We understand that when you’re a busy company with multiple projects going on at different stages, it can be difficult to find the manpower for labor let alone to have someone stand at a project site waiting on an inspector. By hiring an inspection team to oversee your inspections you can save your team time and money. Rather than paying someone to stand at a job site when they could be working on completing an important project on your priority list, you can outsource this and take the headache of the inspection process off of your shoulders. Our team currently offers inspection scheduling services for the marine construction industry.
Reason #5: Weekly Updates on ALL of Your Projects
When your plate is filled with all of the daily tasks that are inevitably tied to running a construction business, it is easy to lose track of where exactly each project stands if your team doesn’t have an effective strategy set in place for this. Because of that, we’ve found that weekly end of week updates on ALL of your projects undergoing the permitting process with our team is beneficial to all parties involved. First off, it ensures that our team goes through all of your projects individually on a week by week basis and that tasks stay top of mind. Secondly, weekly updates ensure that you stay in the loop of exactly where your projects undergoing the permitting process with our team stand. In our weekly updates we include just enough information to get to the point without overloading you with all aspects of your project. For example, we include the following: owner’s name, municipality, items needed (from your team), and the latest status on your project.
When you have an effective team taking care of your permitting processes, the entire dynamic of your projects can change. The permitting process is oftentimes the most tedious part of the process and having someone who you know is going to handle projects as if they were their own can save your team a plentitude of time that can be used to fuel more and more growth within your business. Our team here at Breezy Permits takes pride in providing the utmost level of service and maintaining this level of integrity throughout every project that goes under the care of our team.