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December 28, 2004 Engineering Delay
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It’s been twenty days since my last entry. I had a lot of trouble getting to the computer since Walter and I were sick with Bronchitis for two weeks; I just got over the flu only a week prior to having Bronchitis. We were so sick that I completely stopped working on our construction project. Fortunately, there wasn’t much to do since my duties have evolved into one job, which is to nag the factory. I’m sure they enjoyed the break. However, there have been a few developments:
The Engineers were Robbed
We’ve had a lot of trouble getting our project through the engineering process. When our Architect, Gregory La Vardera designed our home, he left it up to the modular home company to do the engineering. Our modular home builders prefer to use their own engineers because engineering and building a modular home is a bit different than a site built home. The engineers that we hired have been really swamped with work and every time I called the factory for a progress report, they told me that the engineers "had a phone in one hand and a bottle of Valium in the other." Just as they were about to start on our plans, the engineering office was broken into and their server was stolen.
Even though nothing from our project was lost due to theft, we’ve had to endure a two-week delay as the engineers recovered from the loss of previous and more urgent projects. The holiday season was also a factor in the delay since some of the engineering staff took time off from work (imagine that!) Our plans are likely to be completed at the end of this week but I am prepared for it to take longer. I was told yesterday that the engineers are actively working on our plans and I hope to get a more specific update tomorrow.
Sunday night I had a very silly and perhaps dull dream in which I forgot to send the scour report to the engineers. This is an important report from a local geological engineer that specifies the required height of our finished floor. It also details the required depth of the footings for the foundation as well as the flood elevations for the property. This is important for the engineers to have since they are also designing the foundation. I asked the owner of the modular factory if I sent him a copy of the report and he said he didn’t remember it and he certainly didn’t give it to the engineers. Anyway, it turned out that we did send it in the mail a while ago the wife of the factory owner dug it out of our file and gave it to the engineers. So, it was a mundane but opportune dream.
More Yard Work
We’re slowly cleaning up the place and we hope that we’ll be able to do more work now that we’re all feeling well.
We moved all the concrete blocks and the large cactus with the help of Robin (Moler) and Genia from FabPrefab. They came to visit our property and share their building projects and volunteered to help on our "Free Dump Day". We were very grateful for their help.
Permitting
Once we get our engineered plans, we’re going to the building department promptly for our permits. Permitting for the actual structure will take place during the same time at the factory. The fee for the factory permitting is somewhere around $2000 and our local permitting fees will be $18,603.10. David determined our local permits while I was ill. Here’s a chart:
Payee |
Description |
Amount |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LA County Environmental Health |
Health Dept Cert. |
$692.00 |
||||||
LA County Waterworks District |
Water service permit |
$3664.53 |
||||||
Castaic Water Agency |
Local water fees |
$5573.00 |
||||||
Castaic Union School District |
Elementary School Fee |
$4309.08 |
||||||
Hart School District |
High School Fee |
$2154.54 |
||||||
LA County Fire Department |
Fire Prev. Develop. Fee |
$560.61 |
||||||
LA County Dept. Public Works |
Bldg/Geotech plan check |
$716.34 |
||||||
LA County Dept. Public Works |
Permit Issuance |
$933.00 |
||||||
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FabPreFabbers
RobinMoler (who rarely posts) came with her friend Genia to look at our budget, elevations and property. They're both hopefully building near South Pasadena. Perhaps a Glidehouse or two? Genia came back next weekend and took the large cactus with her to transplant.
Also, my Dad did most of the hauling that day with his truck and I see that I failed to mention that. I am a forgetful daughter... he was also sick that day.
Sara
That is an idyllic lot
I'm glad to hear that you are both recovering. That lot is absolutely beautiful. Have you camped out on it yet?
$18,000?
Holy crap! I certainly hope that you included your 2005 property taxes in the $18,000 figure. To get our house built, we are probably going to have $800 in permits and $2,000 in fees. For once I can say I am glad to live in Texas.
Taxes
No, I didn't include the property taxes in that figure. Property taxes are due twice yearly and we're paid through April. We're lucky to have that amount for permits. If we built a larger home permit fees would have been much higher since we're billed per square foot for our school fees.
Wow.
It may not offer much solace, but the economics of it all suggest that had these fees been lower, you would have had to pay more for the lot (as other bidders would know the fee situation too, and would have been willing to bid more, driving up the value of the lot). Similarly, had the fees in Texas been much higher, the lot would have been cheaper. It all washes out in the end. But still, I cannot believe your fees will be 700% higher than ours.
Bay area
I heard that permit fees in the bay area are much higher than here in los angeles. Plus land is hard to find and very expensive. Our lot was 90k and I think we got a good deal; our lot is totally flat, as you can see. In any case, if the very same lot was located in Glendale or Pasadena, it would have been three times the amount we paid.
In the end, I think it evens out when our house is appraised since property values are higher here than other areas of the country.
Bay Area Permit Fees - Case Study
I started construction July of 04. Here were my SF bay area permit fees to date:
- - planning/design review 4598 - school fees 150 - sewer application permit 428 - Fire dept review 5193 - bldg dept. fee payment #1 (structural submittal) 10517 - remainder of bldg fee (includes a bunch of stuff) 13071 - sewer district permit
I think that was everything...
All that and I still pay 1.25% property taxes. Where does all the money go? Sidenote: the planning and bldg permit fees went up again in the last few months (20-percent range).
helpful friends!
Now who were your helpful visitors from Fabprefab? Are these regular posters over there? That was really so nice of them to help.