Some contractors working in Door and Kewaunee counties are seeing faster turnaround times for commercial building projects as more municipalities adopt E-Plan Exam, a private electronic plan review service partnered with communities across Wisconsin.
In the Town of Sevastopol, local officials recently met to consider the program and took formal steps toward implementation. The goal is to modernize and streamline plan review while maintaining local oversight. "The Board had some additional questions. We will bring this item back next month with more clarification." Said Sevastopol Treasurer Amy Flok
E-Plan Exam provides outsourced electronic reviews for commercial building plans, including structural, HVAC, plumbing, fire alarm and fire sprinkler systems. These are reviews that would otherwise be sent to the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS). By handling the reviews electronically on behalf of DSPS, E-Plan Exam helps streamline approvals and reduce delays that can stall construction schedules.
For contractors, the benefit is speed and predictability. Plans are submitted digitally, reviewed by registered engineers and returned with comments more quickly than through the traditional state review process. This can shave weeks off approval timelines, particularly for larger or more complex commercial projects.
Brett Guilette, owner of Inspection Specialist, LLC, Northeast Wisconsin says “The State is so far behind and their plan reviews would take eight to twelve weeks at times.” He added, “The way it works now, is that we still have to get the municipalities certified by the State of Wisconsin. I can do plan reviews only up to a certain size. This company can do plan reviews for all building sizes.” The addition of E-Plan Exam can now be used by companies like Guilette’s to outsource out the plan review. “Basically they’re a contractor, or sub-contractor that we can use.”
Many Wisconsin communities, large and small, already use the E-Plan Exam, including Green Bay, Manitowoc, Kenosha and Wisconsin Dells. In Door County, municipalities such as Sister Bay and Sturgeon Bay are among those that have adopted E-Plan Exam review tools. Guilette prosed optimistically, “If they want to take over these small towns we take care of, it would be great and would just speed up the process of plan reviews.”
*Edited 01/29/26
