Comments on: Permits Issued!

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:47:04 +0000

Hi Rod. Sorry I let your comment slip. About to send you an email about it.

By: Rod C.

Rod C. — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:19:25 +0000

Hi Mike, just recently found your blog and have been reading with great interest as my partner and I are also building a modern house over on the other side of Seattle. We are doing this long distance, as we currently live in San Francisco. Our land is also in an environmentally sensitive area, and we have gotten the same boilerplate indemnification language. My reaction was the same as yours; the City is using its leverage of a building permit to make people sign an overreaching legal document. Would you be willing to share the specifics of the document that you negotiated with the City? I’d rather not reinvent the wheel if possible, and I’m assuming it would be easier to present a compromise to the City which they have agreed to in the past. Thanks!

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:01:43 +0000

Chris: I’d love to do a webcam but I’m struggling a little with what equipment to use and how to set it up. The best quality photos come from actual digital cameras and not video cameras, so for that I’d have to find a model with a good continuous time-lapse function. On top of that, I’d have to use something like EyeFi to continuously upload the photos somewhere. And on top of that, I don’t really have an internet connection at the house so I’d have to ask one of the neighbors or something. There’s also no great place to actually mount the camera. I’m thinking the best thing to do is climb a utility pole and rig something up there, although I’m sure the city wouldn’t like that much if they ever even noticed it.

Suggestions welcome.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:09:19 +0000

Great! Looking forward to seeing photos once the work commences. Any chance of a Webcam?

By: Lou M.

Lou M. — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:20:57 +0000

It’s all relative and unique to the project in terms of costs per permits, structural engineering, etc. I’ve heard permits as low as 8-12k and structural engineering fees in the 10-20k range for something that has special circumstances (cantilever, unique structural challenges, etc.). No project is truly the same so its difficult to compare apple’s to apple’s. There’s the myth of cost per square foot which is purely mathematical and truly based on construction cost and total sq. footage but what deep down is the true cost to build when you consider cost of land, all the permits, site work, geotech, surveys, county approvals, etc.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:00:57 +0000

Andy: Yep. Some people spend more than that on architecture fees alone though. So far, the only thing that’s come in substantially higher than expected has been structural engineering fees. $1500 was budgeted and the actual charges were $8749.79.

Josh: Nice. Congrats on finding a great place. Much, much easier that way!

Darin: Wow, that is a lot. Maybe we just don’t have all of that stuff to pay for in the Seattle permitting process. Parks? Schools? Sounds like Portland is jamming a lot of pork in there (not that parks or schools are a bad thing of course!). To my knowledge (although I’ll have to check with Build), the only other permitting fees I’m on the hook for after this are the Seattle City Light fees of about $2500.

By: Darin

Darin — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:38:26 +0000

5 months is certainly a long time given the slow down. Here in portland, while things have slowed down, staff has been reduced accordingly. Maybe the same scenario in Seattle. I am surprised at your permit charges. Can you post exactly what they cover? I was able to get a fairly accurate estimate of the permit for my house and it’s $30,000!! Here is our breakdown:

PLAN CHECK FEES:
plan review: 1002.07
land use review: 612.82
residential site inspection: 421

FEES DUE AT INTAKE:
development service fee: 352.06
PDOT plan review: 189
BES plan review: 131
water plan review: 55

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CHARGES (SDC’S)
environmental services (higher since we have an ADU): 6987
parks: 3123
transportation: 2180
water: 4401
water service branch: 3345
street addressing: 128

PERMITS FOR CONSTRUCTION:
building permit: 1656.85
plumbing package: 930.72
mechanical package: 204.96
electrical package: 689.92
forestry permit: 134.96
storm sewer: 150
metro excise tax: 442.49
school construction excise tax: 3,650

total due at issuance: $30,986.13

Granted, the ADU (accessory dwelling unit) puts us into a more expensive permit tier, but if we were to drop into a more standard residence tier, we’d still be in the $25k range.

By: Josh Williams

Josh Williams — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:54:22 +0000

As always I enjoy following your saga. Thanks for continuing to demystify the process. For our part Rach and I are about to purchase a modern rebuild — and for the time being I’m grateful I’m not having to deal with all the fun like you are.

By: Andy Borgmann

Andy Borgmann — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:37:04 +0000

Iwould never have thought it would cost 78k just to get to this point. That is nuts.

By: lou m.

lou m. — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:09:37 +0000

congrats. now the fun begins!