City of Sarasota Building Department

alan cresto

after hearing the stories from contractors and reading reviews, i was prepared for an arduous process. however, my experience couldn't have been easier. i'm a homeowner and got my permit for moderate renovations in 4 days. everyone i met at the office, (before the cvd19 shutdown) spoke with on the phone, and communicated with through email, was pleasant and knowledgeable - before and during permitting. had to follow-up with questions on the phone today and again, an easy informative call. shoutouts to kalyn and kei, thank you!

Scott Langlais

The positive, the permit techs are friendly and helpful. It seems like the rest of the process has intentionally been designed to make things as difficult as possible. Definitely the most difficult permitting entity in all of Sarasota and Manatee counties. This isn't a new thing. Same experience for several years now. Edit - there are actually quite a few great people at the city building department. It may be a more challenging permitting process but most people do what they can to make it easier. Edit from one to three stars. If we could just get those couple people to develop some communication skills and not talk down and belittle it would make a world of difference.

Craig Issod

Having read the reviews I knew what to expect so was 100% prepared. Every little (many subtle) roadblocks they put in my way I had a valid answer for....so, when that didn't work they said "we will call you, don't call us". As a resident and taxpayer and voter I was not impressed...the two stars assumes they will call me back as promised. It will be reduced if they do not.

Cassie Friedman

The staff is friendly. The place is managed horribly. Who lets all their inspectors go to lunch at the same time? Has this place not heard of lunch shifts? You can't call to find out when an inspection is taking place. The turnover is outstandingly high, one can only assume, because of the poor management.