We worked with a client in Hays County who felt confident about their project schedule early on. The scope was clear, the design was progressing, and the timeline felt realistic. On paper, everything lined up.
The delay didn’t come from construction. It came from approvals.
Permitting is often treated as a background process. It’s acknowledged, but rarely examined closely at the start. People assume timelines will follow a familiar rhythm, especially if similar work has moved quickly elsewhere.
In this case, the client didn’t expect the review process to take longer than planned. Nothing was wrong with the application. It simply moved at the pace required by the jurisdiction.
From the client’s perspective, the frustration wasn’t about the wait itself. It was about how the wait affected everything else. Scheduling had to be adjusted. Coordination shifted. Decisions that depended on approvals were put on hold.
“What could we have done differently?” was the natural question.
Often, the answer isn’t to push harder. It’s to plan with a clearer understanding of how local processes actually behave. Different counties move at different speeds, and those differences matter when timelines are tight.
At BUSATX, we help clients account for these realities early. That means discussing permitting timelines as part of planning, not as an afterthought. When approvals are treated as a known variable instead of a surprise, schedules stay more resilient.
For clients, this creates fewer cascading changes. Even when timelines extend, the project feels managed rather than stalled.
If your project assumes approvals will move quickly because they usually do somewhere else, it’s worth revisiting that assumption. A small adjustment early can prevent much larger disruptions later.