Money-Back guarantee

Collier County made a bold promise to builders four years ago: You'll get your permit on time or we'll refund you half your permit fee.

In was part of an effort to overcome an anti-business reputation earned during the boom of the last decade. The county's growth management department created a business center that pledged to move quickly to help builders obtain permits in days instead of weeks.

So far, the department has kept up its pledge to move promptly on permit requests. “To this date, I have not refunded any fees,” says Claudine Auclair, the manager of the business center.

Auclair acknowledges Collier's past reputation and her staff of 21 employees works overtime to make sure they fulfill the pledge, she says. “We did not have the best customer service, I heard,” she chuckles.

A native of Montreal who comes from the customer service side of private industry, Auclair says the bad reputation from the last building cycle is no longer deserved. “We are now seeing builders and developers that would never have thought of coming to Collier County,” she says.

Auclair, speaking recently at a gathering of the Real Estate Investment Society in Fort Myers, ticked off a list of real estate development projects that include condos, commercial buildings and road widenings. “We operate like a business,” she says.