New House Milestone

Carol Reed

In Memoriam
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Coolidge, AZ
Tomorrow, I have an appointment with the draftsperson out at the lot. We will talk about drawing the plans for the house. I have the floor plan drawn in SketchUp. The point for hiring him is to have approved plans for the county. Mucho dinero but there is no getting around this. The county requires plans signed off by a licensed engineer, architect, etc.

My question is how much detail do I need to provide? I know the design elements I'd like in terms of doors, windows, and roofing material. And colors. Does he need all that? The point for asking the question is to not add to his already hefty fee if I can avoid it. They never tell you how you can save money, only how you can spend it, and the more the better for some reason.
 
Well i would approach it by putting the ball in his court.
He know he has to draw plans that meet with town approval and certification engineering wise. So ask what he needs from you to do this and what level of detail he requires and what the cost will be.
Most of the trades have a ballpark idea of costs like this based off a cost per square foot basis and little extras are neither here not there his estimate based on overall floorplan should be pretty close unless you having some really exotic highly detailed non standard or non traditional aspect added to your home.
Very happy for you, to hear this news and that its moving along. Good luck.

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These should be done by a licensed Architect. Don't know the cost in that area, but anyone worth .29 cents will go though several drafts to give you what the idea is...on paper anyway. Check local reg's on who can do the drawings...or finalize them. Your "Drafteman" may work for an architect. Ask the county who needs to approve the drawing spec's. Usually, the boss draws them up, county makes corrections and so on so fourth. Plan ahead so surprises are minimal!
If you know this already...sorry.
 
Any homeowners associations?

If so colors may need approval. Doors (width wise), need to be known (handicapped accessible), and I would think some basics on the windows (single pane, double pane, etc). Basically I would take my list, so you can answer his questions, as he will know what he needs to ask and then have him glance over your list, just to make sure there are no surprises. (oh, your planning a shop, we need to upgrade my electrical design)
 
Bear in mind that more detail showing what you want on the plans leaves less room for a contractor to cut corners. My architect quoted me $1,500 to produce a set of stamped drawings to meet code requirements for my detached garage with apartment . I would shop around to see what kind of deal you can find. There are actually very competent designers around that can do the plans and have connections to get the stamp. Maybe that's who you have found. If that's the case and you can review some of their previous work...go for it.
 
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Well, maybe not progress forward, but not backward either. Wonder if sideways is a form or progress?

We met. He is a draftsman who has his plans stamped by an engineer (which the county requires). Fees start at $6K. :eek: He did bring up another issue I need to resolve with the neighbor's property and my septic issue. This afternoon I will be visiting the county health department. Architectural fees start at 3 times that. :thud:

As for the other details, I will gather the various catalogs for doors and windows, make my selections and pass them along. He gets his technical data from that. No HOA to deal with. I need to pencil sketch exterior elevations. They go to the engineer who engineers them. :doh: Once the structural integrity is determined, its on to the actual plan drawing. Then permit application. For an additional fee he will bring it through the county and deliver stamped, approved plans. May be worth it. We will see.

So we are off and limping along. I am doubtful we'll ever get to the running along stage. :rolleyes:
 
Times have changed, but every municipality is different . Last time we were looking at doing an addition to our old house, the city only required elevation, floor, and a cross section plan (showing footing to roof), I drew all those myself. The city engineer signed off on it and as long as everything met the standard building codes they'd pass inspections on it. I did have to have a licensed carpenter doing the framing work in order to not submit further drawings, they seemed to trust the fact that those guys were licensed and knew what they were doing. :dunno: Probably safer to do full drawings though, that way they've signed off on everything.
 
Yikes!! The first $55K is for permits and fees! Holy cow! The septic is another $20K. I knew this would not be cheap, but holy cow! :thud: We are now $20k over budget and haven't bought the first 2x4. I wonder if my heart can take this.

That $75K gets me water, septic, and approved plans. Then I can price 2x4's. And they are already $4 a pop.

I love where I live and I will pony up the money, but I will still probably have a heart attack in the process. And now I am in the shopping for a building loan business as well. Had hoped to avoid that.
 
WOW! and I was aggravated about having to get a 25 dollar driveway permit! That's crazy! If I remember correctly when we built 8 years ago the total for permits was around 800 dollars.
 
Sounds like my neck of the woods. Here after permits you openly faced with a development fee. Just a cash grab by the town. Adds at least $60 to the property regardless of the rest.

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Sometimes it is a cash grab, and sometimes, it is what one local city did. They tripled the fee's to try to slow down growth, so the water and electrical systems could try to catch up.
Even with the triple fee's, growth was faster then they wanted.
 
Yikes!! The first $55K is for permits and fees! Holy cow! The septic is another $20K. I knew this would not be cheap, but holy cow! :thud: We are now $20k over budget and haven't bought the first 2x4. I wonder if my heart can take this.

Well when you have a holy cow to support it costs lots. Remember the Israeli's & what it cost them. It takes a lot of money to support the system where you live (the cow). By the way did the wear a mask & carry a gun too? Maybe if it cost them what it cost the Israeli's they wouldn't be so willing to reach for the gold.
 
Well, let's don't get political. It is what it is and if I don't like it I don't need to live here. I didn't much like it but I do plan to live here. Aside from which, just think how good some of you feel where you do live. See, I just repainted your lawn green. The grass really is greener on your side of the fence. And I got to rant a bit about something that took my breath away. :rofl:
 
The price of building a house in earth's version of heaven ;-) In California we have a lot of urban sprawl. The ground moves so we tend to build out instead of up. This really breaks the city/suburbs/country model that a lot of areas have. Living near "the city" is more expensive than living on the fringe. The problem is we have very little fringe and a lot of sprawling city. The costs and values reflect this.
 
Carol,

I would recommend AGAINST ANYTHING except a house designed by a licensed professional architectural engineer - or at least to have such approve the design plans.

THEY - need to take ownership of all liabilities.

Insurance companies may decide in favor of the errors made by non qualified persons and NOT pay out on a claim if you ever need to make one.

But then - you may never need to make any sort of claim. I am sure you have designed per all pertinent building design codes, regarding live loads and static loads, nailing and fastening, siding, construction materials, roofing members and materials and weather conditions - but the insurance company may not believe it.

A draftsman will draw lines on paper - but they do not have all the engineering behind them to take liability for anything that could fail.

After all - it is NOT about how the rooms are arranged or if you used wood studs or metal studs, well it is - BUT the main thing is liability.
 
In California, plans do not get approved unless stamped by a licensed engineer or architect. So no permit without all the stamps in place. The difference between have a draftsman draw the plans, get the stamps and get the permits is about one/third the cost of an architect. Suffice it to say that when I have the permit in hand, all the 't's' are crossed and all the 'i's' are dotted. The light is really green to beginning building. Some consider all than a pain in the posterior. Others recognize it as everybody covering their posterior. The other thing about architects is that they think very highly of themselves and their designs. They are not especially good at listening to the desires of the homeowner, believing they know better and only offer suggestions that drives the cost up. Their fee is a base rate plus a percentage of the cost of the house. The draftsman gets a flat rate, no matter how expensive the house is to build. And I own the plans. If I wanted to sell the property with the plans included, I could do that. No necessarily true with an architect. Like you, Leo, I watch my pennies. I am sure you have heard the term 'poor as a church mouse.' That would be me, including the clerical collar. :yes:
 
Oh yeah - us old New England Yankees can slice a penny into four pieces. Being cheap is for those that have the money. I don't have it.

But as an engineer I will consider the ramifications of my cheapness and that helps me to make sound decisions.

There is nothing wrong with doing all the design work and having the plans stamped. That saves the greenbacks AND covers the posterior. If the posterior don't get covered - that can cost more in the long run - not worth it.

The deal with designing to the standards is that the standards really do make sense most of the time and home designs should meet the standards as a minimum. It's just a good deal. The architects are well versed in the design standards - that is why they are licensed. Most of the rest of us know a little about design standards, and knowing a little can get us in trouble.

I am just glad to know you are not missing the stamps.
 
could you save money by going to a modular home ??

It sure in interesting where folks call Shangri-La. I don't think that I could ever live anywhere in California. I'm sure that folks feel the same about New Hampshire as well.
 
... It sure in interesting where folks call Shangri-La. I don't think that I could ever live anywhere in California. I'm sure that folks feel the same about New Hampshire as well.

I've been thinking the same thing, Bob. Don't complain about cost and processes if you have only one target in mind. We bought a pre-owned house, so no issues there. When I enlarged the shop building substantially, no permits were required for any of the work. I built a 20x12 lawn equipment building with no permits required. Of course, with my overkill tendency, any engineer would be asking, "Why did you put so much into it?" But then that's south Georgia for ya!
 
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