How automotive juggernaut Driven Brands reduced permitting timelines by 60%
24 business days
average from submission to approval
< 1
revision cycles per project
5x
ROI per project cost
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GreenLite speeds up permitting while also bringing trust, consistency, and transparency to a difficult process. Their proactive approach eliminates roadblocks, and their private plan review capabilities have been a game-changer for us across dozens of projects.
Sumaia Alamoudi
Senior Director of Design and Project Management
Faced with mounting permitting delays and unpredictable approval timelines, Take 5 Oil Change, the nation’s leading quick lube brand, struggled to keep up with its aggressive expansion goals. GreenLite stepped in to deliver a structured, tech-driven permitting solution, reducing approval times by 60%, eliminating costly revision cycles, and providing real-time project visibility.
THE PROBLEM
Take 5 Oil Change’s development team faced missed timelines, uncertainty, and frustration throughout the entire permitting process, creating a major barrier to their store expansion goals.
Permitting timelines were projected to range from 60 to 120+ days per project, yet many projects stretched well beyond this timeframe leading to costly delays and unnecessary complications.
Local building departments provided little to no transparency, and calls and emails often went unanswered, leaving the team struggling to track progress or anticipate next steps. Plan reviews were filled with vague, handwritten comments that were difficult to decipher. And jurisdictional complexities added another layer of confusion. Each city had different, ever-changing requirements, making it nearly impossible to develop a standardized process.
Hoping to ease the burden, Take 5 brought in expeditors, but this solution only provided marginal improvements. Expeditors still operated within the same flawed system—unable to resolve inefficiencies, expedite approvals, or provide the level of control Take 5 needed.
Before GreenLite, permitting was a constant bottleneck with no visibility or control. Delays, uncertainty, and endless review cycles made it impossible to stay on track. Expeditors failed us and we needed a true partner to take ownership.
Every week a store opening was delayed meant tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. The team spent countless hours navigating bureaucratic hurdles instead of focusing on site development and strategic planning. What had once been viewed as a frustrating but accepted part of the process had become an unsustainable roadblock to growth. Take 5 needed a solution that would cut through the red tape, bring predictability to permitting, and allow them to scale efficiently.
THE SOLUTION
GreenLite stepped in with an expert team of in-house architects, engineers, and operations managers who specialize in navigating complex permitting challenges.
Take 5 immediately felt the impact of partnering with GreenLite. GreenLite brought the permitting expertise, competence, and command over timelines that were missing from their old processes. By acting as an integrated partner with Take 5’s development team and external consultants, GreenLite helped ensure every permitting submission was prepared, compliant, and optimized for rapid approval.
From day one, GreenLite conducted pre-submission compliance audits to ensure all plans were code-compliant before submission, drastically reducing review cycles. By developing jurisdictional playbooks, GreenLite created a roadmap for navigating complex local requirements, eliminating confusion and preventing unnecessary rework. Where possible, GreenLite leveraged private provider plan reviews to bypass municipal bottlenecks and speed up approvals.
GreenLite understands our business. Their technical expertise, jurisdictional playbooks, and Atlas Dashboard insights give us confidence in project timelines with unmatched transparency.
Additionally, GreenLite’s Portfolio Dashboard (aka “Atlas”) provided real-time tracking of every permit in the pipeline, giving Take 5’s team complete transparency into approval timelines, pending actions, and jurisdictional trends.
GreenLite owned the entire process from intake to approval. The result was a seamless, proactive, and highly efficient permitting operation that gave Take 5’s team the confidence to plan and execute their expansion strategy without unnecessary roadblocks.
THE RESULT
GreenLite helped Take 5 cut permitting timelines by 60%, enabling them to capture dozens of unplanned revenue-weeks and delivering > $100K ROI per project.
24avg. business days from submission to approval
<1revision cycles per project
5xROI per project cost
After more than a year of partnering with GreenLite, the Take 5 Oil Change development team has felt the transformative impact of centralizing permitting efforts with an expert partner. Permitting phases and timelines have been drastically reduced, with permits delivered well ahead of budgeted timelines per project.
With GreenLite’s support, Take 5’s team has gained greater control over this phase of development, enabling them to confidently deliver accurate timelines and projections to leadership at Driven Brands. GreenLite’s Atlas Dashboard has further improved transparency and predictability, providing Take 5 and Driven Brands with real-time insights into how projects are progressing through permitting and construction toward their opening date.
GreenLite delivers clear ROI, keeps budgets on track, and eliminates permitting headaches. Our team now has confidence knowing permits are in expert hands, and there is no reason not to use their services.
Sumaia Alamoudi
Senior Director of Design and Project Management
As Take 5 Oil Change and Driven Brands gear up to build and open hundreds of new automotive centers in the years ahead, they plan to continue working with GreenLite as a trusted and reliable permitting partner.
After centralizing much of their permitting with GreenLite, the Take 5 Oil Change development team has gained control over the process, reducing timelines and delivering permits well ahead of budget.
GreenLite’s expertise of critical efforts and ownership of project milestones is central to beating Take 5’s growth projections.