Compressing a DMV rollout across three jurisdictions on one quarter's cadence.
How Wonder moved a novel restaurant format through Baltimore, Aspen Hill, and Largo simultaneously — recovering 14+ weeks against the original schedule.
Three DMV plan-review queues, one novel restaurant format.
Wonder's hybrid kitchen-and-dining concept did not map cleanly to legacy occupancy classifications, drive-thru ordinances, or county health checklists. Baltimore City, Montgomery County (Aspen Hill), and Prince George's County (Largo) each read the use type differently, and the program needed all three to clear inside a single quarter.
- Novel format triggered case-by-case interpretation on use, ventilation, and health classification in every jurisdiction
- Parallel build pipeline across Baltimore, Aspen Hill (Montgomery Co.), and Largo (Prince George's Co.) with a shared opening window
- Prince George's County plan-review queue alone was trending multi-month against the construction calendar
Parallel-tracked utility + building, third-party review where it counts.
A Commun-ET principal embedded with the Wonder real-estate team across all three jurisdictions, and PermitPilot was deployed as the single program workspace. Two moves did the heavy lifting on the schedule: utility coordination and building permits were run simultaneously instead of in sequence, and Prince George's County review was routed through a certified third-party reviewer to bypass the in-house queue.
Simultaneous utility + building tracks
Utility coordination (water, sewer, gas, electric, telecom) opened on day one alongside building permit intake — collapsing the longest serial dependency in the schedule instead of waiting on permit issuance.
Third-party review in Prince George's County (Largo)
Routed structural and building review to a certified third-party reviewer, cutting Largo's permit review time by roughly 8 weeks against the in-house queue baseline.
Jurisdiction-specific intake templates
Per-AHJ packet shells with the correct cover sheet, drawing index, and condition-response grid for Baltimore, Montgomery, and Prince George's reviewers.
Principal-led pre-application meetings
Every site briefed with the building department and fire marshal before construction-document spend.
All Permits in Hand, weeks ahead of the construction calendar.
Across the three-site DMV rollout, the program is projected to reach All Permits in Hand (APIH) weeks in advance of the original need-by dates. Running utility coordination in parallel with building review removed the longest serial dependency from the critical path, and the third-party reviewer track in Prince George's County alone clawed back roughly eight weeks against the in-house queue.
"Commun-ET is not just an expediting firm — they are our strategic partner for our development rollout."
More case studies
View all →Wonder · Standing up a new restaurant format,
Commun-ET serves as Wonder's permitting backbone for the DMV area and growing for the brand's rapid multi-market rollout, turning a novel restaurant format into a repeatable jurisdictional playbook.
ARS Brands / Wingstop · Franchisee-side permitting at portfolio scale,
Commun-ET acts as the permitting team for ARS Brands' Wingstop portfolio, running new builds, conversions, and remodels across multiple markets with a single workspace and a single accountable PM.
McDonald's USA · Five firms, three review authorities, two utilities,
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.
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