Ian Swain
Managing Partner
[VERIFY: credentials pending]
[VERIFY: bio pending]
How We Work
How we protect your opening date.
You committed to a date. Commun-ET is the single accountable team that manages permitting and utility coordination nationally so that date holds, with senior practitioners owning every decision and one point of accountability for the schedule.
Differentiation
What makes Commun-ET different?
Four things about how we operate.
An operated service, not software you run
PermitPilot™ is Commun-ET's proprietary operated service layer. It is delivered by our team, inside our engagements. Clients do not license it, install it, configure it, or operate it. You receive the work product and a single accountable team behind it.
Senior practitioners own the judgment
Every submission, response, and coordination decision is owned by a named Commun-ET practitioner. AI does the pattern recognition. Our people do the judgment.
Built on our own record
PermitPilot™ draws on Commun-ET's own multi-year record of permit submissions and the agency review comments returned on them. Those comments are a valued input from our review partners: they tell us exactly what a jurisdiction expects to see, and we carry that forward into the next package.
National delivery from a Washington, DC headquarters
Commun-ET is a national firm headquartered at 100 M Street SE, Suite 600, Washington, DC. Delivery is nationwide, and the operating model is built for multi-site and multi-state programs rather than one-off filings.
Our team
Who does the work?
Named practitioners carry your file. These are the people accountable for it.
Charlotte Ducksworth
Partner and Vice President of Business Affairs
[VERIFY: credentials pending]
[VERIFY: bio pending]
Diamond Lakey, PMP
Permitting Lead
PMP. [VERIFY: additional credentials pending]
[VERIFY: bio pending]
Lucy Oritz
Permitting Manager
[VERIFY: credentials pending]
[VERIFY: bio pending]
Sonya McCoy
Permitting Manager
[VERIFY: credentials pending]
[VERIFY: bio pending]
Together, this is a team bringing more than 30 years of combined experience in permitting and utility coordination.* * The combined-experience figure and how we define it are documented on our methodology page.
Inputs
What is PermitPilot trained on?
Two inputs, both ours, both generated by work our team has already done.
Input 01
Our own submission records
Commun-ET's own multi-year record of permit submissions, covering [VERIFY: submission count pending] submissions filed by our team: what was filed, in which jurisdiction, in which format, and with which supporting documents.
Input 02
Agency review comments returned to us
The review comments our permitting partners returned on those submissions. Each comment is a valued input: it tells us precisely what a jurisdiction expects a complete package to contain.
How it is used
PermitPilot™ performs pattern recognition across those two inputs and surfaces what a given jurisdiction has historically asked for. It does not decide anything. A Commun-ET practitioner reviews what it surfaces, applies judgment to the specific site and scope, and owns what is filed. AI does the pattern recognition. Our people do the judgment.
Sequence
How does an engagement run?
- Step 01
Intake
We take in the site, the scope, the program calendar, and the date you have committed to. A named practitioner is assigned before any filing work begins.
- Step 02
Design check
The drawing set and supporting documents are checked against what the jurisdiction expects to receive, so the package is complete on the way in rather than after the first review.
- Step 03
Submission
We assemble and file the package in the jurisdiction's own format and channel, and we own the record of what was submitted and when.
- Step 04
Review cycles with review partners
Comments returned by permitting agencies are a valued input. We track each one, coordinate the response with your design team, and resubmit as a complete package.
- Step 05
Utility coordination
In parallel, we coordinate electric, gas, water, sewer, and telecom providers, easements, meter sequencing, and equipment lead times so utility work is not discovered late.
- Step 06
Permit in hand
We carry the file through issuance and hand off the approved permits, conditions, and inspection sequence to the team building the site.
Alongside your team
How do we work with your existing team?
We extend the team you already have. Commun-ET adds permitting and utility-coordination capacity around your people, and keeps them informed rather than in the middle of agency and utility traffic.
Construction managers
We carry the permitting and utility path so your CM can hold the build sequence, and we report schedule risk into their plan.
Architects
We tell the design team what a jurisdiction expects to receive, and route review comments back in a form they can act on directly.
Engineers
We coordinate utility providers, easements, and service requirements around the engineering already in progress.
Area construction managers
We give ACMs portfolio-level visibility across their markets so they can manage many sites without chasing individual filings.
Proof
Where has this already run?
Program work delivered by our team, documented in our case studies.
- McDonald's
- Wingstop
- Wonder
- Valvoline
- DC Government
- Pop-Up Bagels
Interactive · Delay Cost Estimator
What is permit delay costing your program?
Enter your project value and jurisdiction to model the carry cost of permit-stage delay. These are illustrative modeled estimates of delay exposure, not measured Commun-ET client outcomes.
Total construction value (hard + soft costs). Range $50k–$500M.
Search 60+ cities. Baseline cycles are calibrated to each jurisdiction's complexity tier.
Modeled schedule exposure
15weeks
34-wk baseline → 19 wk modeled managed timeline
Modeled carry exposure
$450k
Carry + soft cost avoided on a $2.5M project.
Jurisdiction
New York City, NY
Complexity tier
Very high
Carry rate
1.2% / wk
Figures are modeled estimates of delay cost, not measured client outcomes or a forecast of results on your program. Actual outcomes depend on project type, agency mix, and program maturity. See our methodology for how these benchmarks are calibrated.
FAQ
Questions we get most often.
Next step
Bring us the date you committed to.
Tell us the program, the markets, and the opening dates. We will tell you what the permitting and utility path looks like and who on our team would own it.