How to Automate Your Entire Permit Lead Follow-Up with GoHighLevel

If you're using GoHighLevel (GHL) to manage your home service business — and you should be — integrating Permitlify is one of the highest-ROI configuration changes you can make. Once connected, every new permit lead that comes through Permitlify can automatically create a GHL contact, trigger a pipeline stage, and launch a multi-step follow-up sequence. No copy-paste. No manual data entry. Your team just shows up and makes calls.

This guide walks you through the full setup from start to finish. Expect to spend 30–45 minutes on initial configuration. After that, it runs entirely on autopilot.

Step 1: Connect Permitlify to GHL via webhook

In your Permitlify dashboard, go to Settings → Integrations. Click "Add Integration" and select GoHighLevel from the list. You'll be prompted to enter:

• Your GHL Agency API Key (found in GHL under Settings → API)
• The Location ID of the sub-account you want permits to flow into
• Your minimum score threshold (we recommend 70 — so only permits with a score of 70 or above create GHL contacts automatically)

Once connected, Permitlify will push new permit leads to GHL as contacts the moment they're processed each morning. The contact record will be pre-filled with: name, phone, email, property address, permit number, permit type, AI score, and filed date.

Step 2: Set up a Permit Lead pipeline in GHL

Create a dedicated pipeline in GHL called "Permit Leads" with the following stages:

• New Lead — where contacts land when first created from Permitlify
• Contacted — moved here after first successful call
• Estimate Scheduled
• Estimate Given
• Proposal Sent
• Job Won
• Job Lost
• Not Interested

When Permitlify creates a contact, configure GHL to automatically add them to the "New Lead" stage of this pipeline.

Step 3: Build the 7-touch automation

In GHL's automation builder, create a workflow triggered by "Contact added to Permit Leads pipeline — New Lead stage." Here's the 7-touch sequence we recommend:

• Touch 1 — Day 1, 8:00 AM: SMS: "Hi [First Name], I noticed a [permit type] permit was recently filed at [address]. I'd love to get you a free estimate this week — are you available? — [Your Name], [Company]"
• Touch 2 — Day 1, 8:05 AM: Assign task to sales rep to call within 30 minutes
• Touch 3 — Day 1, 12:00 PM: If still in "New Lead" stage, send voicemail drop
• Touch 4 — Day 2, 9:00 AM: Email with subject "Free estimate available this week — [address]"
• Touch 5 — Day 3, 11:00 AM: SMS follow-up: "Hi [First Name], just following up on our message from the other day. We have openings this week for estimates. Would Tuesday or Wednesday work?"
• Touch 6 — Day 7, 9:00 AM: Final email: "Last chance to get your free estimate this week..."
• Touch 7 — Day 14: Long-term nurture sequence begins (monthly newsletter, seasonal reminders)

Step 4: Configure score-based routing

Not all permits warrant the same level of urgency. Use GHL's custom field for "AI Score" (populated by Permitlify) to create conditional branches in your automation:

• Score 80+: Skip the SMS-first approach. Assign to a senior salesperson immediately and fire a Slack notification. These need a live call within 1 hour.
• Score 65–79: Run the standard 7-touch automation.
• Score 50–64: Skip the live call assignment. Run an automated SMS + email sequence only.

Results you can expect

Permitlify customers who have implemented this full GHL integration consistently report that their sales teams spend 60–70% less time on manual lead entry and follow-up admin, and 60–70% more time actually talking to homeowners. One roofing company in Fort Worth went from booking 8 estimates per week using manual processes to 22 per week after fully automating their Permitlify → GHL flow.

The permit leads are the raw material. The automation is the machine that converts them. Set it up once, and it works every morning while you sleep.