Case Study // McDonald's · Buffaloe Road, Raleigh

    Five firms, three review authorities, two utilities, one consistent package.

    A ground-up McDonald's on Buffaloe Road in Raleigh, with a delivery team spread across four states. Commun-ET carried City of Raleigh site plan and building review, Wake County and state health, the city's grease program, Duke Energy electric, and the AT&T telecom pathway on one coordination cadence.

    Ground-up new constructionMulti-firm delivery teamHealth & grease programUtility coordination
    QSR & Multi-Unit Retail
    Client: McDonald's USA
    5
    Delivery firms aligned
    $1.3M
    Building value
    2
    Utility providers
    See sector page
    The Challenge

    One restaurant, five firms, and reviewers who each needed a different view of it.

    The Buffaloe Road restaurant was designed and delivered by a team spread across four states: architect, civil engineer, general contractor, owner's representative, and the brand's construction group. City of Raleigh site plan and building reviewers, Wake County and state health, and the city's grease program each needed the same project described in their own format, on their own calendar, at the same time.

    • Five delivery firms in four states producing one submittal record
    • City of Raleigh site plan and building review running alongside county and state health
    • Grease-interceptor sizing tied to the city's grease program requirements
    • Duke Energy electric service and the AT&T telecom pathway sequenced to construction
    • A mid-project site address change touching every open application
    The Approach

    One package of record, one coordination cadence.

    Commun-ET held the single package of record for every reviewer and every utility, and ran one cadence across all five firms so a change in one drawing set reached every open application in the same week it happened. AI does the pattern recognition. Our people do the judgment.

    01

    Single package of record

    Every submittal, resubmittal, and condition response was issued from one controlled set, so no two reviewers were reading different versions of the project.

    02

    Address change absorbed before review

    A mid-project site address change was reconciled across the open building, site, health, and utility applications before it reached a reviewer's desk.

    03

    Grease-interceptor mismatch caught in intake

    A grease-interceptor sizing mismatch between the plumbing set and the city's grease program was identified during our intake review and corrected before submission.

    04

    Utility tracks opened alongside permitting

    Duke Energy electric and the AT&T telecom pathway were opened and tracked in parallel with building and site review, not after issuance.

    The Results

    Built and open on Buffaloe Road.

    The restaurant was built and opened on Buffaloe Road in 2026. Across a five-firm delivery team and three review authorities, the project moved on one submittal record, with the address change and the grease-interceptor mismatch both resolved inside Commun-ET's review rather than in an agency correction cycle.

    3
    Review authorities coordinated
    City of Raleigh, Wake County health, and state health, per the project record
    2
    Issues caught before submission
    Site address change and grease-interceptor sizing mismatch, per the project record
    5
    Delivery firms on one cadence
    Commun-ET project record for the Buffaloe Road build
    Take it with you

    Raleigh Buffaloe Road case study (PDF)

    The client-facing case study, with the full permitting and utility record.

    Download the PDF (3.2 MB PDF)

    Run your next ground-up build on one cadence.

    If your delivery team spans firms and states, our team can carry the permitting and utility record so every reviewer sees the same project.

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