Bradi Frei

The Why?

I’m sure you are asking yourself, “why is this software different from all the rest?” I’ll tell you why… this software was built BY YOU. Ok, not really, but in a way, it was.

Hi, my name is Bradi and I have worked in a building department for over 8 years. Back when I started my career (in 2002), permit fees were calculated on a 10-key calculator (TWICE for accuracy) and processed by hand.

Jump forward 15+ years later and guess what? Things haven’t changed very much.

<-- Rewind

Let’s start from the beginning.

When I started working in the building department back in 2002, I watched as our building official punched that 10-key over and over to price a permit. I saw him flip pages in the valuation charts to determine the cost of a permit and it took forever. I said to him one day, “why don’t you let me build you a spreadsheet that will price it for you”. I built many spreadsheets to track permits, pricing and data… And thus, our story beings.

Fast Forward –>

Ten years later I am back to work in the same building department and much to my surprise? Still not much has changed. They are still using my same spreadsheets I built so long ago and manually writing out inspection cards. Now granted, back in 2002, the inspections were minimal and it wasn’t too bad writing out a couple inspection cards for the day [by hand] and with minimal permits being issued, tracking wasn’t a huge issue.

But move forward to 2013, a growing market and construction picking up, and it’s a different story. I had constant calls from contractors asking if their inspections had been completed. I didn’t know? How would I? The inspection report was either in the inspector’s truck or stuck to a window hopelessly hanging-on for dear life. Who knows if it was to ever be seen again? Most of the time the reports would make it back to the office; to be tucked away in some file, only to be constantly retrieved for re-inspections and corrections. I swear I wore a path in the carpet walking to that drawer of permits 50 times a day. Next, I would schedule a final inspection only to realize the insulation inspection hadn’t been completed, or worse… it failed inspection and missed the re-inspect. Now What? Tear down walls? The task of keeping everything organized and in order was daunting. My workflow for the building department was overwhelming. It was really hard to track, maintain, issue and sustain a streamlined building department. I decided things had to change… just like they did so long ago. We needed a new streamlined process for inspections and permitting.

The Beginning Stages

At first, I started with another excel spreadsheet. It was tracking passed/failed dates and that was working okay. But I soon realized, I should take it another step further. I began to create fillable PDF’s to email to my inspectors. Yay! We were somewhat mobile. That is a start. However, my spreadsheet was complex. It had 11 tabs with data going between all tabs to create new inspection cards with pass/fail dates right on the card. Progress right? Well, it was… for a little bit. But I was the only one who could run it. What happened on a sick day? That won’t work. That wasn’t efficient enough. What good is technology if nobody can run it? It soon became apparent that it was still too long of a process to take data from the field and still have to manually input into a spreadsheet. How is that saving time? We are all busy, we all wear multiple hats, I needed a solution that would streamline my inspector’s job… and my own. However, with the resources available in this spreadsheet, this is all I could do. Who has time for all that data entry? I knew there had to be a better way… That is when I decided to create my own software. A cloud based, mobile ready solution that does all this work for you… and thus, City Inspect was created. My own software. My own solution.

I started by hiring programmers to work at night because that is when I could work too. We worked all hours of the night to create a streamlined solution that would solve the issues ALL building departments deal with on a daily basis. It was my time, it was my money… and it was worth it. I spent my time focusing on what the building department needs most. Online plan submittal. Plan Review. Scheduling. Document tracking. Instant notifications. Document tracking. Missed inspections. Permitting. Certificates. Fees. I went through countless designs, building and rebuilding it to be exactly right. I knew what it needed to do.

Today

It has been almost four years now working with our customers, taking their suggestions and knowledge in the building department, as well as my own 8 years experience to create the best solution for you and your department. This system has continued to grow; we add new features almost weekly and we work to continually improve the processes of the building department. No suggestion is ignored. What makes it better for you, makes it better for the rest of us too.

I once had an inspector tell me that his City purchased ‘other’ software for a half million dollars… but in his very next breath he said, “but the building department is the zit on the elephants butt. Pardon my language but it’s the truth.” Nothing had been built for the building department… nothing until now.

Give us a chance to show you what this system can do for you… in YOUR department. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Call me anytime and let’s discuss your department needs. This system was built for YOU… and me too… I promise, you won’t be disappointed!

Just one more thing before I end my bio… Not only have we created the best, most streamlined processes for the building department… We have even grown to other departments such as public works, storm water, code enforcement, signs, outfalls and anything else you would ever need to inspect. All at no extra cost to your department or your City. We provide the best product for inspections for all your departments.

Call us, email us, contact us. You won’t regret it.

A demo with us is absolutely free. Let us show you how we can streamline your daily processes, what do you have to lose?