Cleveland Heights Building Department

The absolute worst building department in NE Ohio. The hoops you have to go through for a simple wood deck. Overpaid city officials who make it so difficult and ultimately cost their taxpayers thousands more in money because of all the time it takes to go through all of there bs procedures.Steer clear of this city at all costs

Malika (not sure on the spelling!) was a great help and she exemplified the art of customer service! She knew exactly what to do and made the process very smooth. I had a few questions on inspections needed for our property and she knew exactly which answers and information we were looking for without being asked. Out of all the reps I've talked to in any city building department, she was the best so far. A+

It is one of the best building departments that we work with on a regular basis. They are always so nice and helpful. Very professional and quick.

Difficult city to do business in - they require you to jump though many hoops but know one ever answers the phone to schedule inspections. Ive been trying to set up a POS inspection for 2 weeks. Left voicemails, emails and NO RETURN CALL!

Insanely high property tax, inspection fees, permit fees, rental inspections, POS compliance, out of county owner charges - they charge for everything imaginable. It adds up to 2 or 3x what surrounding communities charge and where does the money go? When you try to comply with all these policies and you can hardly get through to the city employees or you have to wait 30min on the phone or office . Happy I am no longer doing any new business in the city.

This city is very difficult to work with. I have been emailing and leaving voicemails with nobody responding to me. I have called several times a day and nobody answers the phone.

The city building department is expensive and full of stupid bureaucrats that are not trying to get anything done or take responsibility over anything. Everyone just keeps on passing you on to another department or another person. it sucks and has been becoming much worse over the past few years. Once upon a time we were still able to pull permits here and get work done.
Now with implementing the disastrous "citizensserve" software that is never working feel sketchy and don't even think of trying to log in through your phone because you're going to go insane with this website that was built 20 years ago and is not built under any standard of Web accessibility...
It feels like they don't want to deal with real people and want you to be a robot and submit everything online so if you are not a computer nerd good luck.
I have submitted an application with a check for the price of the application on July 27th. I was told the application has to be approved by the zoning department. Tried contacting building and was told application is still under review and I just need to wait for zoning and zoning never returned my calls.
When I return to the city today August 8th, the zoning department lady was in. Said she has never seen my application and decided that this application has nothing to do with zoning and we need to instead of zoning submit a whole new application for the architectural board of the review with a fee of course. The architectural board of review called me back and said I need to submit an application with a bunch of photos and all kinds of requirements she did not know to tell me why I was not told in the first place about this when I first submitted the application and that it's not under her department and she refused to disclose on the phone what the amount will be 💀for the fee.
I would like to thank the idiots of the city that may be costing me my job since I just got called and at work over a stupid 1.5 ton mini split unit that any other city let's you install with no issues.
It sucks that when you're trying to do things right and work with the city and pull permits and not work like half the contractors in this area that do everything illegal the city makes it impossible to get anything done. Holding up your customers, your workforce, warehouse space, and business.
I am writing this because I hope it serves as a warning to anyone trying to work in the city of Cleveland heights. And hopefully someone in the city bothers to care about this and change of something.

The worst building department I've ever dealt with. They lost all my plans and paperwork. Need multiple drawings and copies of everything. Overpaid, worthless city employees. Their ABR department is a complete joke. It will take me longer to do all the lousy paperwork than it will to build the deck I want to build there. DON"T BUILD ANYTHING THERE! You'll regret it.

I don't know exactly what's going on over here, but just an fyi warning to anyone else trying to get building permits approved, make your own copies of everything you submit. We have been waiting multiple months for building permits to process, only to have them tell us they lost everything we submitted except, funnily enough, our check made out to them... Really frustrating, considering we've had to submit multiple forms, drawings, and pictures. I can't even begin to understand how this happens! So unprofessional.