Anyone Using Digital Submissions In Your City?

[HumbleChief]

City of San Diego has just changed their submittal process to digital and it seems like there's a few land mines waiting to happen and so far I have not done a digital submission so don't have any experience. Anyone out there submitting digitally? Upsides? Downsides?

 

Thanks

[DRAWZILLA]

Orange county, California does all digital submittals now, good thing is it saves you a ton of  travel time, bad thing it takes longer to check but a lot of time is saved, they even put their marks on the PDF and send it back to you. They even digitally stamp the final set, this also saves you lots of money printing.

[Kiwideziner]

We have been doing digital submissions for several years here in NZ. The biggest down side is you loose contact with the plan checkers and they become keyboard warriors, and wont talk on the phone. With lodgement I find you have to take longer to ensure that all files have actually been uploaded. With different systems for different authorities it can be confusing, but at least you don't have to make an appointment then travel to their office. So overall it seems easier and you can lodge at any time of the day or night.

[CAmichael240114]

As Kiwideziner states we have been submitting building consent applications (building permits) in NZ electronically for years now.

All plan requirements and application information should be included and correct at time of submission.

The key is to get your "own application system" setup correctly, this makes the process efficient, time saving and cost effective. 

I wouldn't want to go back to the old paper way. 

[lbuttery]

I was saying almost 15 years ago that eventually all submissions would be digital

 

As a former Realtor I also see a day when a house buyer can get a digital plan 

just like they can get a survey now

 

that way if the buyer wants to do renovations in the future they have the plan to start with

 

Lew

 

[Douglas49]

Comment from another Kiwi - there have been no downsides for us.

The biggest positives for us are being able to lodge applications anytime day or night, and also being able to easily distribute digital copies of the approved plans.

A number of trade suppliers and sub trades are now requesting Council stamped copies of the approved drawings to work from - real easy now

[mattyt12]

1 hour ago, Kiwideziner said:

 The biggest down side is you loose contact with the plan checkers and they become keyboard warriors, and wont talk on the phone. 

We've had that problem irrespective of the submission type, in person you only get to deal with a duty planner not the assessing one and you never get direct contact info so they are almost like ghosts with a extremely slow turn around.

[javatom]

Digital submissions are quite common now.  The only downside is that you have to be aware of your file size getting to big.  Some cities have limitations on the size it can load.

[joey_martin]

Just did a digital submission to the City of Indianapolis, no issues with the submitting part, the reviewer on the other hand!!!

 

My commercial projects with the State of Indiana have been digital for many years, also no issues.

 

My local office (small town) likes to have the plans emailed as well, no issues.