City of Portland Bureau of Development Services

These city staff are just simply not paid enough for the work they’re tasked with.
We’ve pulled permits to cover remodeling work we’re doing in our new home, and even reached out to the city for detailed clarifications on permits that contractors had failed to pull.
Throughout this entire time, BDS staff have been helpful, and patient, as we’ve worked through our DIY projects, and also helped us encourage a contractor to do the right thing (and pull a required permit himself).
I think what really helped us, is we did our research in advance, and reasonably knew what to ask for without expecting to be taught. We were able to work permit costs into our overall DIY project budget, so there where no surprises. The city staff’s response to our preparedness alone is what moves our review from a 4 to a 5; very professional overall experience.
We’re roughly halfway through our various remodeling/​permit inspections, and we look forward to a continuation of the already pleasant experiences.

Customer service was pleasant, I was given all the info I needed and got the permits I needed without issue. Probably the best bureaucratic experience one could hope to have.

Good Lord. They are like Dante’s inferno. I was scolded for having never gone through their process before, waited forever twice to have the privlege of paying a small fortune for my tiny addition. Then I got to pay my contractor to sit there for several hours to have two simple questions answered that couldn’t be answered over the phone. He states many, many others were called before him b/​c they had bigger projects, Then, the inspectors come for their 14 inspections (count ‘em) two days after they are supposed to, which of course also drives up the cost of what was supposed to be a simple project. You can understand why some people choose not do these things the legal way.

Services have been pathetic in the last two years or so and it’s only getting worse in my opinion. I can tell its substantially worse than several years ago.
You do not get consistent response from one rep to another when you get to talk to someone. Now you’ll have to dial many 503−823-xxxx number to get to someone before you can talk to someone without getting «leave a voice mail, we’ll call you if and when we feel like it, k thx bye»
Taxes are going up. You need a permit for practically everything you do, yet due to «budget cuts» the permit center is closed on Mondays and closes at 3PM on every other day.
While cutting down on essential services, the city is wasting money on plenty of useless garbage.