How JLL Escaped the Permitting Black Hole: “Pulley Gives Me Peace of Mind”

See how JLL traded endless follow-ups and uncertainty for a more transparent, proactive approach to getting projects across the finish line with Pulley.

Impact at a Glance

• Zero city comments on JLL's first project with Pulley
• Real-time visibility into permitting progress for JLL and its clients
• Greater confidence in project timelines without chasing down status updates After more than a decade managing construction projects in Austin, Amelia Stuerzenberger, a Vice President at JLL's Austin office, had seen firsthand how unpredictable permitting could be. One particularly memorable experience involved delivering a hard set of plans to a permit expediter's home office, where they were left outside to await pickup.

"There are just 40 rolled-up sets of documents, literally sitting on this person's porch. I hope it doesn't rain!"

While the rest of the construction industry was finding new ways to work, permitting often remained stuck in the past. Even as more processes moved online, project teams still relied on scattered emails, spreadsheets, PDFs, and phone calls to piece together where their permits stood.

For JLL, a global real estate services firm responsible for managing construction projects on behalf of its clients, that uncertainty had real consequences. A delayed permit could push back construction, disrupt a tenant's move-in schedule, or leave a client paying rent on a space they couldn't yet occupy.

And when clients wanted an update? Getting a straight answer wasn't always easy. Amelia knew there had to be a better way.

A Better Way to Stay One Step Ahead

"I'm against sticking to old habits or processes just because it's how people have always done something. Why can't we do it better?"

That mindset led Amelia to Pulley. Pulley combined a centralized permitting platform with local experts who understood Austin's requirements and could help navigate the city's review process.

Instead of relying on disconnected emails and individual expediters for updates, Amelia could manage permitting tasks, track progress, and see where things stood in one place.

On her first project with Pulley, the difference was immediate.

After answering a few initial questions, Amelia received a detailed permitting plan within 24 hours. The plan outlined the project's requirements, necessary drawings, and next steps, with tasks assigned to the appropriate stakeholders, including the architect.

As the design team completed its work, Amelia could follow along. Once the documents were ready, Pulley handled the submission and made city review statuses visible in the platform.

For the first time, permitting didn't have to feel like a guessing game.

Giving Clients a Front-Row Seat to Permitting

Amelia put Pulley to work on an office fit-out for a video game development studio in Austin.

The client wanted to be involved in every step of the process. Rather than spending her time relaying updates or chasing down answers, Amelia could invite him directly into Pulley.

From the moment the architect released the drawings to the day the general contractor picked up the permit, the client could follow the process: tracking submissions, monitoring city reviews, and seeing how the team responded to comments.

That level of transparency changed how Amelia could manage expectations. Instead of calling an expediter to find out what was happening, she could open Pulley and see the latest status herself. If a client had a question, she had the information at her fingertips.

And with tasks and responsibilities visible to everyone involved, it was easier to keep the project moving without constant follow-ups.

For a project manager whose job is to deliver great spaces while protecting her clients' budgets and timelines, that confidence made a meaningful difference.

Fewer Surprises and More Peace of Mind

On JLL's first project with Pulley, the team received zero comments from the city during review — a remarkable outcome compared with Amelia's previous experiences.

She recalled another project, before Pulley, where incomplete drawings led to dozens of city comments. When the team resubmitted without addressing every question, it triggered another review cycle, adding approximately $2,000 in city fees and six weeks to the project.

For Amelia, those kinds of avoidable setbacks illustrated why getting permitting right from the beginning mattered so much.

"It's a tangible return. With Pulley, we don't face the issue of unanswered or partially answered comments. We aren't missing requirements. Added rounds of comments and review are just time and money."

But the biggest difference wasn't necessarily measured in dollars or days.

It was the ability to trust that things were moving forward, without having to personally chase every detail.

Amelia found Pulley's local permitting experts especially valuable because they weren't simply waiting for instructions. They were proactively identifying next steps and keeping work moving. "With Pulley's local experts, they are always two steps ahead of us."

And that meant Amelia could focus more of her attention on what mattered most: her clients and their projects.

As she puts it:

"I just leave the Pulley tab open in my browser, and I can go in and see exactly who has done what. I can see where everything stands in real-time. I'm not thinking in the middle of the night, 'Oh, did the MEPs get the documents submitted when they said they would?' Pulley gives me peace of mind and provides visibility on something everyone in the industry has been trained to accept is just a black hole."

Leaving the Permitting Black Hole Behind

Following that first successful project, Amelia and the JLL Austin team went on to partner with Pulley on a range of commercial projects, including offices for a high-frequency trading company and a fertility clinic.

Across different project types and client needs, the value remained the same: greater clarity, better coordination, and fewer unknowns in a process that had traditionally been anything but predictable.

For Amelia, the biggest change wasn't simply having a new piece of software. It was having a more proactive, transparent way to manage one of the most uncertain parts of construction.

And a little more peace of mind along the way.