DBI says plan-check backlog reduced to 177 projects; aims to refine metrics and digitize reporting within months

Deputy Director Neville Pereira told the Building Inspection Commission on Feb. 16 that DBI has narrowed its in-house plan-check backlog to 177 projects and is revising how it measures and reports workload.

Pereira defined the backlog as the time between an applicant’s initial submission and the point when a plan-check review starts; DBI’s service-level goal remains 4–6 weeks. He said DBI has reduced its backlog roughly 52% from a January peak and described work underway: recoding reports, capturing resubmittal volume, classifying projects by complexity, and eventually quantifying pipeline work in estimated staff hours rather than project counts. Pereira told commissioners he expects the refined reporting and internal changes to be ready in about three months.

Commissioners and public commenters pushed for clearer, customer-facing definitions (for example, distinguishing acceptable backlog vs. unreasonable delays), more transparent real-time dashboards or digital tools, and banded reporting showing turnaround for small versus large projects. Pereira said DBI will run the old and new reports concurrently during a transition, publish standard plan-check comment templates, set intake screening to improve initial submittal quality, and increase outreach to applicants. He also said plan-check staff should respond to phone and email inquiries within a defined timeframe and that repeated resubmittals will be tracked so they do not mask actual workload.

Staff agreed to provide regular updates to the commission and to present the new metrics and cutover plan when they are ready. Commissioners asked DBI to include these metrics as part of monthly director updates.