Dive Brief:

• Architects, contractors and builders in Phoenix can save time and gas now, as they no longer have to drive to city offices to file their building applications and copies of the plans.
• The city has begun accepting electronic filings and, after staff has calculated the applicable fees, electronic payments.
• Less paper does not mean less time, because plans still get all the same reviews for code compliance and other requirements, but revisions do not mean printing another entire set of plans.

Dive Insight:

Phoenix's decision to join New York and other cities that accept electronic filings for building permits is not good news for businesses that serviced the industry by printing sets of plans, but they are better for architects and engineers and contractors who do not have to drive to city offices to submit. Rolls of plans were sometimes even hauled in carts and costs as much as $500 per each printing. The city spent $600,000 on the plan-review software and ran a test with a group of professionals before opening it to everyone last month. Phoenix will still take plans the old-fashioned way, however.