SMARTreview believes that providing architects with the proper tools allows the architect to focus on designing awesome buildings without having to worry too much about building code compliance. With the SMARTreview APR, the architect is able to easily design for building code compliance. However, the architect needs to be able to communicate the compliant design effectively to the Authority Having Jurisdication (usually a municipality). That is why we created the SMARTreview CPR (Certified Plan Review).
With SMARTreview CPR, the results of the Automated Plan Review are formatted into a report that can be submitted directly to an AHJ. The CPR provides an extremely detailed description of the compliance of the project with the International Building Code. At SMARTreview we believe:
Since part of our company DNA includes architects and municpal plans examiners, we know the challenges that face the interaction between architects and AHJs. We know that architects are under intense pressure to deliver a safe project to their owner in a timely manner. We know that AHJs (municipalities) face increasing backlogs in the permitting process. We realize that the current approach does not work efficiently. With the SMARTreview CPR, we believe that the backlogs and delays that currently plague the permitting process can be reduced significantly by addressing the following trouble areas:
To best illustrate the difference between the current approach and the approach advocated by SMARTreview, consider the following:
An owner engages an architectural firm to design a new building that is 10,000 square feet in size and hosts a business and a mercantile area.
The architect has a design that is believed to be compliant with the International Building Code. The architect writes information about the project into a simple compliance report. The architect submits the plans along with the simple compliance report to the Authority Having Jurisdiction.
The plans examiner for the AHJ looks at the simple compliance report and communicates with the architect to describe the deficiencies in the report content. The plans examiner puts the review on hold, waiting for additional information from the architect.
The architect scrambles to describe the requested information and is frustrated at the delays that are incurred. Upon submitting a revised compliance report, the review takes another 20 days to complete as the plans examiner has to bridge the gap between the information provided by the architect and the information required for the comprehensive permit review.
The architect uses the SMARTreview APR/CPR on the project and at the end of the design process, the architect clicks on a button to generate the SMARTreview CPR using the information from the BIM directly.
The SMARTreview CPR is generated quickly (usually in a few seconds) and describes in extreme detail the project's compliance with the International Building Code.
The architect submits the project's plans and the very detailed SMARTreview CPR to the AHJ. The plans examiner for the AHJ looks at the very detailed SMARTreview CPR and is able to quickly review the information and determine that the design can be permitted.