If you own your own land you can submit your house-construction-plan to the city for your city fees and construction permit to build your home.
The only thing is, when the city finishes with your plans, you have to pay them, so there is a little planning that has to be done. It can be upwards of $10K for all their fees, so unless you just happen to have that kind of money "sitting" around, you'll have to time things to come together with your construction loan. See how long the loan will take, and how long the city will take and submit accordingly.
We waited until we got our loan before submitting to the city and it took from July 21st till August 29th before the city got us processed and ready so we could start digging.
It took the city several weeks before the Inspector got to our house-construction-plan, so this was a delay we were not expecting. It will save you a few weeks' time in constructing your home if your land is already purchased.
That amount of time saved can be a factor whether your housebuild will be done before winter months come or not. Winter months are a consideration because of increased heating costs,and inability to work because of the cold. Some contractors won't or can't work then.
As an example, our electrician told us he had to stop work on a home he was doing because he couldn't bend the wire because the house had no heat in it yet. When an electrician does his rough wiring, it is before the insulation and it is not even a consideration to try and heat the house then.
While you are getting the construction loan, you might want to submit your paperwork and plans to the city (if you own your own land) as it may speed up the process by a couple of weeks.
Do check with the city to see how "far out" the Inspector is in approving plans. "Far out" is a term you will use with your subs too in determining when they can start your project.
It may take a month or more to obtain your permit from the city to get started building. Here's a few things we ran up against before we could get started.
These are things we had to correct or finish before the City would issue our permit.
PLAN CORRECTION SHEET
- Service size location of meter base and panel - Electrical/li>
- Furnace & water heater size and location in basement
- Any basement plumbing? Draw them out.
- Future basement plans
- Energy compliance (must meet state requirements.)
- Indicate R/Values for insulation in ceiling, outside walls, and floor
We had to satisfy all these things before the city would let us move forward with building our house-construction-plan.
City Permit
The City will need 2 sets of plans; - one to redline for the CITY
- one to redline & give back to you TO BE KEPT ON SITE
If you are building a basement, and if you are going to have a basement bathroom, the depth of the sewer in the street will determine the depth you put your house in the ground, Check with the city for this depth. Your Excavator will need this information.
The city usually will have a packet of information for your house-construction-plan that you can obtain early on, which tells you what the city requires, as well as how much city permit fees are, etc.
The city inspector will need to inspect the various stages of development of your house build. Do not go on until he has given you the go-ahead, or you may have to pay a fine and redo things thus costing you more.
The city revised our city's inspection sheet midway in our house-construction-plan build. You'll probably want to check back with the city periodically for updates to their inspection list.
An “Energy Efficiency Evaluation” (EEE) was required of us before the city would give us a permit to build. What in the world is that and where do we get it from?
After asking several people, we finally found that our HVAC contractor could get it for us. We took the plans to him and for another several days we waited before we could begin building. He submitted them to “someone” and then once they were returned to him, he gave them back to us. It took about a week.
I tell you that little story, so you won't let that happen to you. Get your “EEE” from your HVAC contractor before you submit the plans to the city and save yourself a lot of hastle and a little time!
- Building your own home as owner/contractor
Own your home in 3 housebuilds
Our experience building our home
Some suggestions on houseplans
Info on inspections while building
Getting a construction loan
house-construction-plan
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