Transforming Government Inspections: The Village of Pemberton’s Digital Journey and Lessons Learned

Featuring the Village of Pemberton’s Building & Planning Clerk, Nikki Segovia

On April 12, 2023, the Village of Pemberton’s Building & Planning Clerk, Nikki Segovia, joined our webinar Transforming Government Inspections: The Village of Pemberton’s Digital Journey and Lessons Learned, to share her perspective on how Cloudpermit has transformed building inspections in her community. She was also joined by three members of Cloudpermit’s team: Country Director for Canada, Aubrey LeBlanc, Product Manager, Leslie Wright, and Implementation Specialist, Shak Gobért. They shared their expertise on how Cloudpermit improves building inspections for local governments, led attendees through a software demo, and hosted a Q&A session.

Please find a summary of the webinar, key questions, and information below. Fill out your information to watch the full webinar to see how our software can make your inspections more efficient.

About Cloudpermit

• Cloudpermit is a SaaS (software-as-a-service) company that provides local governments with cloud-based software solutions for community development
• Experienced and talented staff in the GovTech space
• Partners with hundreds of Canadian local governments
• Made with local governments and designed to work with your building code
• User-friendly software for front-end and back-end – all users benefit

Key Benefits to Cloudpermit

• Accept, review, and issue building permits
• Schedule building inspections
• Conduct remote inspections and inspections in the field
• Dispatch and manage multiple inspectors/inspections
• Use maps integrated with GIS to find locations and plan routes
• Change and modify workflows
• Enable online and over-the-counter payments

Background on the Village of Pemberton

• Beautiful community in British Columbia of just under 4K residents
• Started using Cloudpermit in the spring of 2021
• Half of building inspection requests come in online
• Two remote building inspectors have been hired since the switch
• Pemberton’s building community was onboard
• Cloudpermit’s support team has implemented requested features

Can you talk about your experience with Cloudpermit and being online?

Segovia explained that in the last two years, Cloudpermit has modernized Pemberton’s entire building permit process:

Our department has definitely experienced a lot more efficiency in our building processes and inspections, as well as plan review.”

She added Pemberton has been able to work with two remote building inspectors based in other B.C. communities because Cloudpermit is online.

What’s your favourite Cloudpermit feature?

Pemberton’s Building & Planning Clerk cited Cloudpermit’s Internal Note System as one of her favourite features, though it was hard to pick just a few.

The Internal Note System allows you to write anything on the application so that everyone on your team internally can see it," she explained. "In the event of a section 2.19 flood covenant being required to be registered prior to permit issuance, staff can add notes for each other to view."

Segovia also shared three other top features: Cloudpermit’s messaging function that serves as a “live chat system”, remote inspections capability, and forcing applicants to fulfill all requirements before they can submit their applications.

How is your public enjoying Cloudpermit?

Gobért asked Segovia to share her perspective on how Pemberton’s community is enjoying Cloudpermit, and she shared that approximately 90% of their client base is satisfied.

How have your building inspections changed since making the switch?

Cloudpermit has made booking inspections easier since applicants have the option to schedule inspections online, instead of needing to send an email or make a phone call.

We hired two remote building inspectors, and we wouldn’t have been able to do that without Cloudpermit,” Segovia shared. “...depending on the results, an inspection report is generated, and that can be seen by both the client and the municipality. Those reports are downloadable, and they have all the information. If there are outstanding items that the applicant needs to complete, then those come up as a list which is really useful as well.”

How was your building community involved?

The Village of Pemberton is a small community and works with a lot of local builders. Segovia shared that it was important to involve their building community in the transition to Cloudpermit. They hosted an online luncheon to explain how the software works, gave a demo, and posted the demo on their website so people could refer to the demo in case they missed it. Paper applications were still accepted and were converted into digital format for Cloudpermit.

My primary goal was to make the application process easier for homeowners and builders, so they didn’t have to come into the office to submit paperwork or have to come into the office to pay it if they didn’t need to since you can pay online,” Segovia explained. “I think it’s made the process easier for everyone as a result.”

How has your experience been with the Cloudpermit team?

Gobért asked Segovia to share her experience with the Cloudpermit team, and she shared that it has been amazing.

Segovia suggested the Internal Notes section so she could jot down notes on an application, and a month later, Cloudpermit rolled out the feature for use.

It’s been nice to know that the company I’m working with is really receptive to feedback.”