Stop 6 of 8 · Weekly

The permit package

The submittal checklist for the jurisdiction, the cover letter that tells the plan checker what they are holding, and the response that closes plan-check comments in one round.

What a submittal is

Every jurisdiction publishes a list, every list is different, and the one thing they agree on is that an incomplete package waits in a queue and a complete one gets a reviewer. Nadine's studio submits to six jurisdictions, so the studio has six checklists, and the failure is never the drawings. It is a missing consultant letter, an out of date form, or a deferred submittal nobody flagged.

Claude is good at three parts of this. Reconciling your set against the jurisdiction's published checklist. Writing the cover letter. Turning a page of plan-check comments into a matrix that says which sheet answers what.

The package, in order

1. The jurisdiction's application forms, current version, downloaded this month.
2. The drawing set, numbered, with the sheet index matching what is actually in it.
3. The specifications and schedules.
4. Consultant documents: structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, energy.
5. Deferred submittals, listed and named as deferred.
6. The cover letter.

Here is the submittal checklist I downloaded from [jurisdiction] and here is my sheet index and document list. [attach both]

Go item by item down their checklist. For each one, say which of my documents satisfies it, or say missing. Do not assume a document covers an item because its title sounds right. End with two lists: items I have nothing for, and items where the checklist is ambiguous enough that I should call the counter before submitting.

Write the cover letter for this submittal in my studio voice. One page. Say what the project is in two sentences, name the jurisdiction and the application number if I gave you one, state the scope of work, list the documents enclosed by title and sheet count, list the deferred submittals as deferred, name the consultants and their disciplines, and give one contact for questions. No design language, no fee, no schedule promises. Word document.

Here are the plan-check comments and my current set. [attach the comment letter and the set]

Build the response matrix as a table: comment number, the comment in your own words in one line, the sheet and detail where the answer is or should be, what has to change, and who does it, drafter, consultant or me. Where the comment appears to be wrong, do not argue. Write the section I would need to rely on and leave the response text blank for me.

After the resubmittal

Keep the matrix. The second round of comments on the next job in that jurisdiction is usually the same three items, and a studio that reads its own matrices stops getting them. Once a quarter, ask Claude to read every matrix from the last three jobs and tell you the comment that keeps coming back. That is a line in the studio standards, not a lesson to relearn.

Mark stop 6 done