Expeditors, Excel, or Software? The Best Way to Track Permits and Get Faster Approvals

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You’re permitting dozens of projects across the country and trying to keep timelines and budgets on track. It’s a lot to juggle.

Maybe you’ve stitched together different permitting approaches in the past: a team of architects, general contractors, and expeditors all working together to secure permits. But inevitably, project timelines slip, updates get buried in email threads, and no one can tell you an exact date to expect approvals.

When you’re building across jurisdictions, relying on manual tools like email and spreadsheets, and juggling local expeditors is complex and hard to manage.

And when a single day of delay can cost thousands of dollars, the method you choose matters.

This guide outlines the most common permitting approaches, why traditional methods break, and the modern alternatives project teams use to secure approvals quickly and reliably.

How traditional approaches work…and where they break

Hiring local expeditors

A permit expeditor is a local consultant who helps package and submit permits, communicates with the city, and pushes projects through review. They can be effective for a single project in one jurisdiction, especially when you need local relationships.

But expeditors are transactional by nature. Each city requires a different consultant, meaning project teams can end up managing dozens of vendors with inconsistent quality. Expeditors don’t provide portfolio-level visibility, forecasting, or accountability—so while they may move one permit forward, they don’t solve permitting at scale.

Read more: Do I Need a Permit Expeditor? What to Know and How Pulley Compares

Delegating to your architects

Architects of record (AORs) play a critical role in getting projects permitted—their drawings and design decisions set the foundation for approvals. In fact, good design is often the first step toward faster permits.

But architects aren’t hired to monitor city portals, chase down comment letters, or manage re-submittals. Their time is best spent on design, coordination, and ensuring plans meet code requirements. When permitting logistics fall to them, it pulls focus away from their core expertise.

Maintaining internal trackers

Spreadsheets, email folders, or project management tools like Box or Monday are the default “permit trackers” for many teams. But what you get is only as good as what you put in. Project statuses require manual updates, important documents get buried in threads, and weekly meetings become status reports instead of decision-making sessions.

Internal trackers also don’t connect to city systems. There’s no automation, forecasting, or real-time updates. At best, they create a historical record. At worst, they add to the confusion and workload.

Managing a team of teams

Most project managers end up combining all of the above: architects, expeditors, general contractors, and internal spreadsheets. Each stakeholder owns a slice of the work, but no one is accountable for the overall outcome. What works for a single market quickly breaks when you’re scaling 10, 20, or 100+ projects across the country.

Every jurisdiction has its own quirks, so outsourcing piecemeal to local vendors may work at first. But without a repeatable, centralized system, you’re left managing a fragmented network of people and tools.

Signs you’ve outgrown traditional methods

How do you know if your current approach isn’t working anymore? Look for these signs:

• You’re juggling too many expeditors and consultants.
• Approval dates keep slipping with no clear reason.
• You can’t forecast permitting timelines reliably.
• Projects get rejected or stuck in re-submittals.
• Permit updates are scattered across emails, trackers, and meetings.
• You’re spending more on expeditors than you expected.

If these sound familiar, it’s time to look at a more scalable approach.

How Pulley Helps You Break Ground Faster

Pulley is a modern permitting platform that combines real, local experts with purpose-built software. We help project teams break ground faster and achieve approvals 50% faster.

Instead of juggling expeditors, architects, and spreadsheets, Pulley gives you a single system for permitting across every jurisdiction.

What You Get with Pulley:

• Centralized permitting platform: Prepare, submit, forecast, and track every permit in one dashboard.
• Real-time updates and forecasting: Direct integrations with 19,000+ city portals give you live status visibility, automated comment parsing, and predictive approval dates.
• Expert team support: Our in-house team of architects and engineers manage the permitting process end-to-end, collaborating with stakeholders and handling city follow-up.
• Accuracy that reduces re-submittals: Pulley identifies permit requirements with 98% accuracy, achieving approvals within one round of comments or fewer 95% of the time.
• Portfolio-wide consistency: National coverage paired with local expertise ensures the same quality outcome across every project.
• Integration with your workflows: Pulley connects with tools like Procore so permitting data is part of your broader project management process.

Is Pulley right for you?

Building across different markets is hard. Permitting dozens or hundreds of projects across the country gets complicated fast. To scale, you need a repeatable, predictable system.

That’s why Pulley is trusted by leading project teams nationwide. You can expect the same quality wherever you build, backed by a hands-on team and a platform built for permitting.

Want to see if Pulley is the right fit for you? Let’s chat.

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