“Hyper-efficient permitting sets you apart from other contractors you are bidding against,” Anthony Perera said, “but our upcoming Permit Hub integration into Service Titan promises to take this up a notch as we near 50,000 completed inspections.”
The partnership with Service Titan, which services nearly 12,000 businesses, makes contractor crews faster and more agile. “So the second that permit gets issued,” said Mr. Perera, “we’re on it. We tag into Titan, ping the production manager, and it’s go-time. Trucks roll out, and jobs get scheduled.”
The integration, part of the Inspected workflow engine, is poised to impact a vast customer base, revolutionizing the industry’s inspection and permit management approach.
Mr Perera founded Inspected, a virtual permitting solution, and Air Pros, one of America’s fastest-growing HVAC startups.
He understands the importance of efficiency, particularly in labor.
“I’m paying my guys 6-7 hours minimum; roughly $15-20 per hour; and we’re sitting there at the job site only because if something happens, I don’t want to waste another week,” underscoring the financial burden of inefficient scheduling and the potential lost opportunity for additional jobs due to waiting on inspections.
– Anthony Perea, CEO, Inspected
Sectors like HVAC involve a high volume of installations paired with a bottleneck at the inspection stage. “We’re doing 50-60 installs – then we’d have to go back to Ms. Smith’s home after we installed the job for the inspection,” he said. This adds to a swamp of logistical challenges that burdens contractors, especially during peak season.
Once the installation team finishes their job, they must coordinate with city inspectors to validate the work, which often disrupts the workflow: “We’re done. You’re cool, and it’s fantastic. But now we’ve got to meet Bob, the city inspector.
“Now we’re just building up this backlog of inspections,” he says. This often spurs many contractors to avoid pulling permits to sidestep the administrative pile-up, something rarely discussed. This points to a widespread practice that could have legal and safety implications, highlighting a reluctance to engage with regulatory processes due to inefficiency.
Tracking these messy workflows over long periods becomes a challenge for experienced teams, never mind newbies. “Most of us, even today, operate much of our permit management on a Google spreadsheet or Excel sheet.”
By moving away from such outdated practices, the integration aims to modernize the workflow for contractors.
Now, with Permit Hub, contractors get the verdict instantaneously on an inspection to set the wheels in motion for the next steps. “Passed or failed. Contractors need it right back. And, they need it exactly right.”
Document automation is a central theme, with the technology poised to reduce the administrative burden significantly.
“The document engine we created – and use internally – is now being shared with the world,” he says, delivering a tried-and-tested system within Inspected that’s now scalable and accessible to a broader audience through Service Titan.
Our ability to automate all the required documents in that job’s life cycle makes Inspected extremely powerful,” he said.
Service Titan consolidates customer data and job details, providing a centralized information hub. He emphasizes the benefits: “You get notified of a job being sold, permits required, and documents are already being populated.”
The system goes further, generating reports that can dictate the flow of work for technicians in the field. “This could influence how the issuance of permits prompts the production manager to advance job scheduling.”
Remote notarization via Permit Hub is another innovative step, enabling documents to be notarized right in the customer’s home. “Now the sales guy inside a home can receive completely filled out documents with remote notary service on the iPad.”
Compliance is never compromised throughout this process, as Permit Hub ensures all documents adhere to local regulations. Service Titan with Permit Hub keeps a historical record of all permit-related actions and updates, marking the job’s completion and maintaining a trail for future reference.
Now, every facet of the job—status, property owner, account manager, notary requirements—is systematically organized and updated in real-time inside a digital ecosystem where precision meets accountability.
“I’m excited to see where we go next: 2024 will be our breakout year in helping contractors make their home services business exponentially more efficient,” Mr Perera said.