Permits

Permits, permits, permits... Everyone wants a permit! Or a fee!

These were a lot of work to get together, although things surprisingly went really smoothly. 

We did our homework. We even met with the Chief Building Official before we submitted our permits to make sure we had everything we needed. The last thing we wanted was to submit everything and have them come back to tell us we forgot something. That would have meant more waiting... And we're not really patient people :)

Obviously our permits apply to Lucan-Biddulph, but during our research we discovered that most cities and municipalities in Ontario are the same and based off of the Ontario Building Code. 

What you need for a building permit:

1) Building Permit Application

2) 2 copies of your plans signed by a designer or architect. Sounds simple enough... But don't forget to include:

- floor plans (for all levels)

- foundation plans

- building elevations (front, back, both sides)

- sections & details (this is showing a cross section of the walls and details on how they'll be constructed.)

3) Your designer or architect will need to fill out and sign a "Schedule 1" taking responsibility for the design. They will need to have a BCIN (Building Code Identification Number) as well.

4) Site plan showing:

- location of building on the lot

- setbacks to property lines

- finished grading plan

5) Energy Efficiency Design Summary

This is filled out by your house designer or architect. It "summarizes the compliance path used by a house designer to comply with energy efficiency requirements of the Ontario Building Code". Riiiiight... The only thing that made sense to me on this form was the percentage of window space on the house! We did make sure to show this to our window manufacturer so that we got the proper window efficiency. 

6) Roof and floor truss drawings stamped by an engineer. 

7) HVAC Design Summary. Whoever designs this will also need to fill out a Schedule 1. This form needs to be filled out by anyone who designs anything for the house, unless it's stamped by an engineer. They're exempt. 

Because we aren't on a sewer system we also needed a permit for a septic system. For this permit we needed:

1) Permit Application

2) Schedule 2 which is information on the septic system installer. 

3) Septic system design and site plan done and stamped by an engineer. 

Our lot backs onto the Little Ausable River so because of this, a portion of our lot is in a "regulated area". So you'll never guess what we needed to get from the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Area... Another permit!

We needed approval to put our septic bed in the regulated area. We were told multiple horror stories about getting permits from the ABCA. We were told they take forever, sometimes months. So we started this permit as soon as we could. They were surprisingly quick!! I think they just wanted to get rid of me! 

Permits are pricey!! For EVERYTHING required for these permits, including drawings, development fees, engineers and permit fees, we have spent just under $10,000 before we even broke ground. Insane!!!

Now we should get $2000 back from the municipality when everything is done. For some reason they require a security deposit. I'm surprised we didn't need a permit for the security deposit too... 

I wish we could say that we're finally done with permits... But there's a rather large detached garage in our near future that will also require a permit. More on that later. 

The worst part about getting the permit together was waiting. We had our plans done by the designer. Then we sent them to the floor and roof truss company to design the trusses. Once we got those drawings we sent them to the HVAC designer. Then once we had both the truss designs and HVAC design we had to send them back to the designer to make any changes based on what was designed by the truss and HVAC people. 

We found a great place to get our plans printed. It's downtown London, which is kind of a pain, but they print them for $0.60/page!  Plans for everyone!!!  It's called Mercury Blueprints. Just bring your files and they'll print them for you on the spot. We priced other printing companies and they were anywhere from $5-15/sheet. When your plans consist of 6 pages each, that can add up quickly. 

One thing we didn't realize about this whole process was how long everything takes. We started the house drawings in July and finally were able to apply for our permits 2 months later. In those 2 months it felt like we were yoyos running back and forth and it felt like we weren't getting a lot done... Now in the next 2 months we will have a shell of an entire house!!  Framing will be starting in a mater of days and I can't wait to walk through the house in 3D!

Started from the bottom now we're here!

Hey!  Thanks for stopping in!  Jake and I decided to keep a blog/journal of our self-contracting adventure.  When we were researching building our own house, we found that there was a lack of real information from people who have done it... so hopefully this will help someone else in the future!  And if not, it will be a good spot to keep a record of what we've done and how we went about doing it.  Although I'm sure there will be things we'd rather forget!

Since our house building is technically 3 days in at this point, I'll give you the Cole's Notes version on how we got to this point, and then hopefully we'll be able to keep up as we move along.

March 2014 - We purchased our building lot. Yay! Just over an acre, 2.5km from the town of Lucan, Ontario.

April 2014- Our lot closed on April 25th and it was officially ours!  We had started looking at floor plans in March but knew we wouldn't be starting to build until Jake's house had sold and closed.

May 2014 - Jake sold his house!  Now to start pricing plans!  We found a floor plan we liked on the Beaver Homes and Cottages website, and made some modifications with our house designer to spruce up the exterior.  By the time we had finished "sprucing up" the floor plan, we had a 2400 square foot bungalow... which we were told was a "large" bungalow.  On paper, it looked fantastic!  Until we found out how much paper it was going to cost.  Back to square one!

July 31 2014 - Jake's house closed!  And we had picked out a new, smaller floor plan to work with!

But eventually over time, it too grew from about 1900 square feet to 2050 square feet. We tried!

My dad suggested taking our plans to builders for quotes so we had an idea on budget, so we did. 

The majority of builders in our area charge $160-175 per square foot. We disagree with this method of pricing a house, but a lot of builders go that route. Our thought is that every house no matter how big or small still has 1 kitchen, 1 furnace, 2 or 3 bathrooms... So why does adding 500 square feet, of let's say a living room, equate $85,000? It shouldn't. 

Anyway, moving on! After speaking to a few builders, we decided our best option was to contract the house ourselves to save a bit of money, which brings us here! My dad has done this a few times, so we knew we'd have him to help guide us along. 

September 2014 - We did a lot of waiting. Waiting on engineers to stamp drawings, waiting on roof truss designs, waiting for trades to get back to us with quotes and availability and then waiting on our house designer to modify the plans after the engineers had a look at everything. 

We ran into a few snags, but all in all it went pretty smoothly. 

September 19th, 2014 - We finally had everything we needed to apply for our building permit. We need a septic system as well, so we applied for this permit at the same time. According to the Ontario Building Code, the municipality has 10 days to respond to your permit application. Lucan Biddulph used all 10 days... And even a couple of extras before we could physically pick up the permit. They did tell us everything was fine and they were issuing a permit on day 10. If you're as impatient as we are, don't be afraid to call them and ask for status checks on your application. Squeaky wheel gets the grease! 

Finally, we had the permits in our hands! Now to begin the physical work of building a house...