What we need is an identified profession separate from the named ones that is available to work for individuals, local small entities, basically anyone.?ÿ This professional would be the link between the person needing the help and whichever of all the other professions might be needed to service this person's needs.
If I need an appraisal, I don't call a surveyor.?ÿ If I need an engineer, I don't call a lender.?ÿ But, those of us who work in and around planning all of the time are the ones that need to be contacted.?ÿ Individuals get very frustrated, very quickly, dealing with bureaucrats and technical things that they don't really need to understand (but, think they must) to accomplish things that are commonplace to us.
Heck, people are known to walk into the Register of Deeds Office and tell the counter worker that Dad died, so I need you to put me down as the owner of any real estate he owns.?ÿ People are truly that ignorant.
Lady next door to my sister boohoo-ed that somehow the bank sold her home at auction and she didn't know anything about it.?ÿ My sister assumed she was telling the truth.?ÿ Had to explain to my sister that things DO NOT work that way.
Completely agree on the frustration part.?ÿ I still think that a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) could meet your requirements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_Professional_Planner
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They have a licensing procedure up here much like any other profession.?ÿ Here is the path to license in Ontario:
https://ontarioplanners.ca/become-an-rpp
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Now, your common Joe Sixpack will not likely know about an RPP.?ÿ He may also balk at their rates.?ÿ That's why many survey shops up here either have one or will recommend you to one.?ÿ The surveyor is usually the 3rd person called in a somewhat ideal situation (ie. after the real estate agent and bank).?ÿ Hopefully, we can recommend/help you on that first phone call.?ÿ Unfortunately, that is sometimes too late (ie. I have already bought the property, but cannot accomplish my design goals).?ÿ I will concede that the majority of literature detailing planning focuses on large, municipal projects.?ÿ However, the majority of planners I deal with are on the private side and specialize in:
1. Helping a farmer who wants to build a subdivision on their land.
2. Helping someone buy an infill property and develop it into residential units (ie. a closed-down school).
3. You want someone to file all the paperwork for your new house (granted, the GC will often take this on).
4. A municipality is doing something in your neighbourhood you oppose (ie. new development, widening, a bridge, etc.) and you want to hire someone to "fight it."
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Granted, that is largely because we deal in farm surveys, residential, and commercial in-fills with some construction layout for larger clients who request it.?ÿ I deal w/ RPP's in those fields because those are what I often deal with.
What I envision is sort of a Land Office consultant that would be the first person contacted.?ÿ The goal is to be ahead of the banker and the real estate agent.?ÿ Much further ahead of the others who work in the same general category, e.g., appraiser, inspector, title company, wetland specialist, engineer, contractor, architect, bureaucrat of some form, etc.
People lose a lot when they are depending on someone whose paycheck is more important than helping the client find the best answer to achieve their goal.?ÿ Let this consultant be the one to provide guidance on which of the other providers to get involved and in the correct order.?ÿ Many clients will not need land surveying services, but, they will need some collection of the others.
Different lenders have different priorities and those change from time to time.?ÿ Wasting one's time trying to get a loan from a lender who will not follow through is ridiculous, but it happens every day.?ÿ Appraisers have specialties, much like many survey firms.?ÿ Finding any engineering/architecture firm that is willing to take on small projects is tough when times are good.?ÿ Having connections with various Government offices that have goals to assist what it is the client hopes to do would be a major help.?ÿ Some of those make loans, some of them hand out money (for the right things) and some exist just to give people jobs who can't get hired to do anything else.?ÿ Knowing how to work the system is essential.?ÿ Then you have all of the bureaucratic BS to get through and the vast majority of potential clients couldn't buy a clue if they won the MegaLottery.
I assisted a dairy farmer several years back get his household waste lagoon system approved to take washdown water from an on-farm bottling plant.?ÿ There was some complexity as certain areas could not flow to that lagoon while others could.?ÿ He already had some grocery stores committed to taking all he could supply them.?ÿ After about two months of excellent production, he up and quit because he wife decided she didn't want to work that hard.?ÿ Silly people needed a lot more help than just what I was called in to provide.
