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Pulling permits for house addition - drawings, etc.?

fordguy

blah.
Joined
Nov 24, 2022
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5787
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283
Looking to get a permit to expand the garage/house, but confused on the process.

I contacted the city and they want certain drawings etc, its over my head. I called a contractor, they pull permits only for jobs they do themselves.

How can I do this myself - contact an arhitect firm? online service?

Thanks
 
In 2004 my flat roof blew off in a wind storm. Insurance cut me a check, so I dropped on trusses and metal.
Permitting was surprisingly helpful. They walked me through exactly what they needed.
I ended up submitting the truss drawing from the manufacturer, and a simplistic CorelDraw of how the trusses interfaced with the existing structure.
Not much more complex than this internet pic:
1719611354613.jpeg


All this in backwater Anchorage, and for a minor change to an existing structure.

Make friends with someone in Permitting, and see if they can give you specifics of what they need.

I guess drawings of what you're actually doing might come first, though...
 
Hire an architect or draftsperson depending on what is required. Someone will need to process the permit and I always do it for my clients as part of my contract but a draftsperson might not.
 
fordguy said:
Looking to get a permit to expand the garage/house, but confused on the process.

I contacted the city and they want certain drawings etc, its over my head. I called a contractor, they pull permits only for jobs they do themselves.

How can I do this myself - contact an arhitect firm? online service?

Thanks
Click to expand...
What drawings are they requesting? Foundation? Framing? Everything?
Are you going to hire the work done? Self perform?

If you are hiring it out, draw up a sketch of what you want and get quotes from contractors and tell them to include cost for drawings and permit fees in their quotes.
 
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Plot Plans (rolled plans drawn to a scale no less than 1" = 20')
• Elevation Plans (rolled plans drawn to a scale no less than 1/8" = 1')
• Floor Plans (rolled plans drawn to a scale no less than 1/8" = 1')
• Roof Plans (rolled plans drawn to a scale no less than 1/8" = 1')
• Grading Plans (rolled plans drawn to a scale no less than 1" = 20')


looking to do the work myself with the help of my employees sometimes and maybe hiring one main guy (not a company)
 
You’ll need a civil engineer or similar for plot and grading.
Where are you going to buy the material package? Some independent lumber yards will work with you on the elevation, floor, and roof plans if you are buying from them.
 
You can do the drawings yourself, but being in CA, you likely need a registered design professional, aka architect or engineer, to stamp your shit for the City to accept.

I know out here you can/could get away with no stamp if work was being done as the owner/builder.

Good luck, I fucking hate anything permit related.
 
Around here the county will deny your permit for any little detail and absolutely will not tell you why. The idea is that if you don't know how to draw it, you should not be building it.

Outside of the most basic things I hire engineering, architectural and civil professionals to draw things up for me and then I submit them. If they have a stamp on them the city isn't allowed to contest the drawings without hiring a professional of their own to do so as they don't have an engineering team on staff.

I know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to know all the code requirements. I generally build most things on my own based on the plans though.
 
Some counties just suck at customer service with helping a tax payer trying to get permission to use something they already own
I live in one, it is like they want you to fail and set you up for it

Honestly pick the Ugliest/fattest chick in the office, and just flirt with her. It helps :grinpimp:
 
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Aparently
You've been there:laughing:
Op any chance of your municipality having a Wednesday express ?
Quick easy jobs go straight to a planner to pencil whip thru the process.
What are you planning?
Square footage to be added?
Roofline changes?
 
Talk to planning.

Honestly it's not that hard, just takes some research.

I drew my elevations, site plans, drainage, foundation, framing, electrical, everything, in Solidworks (less fun than you would think) for my 21' peak attached garage with no direct civil background in CA.

Beyond setback issues that I got a variance for, engineering passed me in the first go around.

You don't HAVE to hire a professional, but you do have to educate your self on what they want and what code requires.
 
Bggrnchvy said:
Talk to planning.

Honestly it's not that hard, just takes some research.

I drew my elevations, site plans, drainage, foundation, framing, electrical, everything, in Solidworks (less fun than you would think) for my 21' peak attached garage with no direct civil background in CA.

Beyond setback issues that I got a variance for, engineering passed me in the first go around.

You don't HAVE to hire a professional, but you do have to educate your self on what they want and what code requires.
Click to expand...
I will second this
It isn't like you are trying to prep Biden for a debate, just do your homework.
 
The only thing required for me was a site map. I took an image of my property from Google satellite view and imported it into MS paint.
Then I drew colored squares or circles over the things that they wanted like well, power poles, septic tank, leach field, etc... Underneath the image, I put a legend that explained what each color was. The ladies at the county complimented me on it saying it was the best drawing that they had ever seen a homeowner provide. It sounds like they were used to seeing shit scribbled on notebook paper. But, I do live in a county where the population is about the same as my highschool class was in the city and cows outnumber people by 30:1.
 
Russell said:
I know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to know all the code requirements.
Click to expand...
based on the You tube home inspector videos I see , builders / contractors don't know or build to code
 
I am doing the same but taking a different approach.

I read the code/regs/bullshit with the permitting.

I worked with an architect to get plans.

County has a minimum on the need for a permit... any project under $15k and does not involve the electrical service or sewage does not require a permit.

I told the architect to provide plans in sub $15K increments.

Gonna do the work in 3 phases to ensure I avoid the bullshit of permits.

YMMV.
 
fordguy said:
I contacted the city and they want certain drawings etc, its over my head.

How can I do this myself - contact an arhitect firm? online service?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Some of you are overlooking these parts. If he's admitting this is over his head he's better off paying someone for the drawings.
 
Talk to a couple of GCs and find out who does their
Levigarrett76 said:
Find out from the city 5 recent remodel/addition permits, and who the design professional is that drew for each. Then reach out
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this


We hired an architect but he was an idiot

The city keep wanting more details etc and the GC we used had a guy that did elevation drawings etc

You do know the elevation drawing they want is just a sketch of what the finished product is gonna look like from the outside


Talk to a couple of GCs who have recently done work on that city and ask them who did their drawings etc

My GC had a guy that did his drawings

Guy wasn’t an architect or anything , just a good artist and he made nice sketches

Most cities will accept the drawings from the subcontractors like whoever is building the floor and roof trusses etc ,

Go meet with the folks who are gonna build your trusses and see how it goes ,
 
fordguy said:
Looking to get a permit to expand the garage/house, but confused on the process.

I contacted the city and they want certain drawings etc, its over my head. I called a contractor, they pull permits only for jobs they do themselves.

How can I do this myself - contact an arhitect firm? online service?
Click to expand...

I was in your shoes. The building dept office didn't like anything I drew up, despite repeated attempts. They want to deal with their regular local builders. That's when I caved and got a GC. With that came all the direction for lot survey, a reputable local designer, cheap engineer (one stupid tall wall needed $500 signature), etc.

Anyway, got the GC to do the basic 'heavy lifting' to have an enclosed dry structure and dismissed him. Then I DIY'd the easier stuff (for me) like insulation & vb, boarding, garage door, electrical, etc.
 
Tin Roof said:
Some of you are overlooking these parts. If he's admitting this is over his head he's better off paying someone for the drawings.
Click to expand...

its ibb, this is isually the case :laughing:


some great ideas posted up, let me see what I can find.

I considered starting with a GC and then canning them, seems like that would really piss them off though?
 
fordguy said:
I considered starting with a GC and then canning them, seems like that would really piss them off though?
Click to expand...

If there was suddenly a money problem, and you managed to give some notice, and you paid them out for what was done....

That said, my GC's speed was incredible (by my standards.) Excavation to closed-up in about 10 weeks on a 40x50'x19' shop. The lumber never even got weathered. Worth it, even though it was expensive.
 
Every state/county is different. I tried to do the right thing in Santa Rosa county FL. Finally said screw it and just did it.
 
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