By the FL Innovation News editorial team · Entrepreneurship
On a Florida job site, the crew can be scheduled, the materials delivered and the financing closed, and the project still doesn’t move. More often than most people realize, the holdup is Florida’s permitting process.
“Contractors are ready to build, but many projects are delayed for weeks or months because of permitting challenges,” said Caroline Krauser of 1 Contractor Solutions, a women-owned permitting firm headquartered in North Port. “It’s a side of the construction industry most people never see, but one that has a huge impact on Florida’s growth.”
Why Florida permitting has statewide stakes
Few states have more riding on that process. Florida ranked second in the nation, behind only Texas, in both single-family and multifamily permits issued in 2025, according to National Association of Home Builders data.
Each of those projects has to clear a local building department, and Florida has 67 counties and hundreds of municipalities, each with its own portals, submittal requirements and review queues. A missing document, a reviewer comment or a lapsed contractor registration can send an application back to the start of the line. State lawmakers have set review deadlines for local building departments, but those clocks generally start only once an application is complete.
When a permit stalls, the delay spreads. Crews wait, carrying costs build, and move-in and opening dates slip.
Working behind the scenes
That is the work 1 Contractor Solutions was built for. With more than 15 years in Florida permitting, the company says it has handled more than 5,000 permits and projects and filed in more than 400 municipalities across all 67 counties. It files applications, tracks plan review, answers reviewer comments and follows each permit through inspections and closeout.
What sets the firm apart, it says, is that a fix doesn’t have to wait on an outside consultant. It keeps drafters and an engineer in house, so plans can be prepared, sealed and revised by the same team that files them. “Most permit companies can only file what somebody else drew,” the company says. “We draw it, our engineer seals it, and we file it — and when a reviewer comments, we fix it ourselves.”
The company is also a licensed private provider, which it says lets clients skip the county plan review queue, and it takes on after-the-fact and expired permits, “the files other people decline,” as its website puts it.
Who depends on the work
The people waiting on a permit rarely look alike, and the company handles each group differently.
For general contractors, 1 Contractor Solutions acts as an outsourced permit department. “Your project manager should be running the job, not refreshing a permit portal,” its website says. Roofing companies can sign on for a recurring program with registrations kept current, permits filed the day they are complete and tiered per-permit pricing. For solar installers, the company notes, “permit turnaround is the business model.”
Homeowners usually arrive under pressure. “Most homeowners meet us on the worst day,” the company says: “a violation notice on the door, a permit discovered mid-sale, or work a previous owner did that nobody ever permitted.” It also helps owner-builders pull permits for their own projects.
Developers, architects and engineers, the other groups Krauser names, rely on the firm to coordinate plan review and handle revisions and resubmittals when plans come back with comments. Realtors, title companies, property managers and restoration companies round out the client list.
Why every approval matters
For Krauser, the value of the work shows up far from the building department. “Every permit approved means a family gets into their home sooner, a business opens faster, or a construction project stays on schedule,” she said.
Those outcomes line up with the services. A new shop or office often can’t open its doors until it has a certificate of occupancy or certificate of use, and the company handles both. A family waiting on a new roof or an addition is waiting on the same kind of approval a developer needs for a new building.
Speed is part of the offer. The company answers calls 24/7, provides Spanish-language support and says it responds to quote requests within 30 minutes, day or night.
As Florida keeps growing, the building department will remain one of the least visible and most consequential stops on the way to a finished project. From North Port, 1 Contractor Solutions is betting that knowing how to navigate it is a service Florida’s builders, and the families and businesses waiting on them, can’t afford to go without.
1 Contractor Solutions is headquartered in North Port, Florida, and works in all 67 Florida counties. Visit 1contractorsolutions.com or follow the company on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Quotes from Caroline Krauser were provided by the company. News Bosses also profiled how the company built its business.
