Every application in Permits2Go is created with its own unique email address. Give that address to the city portal, put it on the forms, copy it on your emails or forward city mail to it, and everything that arrives is read, classified and logged on the application: review comments become tracked items, inspection notices update the Inspections tab, everything else becomes a note, and a copy of every email is forwarded to you.
How permit correspondence gets managed today
A permit application generates a surprising amount of email: portal registration and verification messages, submission acknowledgements, fee notices, requests for information, comment letters, inspection bookings, and the replies to all of the above. Today all of it goes to whichever human address was typed into the portal or the form.
- Register on the portal with a personal or company address. Verification and notification emails go to that person, forever, whether or not they are still on the project.
- Correspond from the same inbox. City emails arrive mixed with everything else the person receives. Important ones are starred, forwarded, or missed.
- Forward to the team. The letter is forwarded to the designer, then to the engineer, then back. Three copies, three threads, one attachment nobody can find later.
- Reconstruct the history. When the owner asks what the city said in March, someone searches their mailbox. When that person leaves the firm, the history leaves with them.
- Re-key into the tracker. The status update in the email is typed into a spreadsheet, or it is not.
What the current process costs
| Failure mode | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Portal notification lands in a personal inbox | A request for information sits unread; the file is deemed abandoned or delayed |
| Comment letter attached to a forwarded email | The team works from different copies; the response misses a comment |
| Staff turnover | Correspondence history and portal access disappear with the person |
| No single record of what the city said | Owners are given answers from memory; disputes about deadlines |
| Email status never reaches the tracker | The dashboard says "under review" while the city is waiting on you |
Arash Shahi's Residential Builder column calls for applicants to be able to "track approvals across jurisdictions in one place." Correspondence is the part of tracking that most often escapes any system, because it arrives through the one channel every municipality shares: email to a person.
How the Dedicated Application Inbox works in Permits2Go
1. Every application has an address from the moment it exists
When an application is created it is assigned an email address of its own, built from the project address plus a unique code, at a domain dedicated to Permits2Go applications. The address is shown at the top of the application workspace, above the tabs, with a copy button, and it is copied on every email you send from the application. It is only visible to people who can already see the application, and the unique code means nobody can guess it from the street address alone.
2. Use it everywhere the city asks for an email
- Sign up for the municipal portal with it. Register the portal account using the application's address instead of your own. Verification and confirmation emails the portal sends (codes, sign-in and activation links, password resets, welcome messages) are recognised the moment they arrive and forwarded unchanged to the email address on your profile, so you complete the registration from your own inbox. The code and link are also kept in a note on the application. From then on, every portal notification for that file arrives on the file.
- Put it on the forms and in the portal contact fields so acknowledgements, fee notices and requests for information come to the application.
- Copy it on your own emails to the city, and ask the reviewer to reply all. The thread stays on the file.
- Forward anything that arrived elsewhere. A comment letter that landed in your personal inbox goes onto the application with one forward.
3. What happens when an email arrives
First, every email that reaches the application is forwarded, unchanged, to the email address on your profile, unless you were already on it (you sent it, or it was addressed or copied to you), so mail sent only to the application never goes unseen. Then the message is read and classified. If it carries review comments (in the body or as an attached letter or matrix), the comments are extracted into the Comments tab exactly as if you had uploaded the letter yourself, itemized by discipline and numbered within the review cycle. If it is an inspection notice, such as a booking confirmation, a result or a deficiency list, it is filed on the Inspections tab, updating the open visit it refers to rather than duplicating it, with the attached notice stored alongside. Everything else, including scheduling emails, fee notices, status updates and general questions, becomes a note on the Notes tab with the sender, subject, a short summary of what they want and any deadline, the names of the attachments and a line saying where the copy was forwarded. If a message cannot be classified, it still becomes a note; no email is silently dropped.
4. Replies come back to the file
Emails sent from the application (a question on a comment, a note shared with the client, a question to an inspector) carry the application's address, so replies are recognised as part of that thread and filed as notes rather than mistaken for new comments. The conversation with the city becomes a history anyone on the team can read, next to the call transcripts.
What you stay in control of
- You decide where to use the address; nothing changes about your existing mailbox.
- Anything filed automatically can be edited, pinned or removed like any other note or comment.
- Manual upload of comment letters is always available alongside the inbox.
- Each application's inbox accepts a sensible daily volume, so a runaway notification loop cannot bury the file.
The workflow after
| Step | Before | With a dedicated inbox |
|---|---|---|
| Portal registration | Personal address; notifications follow the person | Application address; verifications forwarded, notifications on the file |
| Comment letters | Forwarded around, re-typed | Extracted into tracked comments on arrival |
| Inspection notices | Re-typed into a log, if at all | Filed on the Inspections tab against the open visit |
| Everything else the city sends | Lost among other mail | Summarised as a note with the deadline called out |
| Mail addressed only to the application | Not possible | Forwarded to your profile email, unless you were already on it |
| Replies from reviewers | In whoever's inbox wrote last | On the application, in the thread |
| Handover between staff | History leaves with the person | History stays with the file |
None of this requires the municipality to change anything. It keeps sending email to an address; the address simply belongs to the application instead of to a person. That is what makes the dashboard trustworthy: the status on screen reflects what the city actually said, because what the city said is on the file.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sign up for a city portal with the application’s email address?
Yes. Register the portal account with the application’s address. Verification and confirmation emails are recognised as soon as they arrive and forwarded unchanged to the email address on your profile, so you can complete the sign-up from your own inbox, and the code and link are also kept in a note on the application. Portal notifications for that file then arrive on the application.
What happens to a review comment letter that arrives by email?
It is recognised as review comments and extracted into the Comments tab, itemized by discipline and numbered within the review cycle, exactly as if you had uploaded the letter yourself. The email is also recorded on the file with its sender, subject and attachment names.
Is the address safe to put on public forms?
The address combines the project address with a unique code, so it cannot be worked out from the street address alone, and it is only shown to people who can already open the application. Each inbox also accepts a limited daily volume, and every message is logged rather than acted on blindly.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Permit requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with your local building department before you design or build.
Industry figures cited above are from “Enough is Enough” by Arash Shahi, CEO of LandLogic, published in Residential Builder magazine.