March 2018
Home Builder Legislation Filed in Missouri BUILD-PAC Fundraiser – page 3 Workforce Partnership Training Grant – page 5
The Fairness to Homeowners Act (HB 2451), sponsored by Rep. Gary Cross (R-Lee’s Summit), would improve the permit and inspection process for home builders and homeowners in Missouri.
• Cities must accept plans signed and sealed by an engineer or architect as approved
What’s going on? Home builders and homeowners often experience time consuming and costly inconsistencies within numerous Planning and Development Departments (both cities and counties) throughout the state of Missouri.
• If deadlines are not met, plans are deemed automatically approved
What are the problems? • Plan review delays when acquiring permits • Arbitrary enforcement of sections of code • Inconsistent inspection requirements, thereby holding builders to disparate standards • Delayed Certificates of Occupancy On many occasions builders have lost sales because of these problems with the permitting process. Other times buyers are left with delayed closing dates due to these departmental issues, costing them and their builder additional money.
All you need to know about the Home Show pages 11-17
What’s in the bill: • Plan review and permit timeline
• 5 day deadline for plan review if not stamped by an engineer or architect
• No new requirements can be made after the initial plan review and comment period • Require cities to accept third-party inspections by engineers • Require cities to promptly review the Certificate of Occupancy (COO) following final inspections and issue COO within 1 day • Enforcement • Violations are considered a class A misdemeanor; civil penalties of $5,000 How will this affect home builders/ homeowners? • Reduced delays and fewer engineer consultations, which ultimately result in increased construction costs that are passed onto the homeowner. • An expedited building process and in creased availability of new homes from using engineers for plan reviews
and as third-party inspectors. • A more predictable building process and more accurate closing dates due to established permitting timelines. •
Increased builder confidence in the process will lead to more new homes being built in jurisdictions that are otherwise more difficult to work in.
• A smooth buying process for home owners based on a timeline mandate for issuing Certificates of Occupancy.