Getting permits as a homeowner is possible. The savings can be significant. You have to know the rules of the road.
1. You cannot build a home in Walton County as a Home Owner and sell until after 1 year of occupancy.
2. Do not try to get a friend building contractor to pull permits for you. One day this might bite one or both of you.
3. If you dream of being a builder then find a way to legitimately get your certified building contractor license. If you want to be a building contractor, retire from your current profession and spend a year as a supervisor at a building company.
By the way, home builders in the area are by and large registered building contractors and not general contractors. There is a difference. If you want someone to build you a bridge over the Choctawhatchee Bay then you need a general contractor like Bob.
The permitting process is as follows:
1. Once you have a lot and know the design, go ahead and clear the lot. You need a clearing permit. TIME = 4 Business Day
2. Go to the planning department once you have the SITE PLAN and the architect's or draftsman's drawing showing building placement, floor plans and room labels and elevations. The planning department must approve your ideas! and plans generally first. TIME = 6 Business Days
3. Take a small set of the plans to a certified energy consultant. They can produce your required Energy Letter that has to be submitted with your permit request. TIME = 1 Business Day
4a. Once you get the engineered plans go to Regional Water Utilities and submit them and pay the tap fee due. For most it will be an additional amount over what has already been paid, but for some where no tap fee has been paid before it can be a big number. Prepare for $10,000 and over for nicer homes. TIME = 10 Business Days (could be less if they were not so busy!)
4b. Fire Impact Fee. Takes NO TIME at All. Done on the spot but you have to have it to get your permit.
5. At the same time you start number 4 above, take the engineered plans to Frank's Cash and Carry in Freeport. They will develop the Florida Approved Materials List that has to be submitted with your building permit request. This is not as hard as you think. You can do it yourself if you know what you are doing. Takes about 4 hours.
The five things above are the things you need to submit your plans for a building permit. You will need to know some other things. You will have to provide an estimate or contract value for the build. If you have done your homework prior to this stage, you will know about how much the home will cost to build. If you are working with a builder, then you already have a contract price.
As a home owner contractor you will have to submit written statements of compliance with the exception to the law under which you will be operating.
How Long Does It Take: 26 working days. DONE. PERMIT ISSUED AUGUST 19, 2015 in just 4 days. The building department is awesome and fast. They are always faster than you think, but it pays to have good engineering like you get From Wallace Structural Engineering and very permittable plans for architecture like you get from Tim Moore Drafting. It would be nice if it was all in a row, but this process can be spread out over a couple or three months depending on how you approach it. For example, the lot for this project was cleared a few weeks before the plans were finalized. We knew the building footprint.
How Much Will This All Cost: If no tap fee has ever been paid on the lot, the total costs for permits for a nicer style home (say Watercolor at 3000 sq ft) will be in the $15,000 range. $11-12K for tap fee, 1K for services to prep for submission and 2-4K for the building permit and all other required permits that come along with it.
While you may not need Bob, you can be Bob with some help.
Permit Costs: ~$20,000
Let's Build Something Together Series
1. You cannot build a home in Walton County as a Home Owner and sell until after 1 year of occupancy.
2. Do not try to get a friend building contractor to pull permits for you. One day this might bite one or both of you.
3. If you dream of being a builder then find a way to legitimately get your certified building contractor license. If you want to be a building contractor, retire from your current profession and spend a year as a supervisor at a building company.
The permitting process is as follows:
1. Once you have a lot and know the design, go ahead and clear the lot. You need a clearing permit. TIME = 4 Business Day
2. Go to the planning department once you have the SITE PLAN and the architect's or draftsman's drawing showing building placement, floor plans and room labels and elevations. The planning department must approve your ideas! and plans generally first. TIME = 6 Business Days
3. Take a small set of the plans to a certified energy consultant. They can produce your required Energy Letter that has to be submitted with your permit request. TIME = 1 Business Day
4a. Once you get the engineered plans go to Regional Water Utilities and submit them and pay the tap fee due. For most it will be an additional amount over what has already been paid, but for some where no tap fee has been paid before it can be a big number. Prepare for $10,000 and over for nicer homes. TIME = 10 Business Days (could be less if they were not so busy!)
4b. Fire Impact Fee. Takes NO TIME at All. Done on the spot but you have to have it to get your permit.
5. At the same time you start number 4 above, take the engineered plans to Frank's Cash and Carry in Freeport. They will develop the Florida Approved Materials List that has to be submitted with your building permit request. This is not as hard as you think. You can do it yourself if you know what you are doing. Takes about 4 hours.
Put in your permit request.
The five things above are the things you need to submit your plans for a building permit. You will need to know some other things. You will have to provide an estimate or contract value for the build. If you have done your homework prior to this stage, you will know about how much the home will cost to build. If you are working with a builder, then you already have a contract price.
As a home owner contractor you will have to submit written statements of compliance with the exception to the law under which you will be operating.
How Long Does It Take: 26 working days. DONE. PERMIT ISSUED AUGUST 19, 2015 in just 4 days. The building department is awesome and fast. They are always faster than you think, but it pays to have good engineering like you get From Wallace Structural Engineering and very permittable plans for architecture like you get from Tim Moore Drafting. It would be nice if it was all in a row, but this process can be spread out over a couple or three months depending on how you approach it. For example, the lot for this project was cleared a few weeks before the plans were finalized. We knew the building footprint.
How Much Will This All Cost: If no tap fee has ever been paid on the lot, the total costs for permits for a nicer style home (say Watercolor at 3000 sq ft) will be in the $15,000 range. $11-12K for tap fee, 1K for services to prep for submission and 2-4K for the building permit and all other required permits that come along with it.
While you may not need Bob, you can be Bob with some help.
Permit Costs: ~$20,000
Let's Build Something Together Series
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