Our journey started with hard lessons from our own home project in Jersey City. We bought a lot in the Heights to build our dream home, which required demolishing the existing building. We trusted a contractor and his brother, a so-called "permit expediter." The process quickly turned frustrating—opaque, confusing, and full of setbacks. Our expediter wasn’t following the proper steps, and I eventually discovered our permit application had been rejected.Fed up, I took matters into my own hand