What PermitDesk does for your town
One record for every permit, license, inspection, case and project, with the parcel, contacts, documents, fees, workflow and history on the same record. Staff queues, field work and a public portal sit on that record, so a change in one place is seen everywhere.
Start with the part you need most
Each part below names the work it does and links to its page. All parts use the same record, the same parcel and the same fee and status history.
Permit applications
Take building, trade, right-of-way, fire, health and other applications online or at the counter, from draft to issued permit. Read the required documents and fees before you start, save a draft, and resume at any step.
Plan review
Collect discipline comments and markups on uploaded plans, compare versions, and send one consolidated letter per cycle. A comment closes only when a reviewer verifies the resubmittal or waives it with a reason.
Inspections and field work
Schedule, assign and record inspections on a phone in the field, with checklists, photos, signatures, results and reinspections. Work saved offline shows a queued state and syncs in order when coverage returns.
Business and contractor licensing
Manage license applications, expirations, renewals, holds and compliance on one licensee profile. Renewal creates a linked record and moves the license to renewal pending until it is approved and paid.
Planning and zoning cases
Manage land use, variance, conditional use and subdivision cases through routing, hearings, decisions and conditions. Conditions stay on the case and carry to later permits on the same parcel until met or waived.
Code enforcement cases
Track complaints, investigations, violations, notices, citations and compliance from intake to closure. Anonymous complaints store no name, email, phone or other personal detail about the complainant.
Applicant portal
Give residents, contractors and business owners one signed-in place to apply, upload, pay, request inspections, message staff and track status without staff help. Each record shows one clear next step in plain words.
Fees, invoices and payments
Calculate fees from the town schedule, invoice the applicant, record online and counter payments, refunds and daily totals. Card numbers are handled only by the town processor. PermitDesk stores the processor reference and receipt only.
Dashboards, reports and exports
Show each role the work due today and show leaders volume, turnaround, revenue and backlog. Run standard and saved reports, and download a queue, report or full workspace export as CSV or Excel.
How the parts share one record
A record number is assigned once at submission and is never reused. Every record links to at least one parcel or address and at least one contact. Town GIS data stays the authority for parcel, owner and zoning facts. PermitDesk reads it and does not overwrite it.
- Open the record header to read type, status, parcel, applicant and next step, then open the tabs for details, contacts, documents, fees, workflow, inspections and history.
- Open a parcel to see owner, zoning, GIS link and every record, inspection, case and document tied to that parcel.
- Every status change writes a history entry and tells the applicant what to do next.
- Only portal-visible statuses and fields appear in public search. Internal notes never appear.
A staff queue shows overdue items first, then due today, with the record, step and due date on each row.
How staff change types, fees and workflows themselves
Town staff build permit types, forms, fees, workflows, checklists, templates and roles without asking the vendor to write code. A setup checklist tracks town profile, departments, users, first permit type, fees, workflow, templates, portal text and a test record before publishing.
Copy a type to start
Copy a similar permit type so its fields, documents, fees and workflow come with it. Set the name, category, portal alias, duration target, required documents, fee schedule and custom fields.
Build the steps in order
Add review steps in order, set the owner role and due days, and build inspection checklists per type. Preview letters, notices and standard comments on a test record.
Test a record, then publish
Run a test record through intake, fees, review, inspection and issue. A town cannot publish the portal until at least one type, one workflow, one fee schedule and one notification template are active.
- Changing a type, fee or workflow applies to new records. Records already submitted keep the version they started with.
- Retiring a type, fee or template keeps it readable on old records and stops new use only.
- Every configuration change is logged with user and time and needs an administrator role.
See it with your permit types and your fees
Ask for a demo and tell us which permit types, inspections or portal tasks you want to see first.