by David Chapman
Staff Writer
The permitting aspect of building a home can end up being one of the more time consuming — and frustrating — components if one is building a home for the first time.
“It is because it is so detailed,” said Richard Dostie, a retired second-generation and longtime homebuilder in Northeast Florida. “It seems to have moving parts, but it really doesn’t.”
For a person tackling building their own home who has never done it before and not in the know of the permitting process, Dostie said he would be surprised if they could complete that component within 30 days.
That’s because, for one, every county in Northeast Florida and around the state are different in their requirements, though there are a few uniform requirements such as engineering plans and truss systems.
Some counties require permits for items like windows to ensure energy efficiency and windloads, some require permits for parts like a chimney. For those building the home in an suburban area that cannot be hooked up to a city’s water and sewer lines, there’s septic tank and well construction permits homeowners must obtain through the state.
In Florida, where wetlands and water are prevalent, an environmental resource permit must be obtained to help protect Florida’s waterways and wetlands.
“It does not stop,” said Dostie. “It’s not that it’s overall frustrating, it’s just that it takes time.”
Dostie recommends contacting the county in which a homeowner will be building a home for guidance before submitting documents or building. Often, he said, they can provide a checklist detailing what a homeowner needs to comply.
Building without proper permits can result in fines or unpermitted construction being torn down, he said, and just sending in everything “you think you need” for review can mean time-consuming kickbacks from the planning department.
“If you don’t understand and just send in your plans and don’t have a specific requirement as they go through the process, they will kick it back to you each time and ask you to supply it,” he said. “That can happen a lot and the one comment I hear from a layman is ‘Why didn’t they tell me’?.”
In Duval County, the Planning and Development Division portion of its website (www.coj.net) has a comprehensive guideline to help homeowners make the right decisions when choosing a contractor and step-by-step instructions for permitting for a typical noncommercial new home or addition.
The step-by-step instructions include application; zoning; concurrency, if necessary; development services; water and sewer; architectural plans review; and payment.
Application requires those architectural plans, site plans, truss engineering when necessary and three sets of energy calculations when work requires new heated or cooled space and a septic tank construction permit, if required.
Each of the steps after application is detailed for what the City is reviewing for. For instance, zoning has 10 sub-requirements within it, development services four. Each is available for homebuilders to review so that the application, like Dostie said, doesn’t get kicked back to the applicant.
The website also has a checklist for homeowners.
Even with the proper permits, though, Dostie said there can also be another hiccup.
Homebuilders who seek to build on a lot within a master-planned community will often need to have their plans and permits approved by the community’s developer and/or homeowners association before they are allowed to build anything. The reason, he said, is because many structures within master-planned communities have similar architecture and style that remains uniform throughout a development.
Municipalities will often require a voucher from the developer or homeowners association before approved, he said, so there is sometimes no legal way to get around it.
For those homebuilders going at it alone, Dostie said it helps to hire a state-certified contractor to avoid unneeded headaches.
“It can end up costing money and time,” he said, “because not everyone understands the homebuilding process.”