Solar Permit Filing and AHJ Coordination Services

Permit filing is one of the most administrative-heavy tasks in the solar workflow, and one of the biggest hidden costs for growing solar companies. Every project requires portal login, form completion, fee payment coordination, document upload, revision tracking, AHJ correspondence, and inspection scheduling. Multiplied across dozens of projects per month, permit filing becomes a full-time back-office function. RIH Engineering delivers permit filing and AHJ coordination as an outsourced solar back-office service for US solar EPCs, installers, and developers.

What you get

• AHJ permit application submission through city, county, or state permit portals
• Permit fee calculation, payment coordination, and receipt tracking
• Complete document upload including plan sets, calculations, and supporting materials
• Permit revision tracking with clear correction cycle management
• AHJ correspondence including responding to plan reviewer comments and questions
• Inspection scheduling coordination with AHJ inspectors
• Certificate of Occupancy or final approval documentation collection
• Weekly status reports showing all projects in permit stages with next actions flagged
• Standardized project status tracking accessible to your team at any time

What we handle for you

Permit filing is not engineering work. It is administrative work that requires attention to detail, familiarity with dozens of AHJ portals, and consistent follow-through. When engineers file permits, engineering slows down. When admins file permits without solar background, mistakes multiply. The right answer is a dedicated back-office team that specializes in solar permit filing across US jurisdictions.

We take permit filing off your plate completely. You send us the completed plan set and project details. We handle portal submission, fee payment coordination, revision cycles, AHJ correspondence, and inspection scheduling from first submission through final approval. Your team stays focused on customer engineering and installation.

The cost of doing this in-house

A solar company processing 30 permits per month typically spends 40 to 80 hours per month on permit filing administration. At US loaded rates of $30 to $60 per hour for admin staff, or $80 to $150 per hour when engineers do it, that's $1,200 to $12,000 per month of administrative overhead, before counting the delays caused by admins learning each new AHJ portal.

The bigger cost is permit cycle time. Companies with dedicated permit filing teams close permit cycles 20 to 40 percent faster than companies where filing is a shared admin task. Every day saved on permit cycle is a day earlier that your installer crews can work and your customer starts generating solar production.

Why RIH Engineering is safe to try

Send us one project ready for permit submission. We handle the entire filing workflow through permit issuance at agreed pricing. If our permit cycle time doesn't meet your bar, or our AHJ correspondence isn't up to your standards, you don't send us the next project.

Our permit filing team maintains portal access, filing workflows, and AHJ contact knowledge across hundreds of US jurisdictions. We update our AHJ database as portals change and as new AHJ requirements are announced.

Our process

1. You send us the completed plan set, project details, customer information, and AHJ
2. Our filing coordinator verifies AHJ requirements, portal access, and current fee schedule
3. Permit application completed and submitted through the AHJ portal
4. Permit fees calculated and paid per your instructions (client account or reimbursed)
5. Plan set, calculations, and supporting documents uploaded per AHJ format requirements
6. Application tracked through review; correction cycles managed with drafting team as needed
7. AHJ correspondence handled including responding to reviewer comments and questions
8. Permit issuance tracked and permit documents delivered to you upon approval
9. Inspection scheduling coordinated with AHJ and your installer crew
10. Final approval and certificate of occupancy documentation collected and archived

Tools and standards

Our permit filing team works across every major AHJ permit portal in the US including Accela Citizen Access, ePermitHub, ProjectDox, PlanetBids, Simpleview, and hundreds of custom municipal portals. We maintain up-to-date AHJ contact and requirement databases.

Client-preferred tools: Our team can be trained to use the tool preferred by the client. If your workflow depends on a specific platform, template, or software, we adapt to it rather than force you into ours.