Our foundation getting dug and setup.

[PSDStu]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( But I can do you one better. Here in rural Texas, if your outside the city limits, there are almost no permits. The one that comes to mind is if your on less than ten acres, you have to have one for your septic. If over ten acres, than none is required!!!)</font>

Eddie,

One thing about Florida....... in my experience the Dept of Health doesn't budge much regarding septic tank permits..... it's probably one of the must frustrating parts of the whole building experince..... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Highbeam]

Permitting is my occupation which further sours me to the need for permits. You think you have property rights? Try getting a permit.

 

[Farwell]

When I lived in an area that was strict on permits I would go the person that issued the permits and ask them what they needed and would try to get them to put it into writing. I would do it their way and if there was any problem I would refer them back to the instructions they gave me. In all of my experiences with the permit process this has worked very well for me.
Farwell

 

[keeney]

One of the purposes of building permits is to _protect_ everybody's property rights. That includes the "right" to not have property values destroyed by a neighbor building sub-standard rickety buildings next door that bring down the value of the whole neighborhood, or putting a building right up tight to the property line or over-crowding or using the property for an incompatible use, etc.

It may not make a lot of sense for larger properties (thus the > 10 acre exception in Texas that was mentioned), but the tighter you pack people together, the more problems they will make for each other if you don't at least have some rules.

- Rick

 

[Highbeam]

This is true but also remember that what is a disgrace to one person is a source of pride to the next. Rules are one thing, permits are another. I would be fine with a short list of rules that were aimed at protecting the safety of you, your immediate neighbors, and the safety of future owners of the building you are creating. There should also be a general rule that you can not damage the ability of others to enjoy their property which is not the same thing as a rule that your neighbors must enjoy your property.

I might be a little odd but my land ends at the property line and so long as I can enjoy my little slice, I must tolerate my neighbor's enjoyment of his nomatter how rickety I think his building is.

And yes, people will always fight when you stick them in such close quarters that they are stepping on one anothers toes. All the problems are concentrated and increased when we live too close, this is why we desire life on large lots.

 

[EddieWalker]

Keeney,

I agree with you that permits have a valid benifit to all of us. Here it's not uncommon to see sewage dumped out in the open, or even down a creeek. Enforcement is almost non existant in the more rural areas. There's no telling how many septic tanks are made from a barrel with burried straw as a leach field.

My problem wiht the permit process is that it's become a source of revenue. To many cities, or counties rely on these fees as their operating expense, and when they need more money, they increase thier fees or invent new things that require permits.

The area of California I'm from requires a permit on any home improvement valued at $100 or more. To me, this is rediculous.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

Source of revenue? Eddie, when I bought my place in the country, I had 10 acres so no permit was required for the existing septic, but the county sanitarian said to put a second septic system in for my parents would require a permit because now each one is on less than 10 acres. I agreed that it sounded logical, so I went to town, sat down with him and asked exactly what all would be required. I did exactly as he said, but every time I got it all done, he came up with something else, so I made 4 trips to town to his office before we got it all done. I later learned that he had been fired once, but rehired after he filed a lawsuit. So then my brother bought 10 acres; shouldn't have needed a permit but did want to make sure everything would be OK both then and in the future. But my brother had even more trouble than I did; the county sanitarian kept changing the rules and wanting more paperwork until my brother finally complained to his county commissioner and they fired the sanitarian again - permanently that time. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Now the good news - our permits cost $10 plus $5 for notarizing the paperwork.

The bad news. The old sanitarian position was a part time job and the guy was actually fired for conflict of interest because he had a sideline of designing systems; my brother and I learned too late that if you didn't hire him to design your system, you had problems. So the county commissioners decided to hire someone who knew what he was doing, was apparently honest and to make the job a full time job. Then they raised the permit fee to $410. $10 to $410 - how's that for inflation? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Highbeam]

"Now the good news - our permits cost $10 plus $5 for notarizing the paperwork"

Add 3 zeros for the cost of a single family residence permit in my city.

The only way to ensure that any of these rules are followed is a permit. Just very frustrating for the guy getting the permit. Like eddie's 100$ improvement permit there are many things that are ridiculous but it is easier to buy a permit than to fight for the principle.

 

[PSDStu]

I thought I'd post some updated pics of the foundation work. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[PSDStu]

More pics.