Ryan Arcand knows all about the benefits of bringing municipal building processes online.
He had used other local government software by the time he joined the County of Prince Edward as its Chief Building Official in November 2024.
But it was his first time using Cloudpermit to streamline building permitting and inspections.
The user interface was really straightforward, and the customer application process was very straightforward,” he says. “Compared to other municipalities where I've been, where the permit application can be a little convoluted and sometimes not very intuitive, I found that this program was so much easier that way and more user-friendly.”
The Benefits of Finding the Right Platform
In many ways, the little differences of how a municipality uses digital tools for building can add up to a big impact.
Arcand says there are software features that can make things easier, like being able to drag-and-drop documents to upload them — something that not all local government platforms can do. He's also found it useful to be able to select the type of comment he's leaving, whether it's just a remark or an actual deficiency.
We can carry inspections forward and then make sure that those items are resolved,” he says. “It really keeps a nice, clean track of outstanding deficiencies in a project.”
The County's software offers a straightforward workflow, integration with mapping, and helpful inspection scheduling tools that streamline how the department works.
Assigning the inspections — and the way that it handles the inspections and the distribution of inspections — I really liked that. And I like the way that it separates the permit and inspection sides of things,” Arcand says.
For staff, additional documents or resubmissions are easy now, not difficult like with other programs he had used.
The software has a Bluebeam integration, allowing staff to boost efficiency with plan reviews.
We can easily mark up drawings and we can send drawings back and forth,” he says. “It's definitely increased our efficiency and our ability to review permits quicker.”
Software has also helped the County's building department significantly reduce its paper use and lower its carbon footprint.
Making Things Easier for Citizens
But all of these benefits wouldn't help residents much if software is confusing or too complicated to use.
If they get frustrated within the first five minutes, that's it — they won't even get off the first page,” Arcand says. “They'll just come into the office, call or complain, or something, or they'll just do the work without the permit if it's too difficult for them.”
- Ryan Arcand, Chief Building Official for Prince Edward County
Digital workflows have simplified things for Prince Edward County residents as they have more access to services and can even message their inspector right through the platform.
I like the way that our customers can log on, request their inspections, and do everything digitally all through the system,” he says. “A lot of the programs we used before, they didn't have that feature where you can send a message directly to the inspector that way.”
Intentionally choosing an intuitive online process has helped the County achieve more streamlined permitting. Now, about 90 percent of applications are submitted online.
New Technology, New Possibilities
Software continues to evolve, and Prince Edward County has gained new features — like an AI-powered support assistant that enables staff and citizens to ask questions and get instant answers 24/7.
The assistant can also incorporate municipal details, such as local by-laws or permit information guidelines, to be even more helpful.
That would decrease the amount of time that we'll have to be on the phone or send redundant emails,” he says. “It'll increase our productivity and allow us to concentrate on working on the actual core duties.”
Arcand says it's important for community development software to keep up with the latest technological possibilities, and he's seen more features and improvements become available that are making a real difference in the County.
Cloudpermit recently rolled out a new feature, Inspector AI, that makes it possible for municipal staff to search applicable building codes directly in the online platform.
Another recent addition to the software is a comprehensive centralized property database that makes it easier to get real-time information.
More Ways to Help Building Departments
Ultimately, Arcand says the true potential of building software comes down to its power to give communities more ways to simplify, speed up, and streamline work while improving accessibility and service to citizens.
Anything that we do now that we have to remember, I'd like it to be automated, and I think Cloudpermit is working toward that,” he says. “I want to take the human error out of it as best we can.”
Cloudpermit Makes All the Difference for Ontario Municipalities
Choosing Cloudpermit has helped Prince Edward County's staff get more done and made things easier for the citizens they serve.
See how our software can help your municipal teams by booking a demo with us today.
This article was originally published in the Ontario Building Officials Association’s Journal issue 150.
