Search results

Welcome! Great having experienced permitting outfits like yours join the forum. I suggesting adding a signature so folks can be informed about your company each time you post. Look forward to hearing your perspective on permitting matters. :)

Well said. You definitely want to "underpromise, overdeliver" as much as possible and set applicants' expectations appropriately. Funny how that works, isn't it? As much as I'm sometimes dismayed by shortcomings in our (USACE Regulatory) permit process, my perspective quickly shifts when...

I wonder how much of this is lack of education and - more cynically - how much is self-serving rationalization? Do you think relators downplay (or lie) about the lack of need for permits simply to make their clients more comfortable closing on fixer upper-type houses? As the relator, it would...

I'm in a similar position all the time as a Corps regulator. Consultants call, email, leave voicemails, etc., wanting to know when they can expect the permit to finally be issued. Generally, the exact timeline is out of my control and I end up talking about my latest correspondence with the...

My understanding is that a homeowner acting as owner-builder isn't necessarily doing all the work physically themselves, though they certainly could be. I believe the owner-builder designation just means there's not a contractor on the hook for the permit and subject to Contractor's License Law...

Agreed, I think this is pretty standard across building codes. However, I once had to replace flooring in my wife's grandfather's house in Santa Monica and it turned out there was asbestos in the vinyl flooring materials. We had to hire a remediation company to remove all the asbestos and I'm...

There could be some truth to that but I think it really depends on the specific permit office that we're talking about. They all seem to vary in terms of how they balance their salaries/budgets against the permit fees they charge. For example, Dallas' building department was in the news recently...

Don't know how interesting or not interesting some of this cross-disciplinary perspective is for you :), but in Corps Regulatory our project management workflow is what's called "cradle to grave." That is, for a given permit application, the same project manager will review the permit...

Welcome Emily, and congrats on the recent promotion! That's awesome you get to be involved with programmatic initiatives at your building department. Opportunities to make a real difference and change the system are fundamental to government work and can be such a morale booster. This forum is...

I think most people would agree with you. Reporting the neighbor is definitely the most responsible and civically minded course of action here. On the other hand, I can see other people rolling their eyes and taking more of a "mind your own" attitude toward the OP. After all, we don't have any...

I think the Reddit poster may have been confused. Vermont definitely has building codes (see: https://codes.iccsafe.org/codes/vermont). Reading further into the thread it seems like the issue is probably more related to local enforcement of whatever codes actually apply in the OP's area (like...

Good advice. Homeowners need to be aware that the contractors they hire generally aren't legal professionals. Homeowners should understand that it's them, not the contractor, who will get held liable if/when compliance issues arise. Unless the contractor is explicitly hired and under contract to...

Well, Dallas did have that recent surge in building fees. Maybe the City just couldn't afford to permit itself (lol)? As an update to that previous thread, it looks like Dallas Development Services began imposing its doubling/tripling of permit fees as of May 1.

It sounds like the main reason the OP wanted to remove the wood planks was because the wood is so old (house built in the 60s) that they feared there could be termite issues. I noticed someone else from Tustin chimed in and asked: "By chance is the front of the house 12” vertical boards? There...

Good point, Chris. Sounds like you're referring to work that the City of LA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have been undertaking in recent years to restore riparian and freshwater marsh habitat in the LA River (i.e., the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Project). USACE LA...

Thanks for adding this perspective, @MW68. On the whole, I'm glad my neighborhood doesn't have an HOA but, if it did, I'd definitely want to be involved in the meetings, etc., to be sure I had a say in the rules that get established. I think participating in HOA meetings could also provide an...

Thanks for sharing, @Winterstone. The amount of back-and-forth (and therefore delay) you've had to endure from Portland BDS really sounds frustrating. You mentioned in your original post that BDS "keeps finding something new" in the plans you submit and this unfortunate trend appears to have...

Agreed. With something this big and flagrant, though (i.e., selling an entire illegally constructed house), I'd hope the local jurisdiction would have the authority to hold up the sale and take measures against the homebuilder to ensure the experience didn't end up being a net positive for them...

Thanks @Saxton, it was great of you taking the time to try answering @chasnr's question. I would agree, that does appear to be the Baltimore City application form he would need to use. @chasnr, hopefully this thread has been a least a little helpful. Would you mind updating us when you get your...

@Oberon-Vortigern, are you doling out advice with the assistance of ChatGPT? This is totally a no judgement zone and I really just appreciate your participation here, but the detailed list you provided sounds a lot like the type of response ChatGPT might spit out when given a question like this...