Builders press county over permit delays; SafeBuilt pitches outside plan-review and audit services

Local builders and a retired local administrator told the Teton County Board of County Commissioners on March 10 they are facing long permit and inspection delays, inconsistent code interpretation and frequent rework that is disrupting construction schedules and adding cost.

Why it matters: Builders said delays push projects out of seasonal construction windows and can cost contractors, homeowners and local subcontractors months of lost work. County staff described steps already under way and vendors proposed outside services to augment plan review and inspections.

What speakers told the board - Troy Boots, retired city manager and local resident, said a backyard ground-mounted solar permit submitted in December took “two and a half months” to issue and asked the board to consider outside plan-review vendors to speed turnaround. He told the board, “It took two and a half months to get a solar permit approval for a ground-mounted backyard solar panel for my Tesla Powerwall.” - Several builders — including Dustin Hume (Elkridge Builders), Scott Burnside (Basin Building Company), Joshua Silva (BeaverDict Builders) and Heath Stewart (Basin Company) — described recurring experiences of protracted permit timelines, inspectors enforcing what they called stricter or interpretive requirements not tied to specific code language, and inconsistent inspection reports. Builders said delays sometimes exceed available construction seasons and create cash-flow and insurance problems for homeowners. - Builders urged the county to consider augmenting staff with a third-party plan-review service or an audit of permitting workflow; multiple speakers described outside plan-review firms they have used in other jurisdictions.

County response and vendor pitch - Wendy Cook, Teton County building official, said permit numbers and inspection volumes are similar to last year but acknowledged staffing pressure in a busy pre‑season period. Cook described ongoing outreach and training: one permit technician recently earned an International Code Council certification and staff are encouraging pre‑application meetings to reduce incomplete submittals. - SafeBuilt presenters Charity Campfield (business development) and Dave Spencer (director of operations, Pacific Northwest) described services the company offers to jurisdictions experiencing high permit volumes: remote and local plan review, on-call building official services, third-party plan-review arrangements paid for by developers, remote inspections and multi-week building-department audits. David Spencer said SafeBuilt can provide a contractual turnaround time guarantee for plan reviews and offer an independent “third-party” review product where the applicant pays SafeBuilt directly for expedited review and then presents the stamped plans to the county for permitting. - SafeBuilt proposed a three-phase department audit (assessment, recommendations and implementation) and estimated the audit cost for phases 1–3 at $65,000–$75,000 and an additional $10,000 for on‑site implementation help. Company representatives said they would perform periodic quality checks and suggested an initial weekly check-in during onboarding.

What the building department said it has done - Cook said staff log 269 inspections for the January–February quarter and have expanded pre-application meetings and technician certification efforts to reduce resubmittals. She also said certain new product acceptances reflect state-level code adoption: jurisdictions may be more restrictive than prior practice but must follow adopted state codes and documented local amendments.

Ending Commissioners asked staff to continue exploring short-term and medium-term fixes: clearer submittal checklists and pre-application options, an audit of process bottlenecks, and a vendor trial for plan review or inspection coverage. Commissioners signaled willingness to pursue a work session on permitting bottlenecks and to consider SafeBuilt’s audit proposal as a near-term diagnostic step.