March 24 - Architect turned in the plans to our planning reviewer. But because we were changing the outer walls, we needed to submit the revisions to the third-party plan checker for approval. In addition, the building department requested that we get the water/gas department to sign off.
March 28 - Water/gas called our architect back. They had reviewed our project in February and had signed it off with minor red-mark conditions. But for some reason they could not find the approval on the project log. So our architect asked the guy in water/gas to send an email of his approval to the person in charge of coordination of our project.
Btw, the central project coordinator is a new thing in our city planning department! Hopefully it'll help streamline the approval process. :)
April 1 - Third-party plan checker called our architect to inform her that the revisions had been stamped and approved. Since our architect was going to be in the area, she saved us a trip by picking up our plans and delivering them to the city on her way home. When she submitted our plans, she was told that water/gas had approved of our project. So now all we had to wait for is the planning to get back to us!
April 5 - Was informed that we would have to wait the full three weeks for approval from planning. Better than the last time around when the turnaround was four weeks. Also, it's good that your hopes aren't up for an early approval.
April 13 - Approved by planning!!! This means the entire project is approved by the city! We can call our contractor and begin work!
:) :) :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Setback discussion with the architect
The main reason for the "not approved" from planning is our setbacks on the sides of the house. The building codes had once again changed such that for our lot, we need 6' of clearance on each side. The old code was that you needed a total of 12' clearance on the sides. So we met up with our architect to discuss which rooms to narrow down to meet that setback requirement. We decided not to try to appeal the decision since it would most likely be rejected anyway and just end up wasting a lot of time and money.
She was very upset because she had met with the planning office twice during our design process and there were no comments on the setbacks.
So annoying!
But thankfully, she came up with a good design to minimize the damage of narrowing the house.
She was very upset because she had met with the planning office twice during our design process and there were no comments on the setbacks.
So annoying!
But thankfully, she came up with a good design to minimize the damage of narrowing the house.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Planning Department
On March 9, we contacted the city planning department because everything had been approved except the planning review. The planning review is usually the first to respond but somehow for our project, it still had the status of "routed" since Jan 03. Apparently the guy who was supposed to be reviewing our project was out and it had just been sitting there.
Thankfully, the guy who originally accepted our plans was able to get the planning department on it asap. We got a response in 24 hours!
Not approved...setback issues.
Thankfully, the guy who originally accepted our plans was able to get the planning department on it asap. We got a response in 24 hours!
Not approved...setback issues.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
First rejection
Feb 1
Once again, we were not approved by the city...not because of the mass of our structure. But rather, the Public Works department had a thing or two to say. We didn't have a copy of the pollution protection plan attached to our plans. And didn't provide diagrams for how we were going to protect our trees. (Mind you, this includes a tree in front of our neighbor's yard about 5 feet away from our home.) Geez.
Feb 16
Our architect met with Public Works and made sure she knew what had to be done. Submitted revisions.
Now all we have to do is finalize our choice of general contractor while we wait for city approval!
Once again, we were not approved by the city...not because of the mass of our structure. But rather, the Public Works department had a thing or two to say. We didn't have a copy of the pollution protection plan attached to our plans. And didn't provide diagrams for how we were going to protect our trees. (Mind you, this includes a tree in front of our neighbor's yard about 5 feet away from our home.) Geez.
Feb 16
Our architect met with Public Works and made sure she knew what had to be done. Submitted revisions.
Now all we have to do is finalize our choice of general contractor while we wait for city approval!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Don't go on vacation before plan submittal
There was miscommunication with our architect such that she thought we were in town when we had already left. There were application papers for us to sign that apparently could not be a faxed version. So we had to wait until we got home from visiting my in-laws for Christmas to bring the plans to the city...before the end of the year!
The morning after we got home, we drove straight to our architects to pick up the plans and application. Signed the forms we needed to and rushed over to the city planning office. Lo and behold, they were closed! Starting in December, they're closed on Wednesday mornings and open at 1pm. Also, they do not take our plans after 11:45am. ARGH! So we had to try again on Thursday, December 30, the very very last day to submit plans for 2010.
Dec 30: We woke up early to get to the city planning office early to be first in line to guarantee our plans made it in on time. Well, lovely for us, there are two doors to the planning office. And of course, we were waiting at the wrong one. Double ARGH! We ended up as third in line instead of first. boooo.
Since it was the holidays, the office was pretty understaffed plus the process for submitting your plans and application takes a while so we waited 45 minutes before we sat down with a city planning worker. He was a really nice guy and (thankfully) took our application. Phew! Mission accomplished!
Later that day, our architect called to make sure that the plans were submitted. She was relieved to hear that they indeed were submitted. We were supposed to call her after turning it in - oops!
The morning after we got home, we drove straight to our architects to pick up the plans and application. Signed the forms we needed to and rushed over to the city planning office. Lo and behold, they were closed! Starting in December, they're closed on Wednesday mornings and open at 1pm. Also, they do not take our plans after 11:45am. ARGH! So we had to try again on Thursday, December 30, the very very last day to submit plans for 2010.
Dec 30: We woke up early to get to the city planning office early to be first in line to guarantee our plans made it in on time. Well, lovely for us, there are two doors to the planning office. And of course, we were waiting at the wrong one. Double ARGH! We ended up as third in line instead of first. boooo.
Since it was the holidays, the office was pretty understaffed plus the process for submitting your plans and application takes a while so we waited 45 minutes before we sat down with a city planning worker. He was a really nice guy and (thankfully) took our application. Phew! Mission accomplished!
Later that day, our architect called to make sure that the plans were submitted. She was relieved to hear that they indeed were submitted. We were supposed to call her after turning it in - oops!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Architect and planning
May 20
We met with the architect today. She is a close college friend of my mother-io-law. Basically, it was a sort of a getting to know us and what we wanted type of meeting. We didn't go through the usual round of interviews to select an architect because we figure that she'd do a good job for a reasonable price. Although, we still had the option of not using her since we hadn't signed any contracts or paid any deposits yet.
After seeing her ideas for the remodel, we decided to commit to her. She definitely had some creative ideas *and* she keeps the cost in mind as she doesn't want the remodel to run her friend's kids into the ground. :p
Throughout June and July, we worked on fleshing out the layout. She came up with a brilliant idea that maximizes living space and minimizes hallway space. Then at the end of July, we left for Taiwan until mid-August. For August, she went on vacation. So we didn't work on the plans again until September.
For the months of September through November, we were working on fine tuning the floor plans, the electrical plan, and elevations (e.g., where the windows would go). In October, when the floor plan was pretty much done, our architect brought a structural engineer on board. We were working up through December with perfecting the plans we were to submit for permits until our architect set a hard deadline to submit the plans. This is because if we submitted our plans in 2011, we would need to comply with the new 2011 building codes.
We met with the architect today. She is a close college friend of my mother-io-law. Basically, it was a sort of a getting to know us and what we wanted type of meeting. We didn't go through the usual round of interviews to select an architect because we figure that she'd do a good job for a reasonable price. Although, we still had the option of not using her since we hadn't signed any contracts or paid any deposits yet.
After seeing her ideas for the remodel, we decided to commit to her. She definitely had some creative ideas *and* she keeps the cost in mind as she doesn't want the remodel to run her friend's kids into the ground. :p
Throughout June and July, we worked on fleshing out the layout. She came up with a brilliant idea that maximizes living space and minimizes hallway space. Then at the end of July, we left for Taiwan until mid-August. For August, she went on vacation. So we didn't work on the plans again until September.
For the months of September through November, we were working on fine tuning the floor plans, the electrical plan, and elevations (e.g., where the windows would go). In October, when the floor plan was pretty much done, our architect brought a structural engineer on board. We were working up through December with perfecting the plans we were to submit for permits until our architect set a hard deadline to submit the plans. This is because if we submitted our plans in 2011, we would need to comply with the new 2011 building codes.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Update thus far...
Yes, there's been a huge hiatus on this blog because...the remodel did not go through!!!
The main reason was that we could not secure a construction loan because a) due to the economic meltdown, banks were no longer issuing construction loans and b) we wouldn't be able to secure one anyway because of the way our income is earned. (No, nothing illegal. It's because we earn income through our own business vs. conventional employment with W-2's which is a big red flag for all banks these days.)
So the entire remodel was a big bust. All the money we spent on architectural and design fees, application fees, and soils testing all went down the drain. We were not thinking of remodeling again until.......
We were approached by my in-laws with the offer of a loan so that we could remodel our home (and hence, have a guest bedroom for them when they come up to visit.) After some debate, we accepted!
Here we go again... ^_^
The main reason was that we could not secure a construction loan because a) due to the economic meltdown, banks were no longer issuing construction loans and b) we wouldn't be able to secure one anyway because of the way our income is earned. (No, nothing illegal. It's because we earn income through our own business vs. conventional employment with W-2's which is a big red flag for all banks these days.)
So the entire remodel was a big bust. All the money we spent on architectural and design fees, application fees, and soils testing all went down the drain. We were not thinking of remodeling again until.......
We were approached by my in-laws with the offer of a loan so that we could remodel our home (and hence, have a guest bedroom for them when they come up to visit.) After some debate, we accepted!
Here we go again... ^_^
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