Where things stand
Current permit status and actions completed since the previous report.
HOW WE SAVE TIME · AN ADU CASE STUDY
Two ADUs.
The same street.
Different timelines.
Our Santa Clara County ADU project reached permit approval in three months—with zero deferred submittals. Behind that result was preparation, active coordination, and consistent follow-through.
See the work behind the result ↓
THE PROJECT SNAPSHOT
3 monthsOur project’s permit approval
ZeroDeferred submittals
7 monthsSimilar nearby ADU still in permitting*
*At the time of comparison, a similar ADU on the same street had been in permitting for seven months and had not yet completed the process. Project details and review requirements can differ.
THE SAME STREET DOESN’T MEAN THE SAME JOURNEY
A permit application needs
someone managing the process.
Two similar ADU projects. The same street in Santa Clara County. Our project reached approval in three months. According to the information provided for this case study, the neighboring project was still in permitting after seven months.
Those timelines don’t tell us everything about either project. Scope, site conditions, application completeness, and review requirements may differ. But the comparison makes one thing tangible: permitting time matters—and the work between submission and approval deserves focused attention.
PREPARATION BEFORE SUBMISSION
Start with the whole
package in mind.
For our ADU project, the anticipated approval process was six months or longer. We approached it as a coordinated project from the beginning, with attention to the plans, calculations, supporting documents, and other materials required for the application.
We helped keep the pieces visible: what was ready, what remained outstanding, who was responsible, and what depended on another team member’s input. The goal was a coordinated package and a team ready to respond when questions came back.
COORDINATION, NOT ANOTHER TO-DO LIST
We don’t just forward comments.
We coordinate the response.
Simply sending a correction notice to the owner leaves them to figure out what it means, who should respond, and how to bring the answers together. That is work we help take off their plate.
We review comments, identify questions needing clarification, and coordinate directly with the appropriate disciplines—architects, structural and civil engineers, energy consultants, builders, and other project professionals.
“Who needs to address this—and what do they need from the rest of the team?”
We track assignments, follow up on outstanding responses, and help coordinate changes affecting more than one discipline. The professionals remain responsible for their technical work. We actively manage the coordination around it.
FROM CORRECTIONS TO RESUBMITTAL
We draft the
comment-response letter.
We organize the team’s responses into a clear, item-by-item explanation of how each review comment has been addressed and where the corresponding revisions can be found in the plans or supporting documents.
The responsible professionals provide and confirm their technical responses. We help bring those responses, the letter, and revised materials together for resubmittal.
Less back-and-forth for the client.
Clients still make decisions and provide information when needed. They don’t have to become the daily messenger between the reviewing agency and the design and construction team.
For this ADU, hands-on coordination was part of keeping the application moving and the administrative burden off the owner.
EVERYONE WORKING FROM THE SAME UPDATE
Weekly progress reports.
A shared picture of the project.
We provide weekly progress reports to all participating parties, keeping the owner, design professionals, builder, and other project participants informed without making them chase separate updates.
What remains open
Outstanding comments and documents, with the party responsible for each next step.
What needs attention
Items needing a decision, clarification, coordination, or follow-up.
CONSISTENT, PURPOSEFUL FOLLOW-UP
The calendar keeps moving.
We help the application move, too.
A question comes back. Someone needs to interpret it. A professional prepares a response. That response may affect another part of the plans. Then the documents need to come together. The time between those steps can quietly grow without coordination.
We monitor status, identify unresolved questions, and contact the appropriate department or staff member with useful context. We cannot control the County’s queue or approval decisions. We help manage the team’s preparation, response coordination, and follow-through.
A MORE COMPLETE HANDOFF
Zero deferred submittals.
Fewer loose ends.
A deferred submittal leaves an approved portion of project documentation to be submitted and reviewed later. It can be appropriate, but it creates another item to prepare, coordinate, and close out.
For this ADU, the team addressed the required package without leaving deferred submittals for a later stage. That meant fewer outstanding documentation tasks to carry forward after permit approval.
WHAT THAT WORK TAKES OFF YOUR PLATE
Less chasing.
More time for your part.
Homeowners
Less administrative work, fewer loose ends, and clearer updates about what happens next.
Architects & consultants
Support tracking review comments, coordinating deliverables, and bringing responses together.
Builders
Clearer permit-status communication and fewer unresolved submittal items to track as the project moves forward.
Every project has its own requirements. This result is not a promise of a three-month approval for another ADU. Our approach carries forward: prepare thoroughly, monitor consistently, clarify questions, coordinate the right disciplines, and follow through.
LET’S GET YOUR NEXT STEPS ORGANIZED
You bring the project.
We help manage the process.
Planning an ADU or already responding to review comments? Tell us where your project stands.
Serving homeowners, architects, and builders throughout Santa Clara County and surrounding Bay Area cities.
Case-study timing and results are based on information provided by Permit Support Services. The six-plus-month figure is the anticipated timeline for this case, not a published County average. The neighboring project’s seven-month status reflects the information available at the time of comparison; its complete circumstances have not been independently reviewed. Projects are not identical, and individual results vary.