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Delavan builder starts permit site

DELAVAN — After 15 years in the construction business and five years as a building inspector, Audrey Boss knows what a hassle it can be to track down building permits and other paperwork.

She and her husband, Fred Boss, are trying to make the job easier for Walworth County residents.

The pair has launched the Web site permitpath.com.

The service is free to the public and to municipalities.

Site users can start by clicking on the municipality in which they live or want to build. They then are given options such as “building permits,” “zoning permits,” “local codes,” or “Do I need a permit?”

As an example, if a person clicked on “local codes” for the town of La Grange, the user would find codes for both the town and Walworth County.

If residents are looking for permits, they can find the appropriate copies, fill them in, print them out and take them to the appropriate municipality for filing.

“It’s a great time saver for people,” Boss said.

She came up with the idea after being on both sides of the permit business—requesting permits as a developer and pulling permits as a housing inspector, she said.

The process can be confusing because of the inconsistencies between municipal codes and the way the information is catalogued.

For example, some municipalities make the information available online. Others don’t do so or don’t even have Web sites, Boss said.

The Permit Path Web site has basic information such as the name of the building inspector and his or her office hours, Boss said. While that seems like a no-brainer, it can be surprisingly hard to find that information, she said.

“It seems so obvious, but I struggled to find some of the information, and I’m a building inspector,” Boss said. “Imagine how hard it would be if you didn’t have that background.”

Boss started with information about Walworth County municipalities’ permits and ordinances. Once the site gets rolling, she plans to expand east to Kenosha, Racine and Waukesha counties, she said.

Future expansion could include Rock County, she said.