Pro Tips for Permitting

by Meta Levin

Successful permitting boils down to three things: relationships, honesty and doing the right thing. That was Jon Hirsch and Moira Dillon’s message to those who attended their iLandscape 2022 presentation, “Everything You Should Know to Make Your Building Permit Process Flow.”

Both Hirsch, president of Krügel Cobbles in Lake Bluff, and Moira Dillon, designer for the company, have a long history with the permitting process. “This is a big issue with ILCA members,” says Hirsch.

“If you get a reputation of doing the right thing, you will get the benefit of the doubt if something goes wrong,” Hirsch says. That reputation begins with forging relationships with the right people in the building and zoning departments of the municipalities in which you work. “Get to know them and let them get to know you.”

Why do you need a permit?

Getting a permit for most construction work is the law. “If you get caught doing the work without one, it can be expensive,” says Hirsch. In the worst case, municipal officials can make you tear out the work you’ve already completed.

It can be a time-consuming process to get a permit, which leads some clients pressuring contractors to skip it. “Tell them it’s a necessity,” Hirsch says. “It’s a must have, not a nice to have.” In the long run, it will save everyone a lot of heartache.

If you think that you can go ahead without one, know that building inspectors drive around looking for signs that work is underway, then check if the permit has been issued. One inspector told Dillon that when he saw the Krügel Cobbles trucks, he didn’t worry about the permitting, because they had a reputation of doing things right. Not so for some other contractors.

During the permitting process there are fees for review, inspection and for each subcontractor. They far exceed the $150 flat fee that Krügel Cobbles charges.

“The rest of the fees charged by the municipality are included in the last invoice when we close the job,” says Dillon, who stresses that Krügel Cobbles itemizes the amounts and includes payment confirmations. “We only take care of any required bond that will be reimbursed once the job is finished without any damage. This usually is when the right-of-way is involved.”

Other costs connected with the permitting process are rolled into the overhead. Dillon usually warns clients that the job may require a new plat of survey, as well as other related fees. “It is important to tell the client that we don’t know what it is going to cost,” she says. “A new plat and drainage and grading plans are an extra expenditure.” Dillon ticked off several advantages to following the permitting process in detail: • Avoid potential lawsuits

• Avoid unpleasant surprises

• Comply with code standards

• Minimize environmental impact

• Keep a record (what was done)

• Protect your client relationship

There are advantages both for the contractor and the client. For instance, any modification done with an approved permit will be covered by home insurance if anything happens in the future, says Dillon.

It also means that the municipality has a record of when and what types of work was done. Hirsch notes that he has had new home buyers contact him about work done years before they bought their homes. “They had been connected to us by the municipalities that had our permit presentation on file,” he says. “This connected us to a new client who had bought a house where we had worked before. They were (continued on page 12)

(continued from page 10) able to know exactly what material was used to be able to expand the existing patio to adapt to their new needs.” And Krügel Cobbles got a new customer.

Once a permit is approved, contractors receive stamped plans and a permit placard. The placard contains the permit number, which the inspector will need each time he or she visits the job site.

Just getting the permit means that you will acquaint yourself with local requirements. Although there are some requirements that are the same from municipality to municipality, each is “a world of its own,” with varying local requirements. You can check these by phone (remember, you’ve established a relationship with people in the building department), in person or on the municipality’s website. Some, Dillon cautions, have better websites than others. “Try to find someone in each municipality, who can help you and who you can contact if you have a problem,” she says.

Step by Step

“Most important, know your limits,” says Hirsch. “Understand the process and the steps involved.”

The process of submitting a permit request takes the longest. To do it, you must consider a laundry list of issues, including: zoning, preservation (is it a historic preservation district, environmental or some other sensitive area?), engineering, forestry, architecture, rights of way and other concerns (i.e., plumbing, electricity, gas, irrigation).

Dillon suggests providing more hard copies than you think you will need of each component. “Take three to five hard copies, when maybe you think you need two or three,” she says.

Since COVID 19, when just about everyone who could began working from home, the time necessary to get feedback from the municipal building departments began to take longer. “After two or three weeks I start pushing,” says Dillon.

The actual submission can be in person or via web portals, some of which were hastily established early in pandemic days and only now are becoming more user friendly. “There were many changes during 2020,” says Dillon. These included online submission, new portals, bins outside municipalities into which to drop plans, electronic payment and remote inspections via Zoom. Often the scramble to accommodate COVID 19 protocols and do business while everyone was working from home resulted in miscommunication, “as it was difficult to contact the reviewers.”

In the case of the new online portals, Dillon found that they did save time. If changes were required, it saved her the necessity of driving back and forth to the municipality in question. Hirsch and Dillon expect the online portals to stay, even as the pandemic ebbs. It saves time. It also saves the building departments time and allows for more inspectors in the field.

Then there was the issue of inspections and reviews. Dillon believes she was lucky, since the company’s project managers had become adept at taking detailed photographs of each step to “illustrate what was built and have a photo record of what we did. It saved a lot of aggravation,” she says.

That photo record came in handy when building inspectors did not arrive for scheduled inspections. Because there were detailed, step-by-step pictures, they were able to continue work. Most of the time the inspectors accepted the photographs, but there were still instances when Krügel Cobbles workers had to pull up a paver to prove to an inspector that the work was done up to code. (continued on page 14)

Construction Details - General Schematic

Stoop Section Pergola Footing Fireplace Section and Footing Seat wall Section Fire Pit Plan/ Foundation Fire Pit Section

Include: Heights Materials Distances

(continued from page 12) How to Get it Right

First and foremost, Dillon says you must have a complete and accurate presentation. That includes a completed permit application from the municipality. Don’t assume one is the same as others. They aren’t. Make sure it has the requisite signatures – from the company, the homeowner and whoever else is essential.

Occasionally permit application forms are sent to the homeowners. Let them know that you will handle it.

Provide a plat survey. Most homeowners have one. It’s usually with the documents from the sale of the house, says Hirsch. It may, however, be out of date, not reflecting changes that have been made in the interim. In that case, a new one may be necessary – an added cost to the homeowner.

Some municipalities require an existing topography plan. For that, you need a civil engineer involved, which, says Dillon, means another $1500 or more. Other municipalities require that certain size and types of projects be tied into the sewer system, which can cost the homeowner upwards of $10,000 for a patio that is 300 square feet and costs less than $10,000. This needs to be indicated on the plans as submitted.

When the scale of the job is more, a proposed drainage and grading plan is necessary, especially when there is significant soil movement. “You have to be careful with grading,” says Dillon. She cautions to remember that

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whenever earth is moved, it may affect neighboring properties.

Make sure that you provide the proposed design layout with the dimensions clearly indicated, as well as the impervious paver calculations. “Plans need to be labeled and show dimensions of improvements and distances to lot lines or setbacks,” says Dillon. “Show trees and fencing, if necessary.” Show photographs of the existing conditions and draw the proposed layout over the existing plat. “Reviewers randomly have the opportunity of getting to the job site and this will be key for understanding your proposed design,” Dillon says. Make it clear.

In some cases, details must be customized, but in others general details that are used frequently can be adapted to each presentation, i.e., stoop sections, seat walls, slab steps, fireplaces and firepit sections and foundations.

Because flooding and other water issues have become more and more of an issue in the last several years, it is often necessary to provide an impervious calculation – the percentage of the lot surface affected. If semi-permeable areas are proposed, Dillon notes that “you might get a 20 percent or even more tolerance.” The C-Value depends on the permeability or the areas to consider. Low infiltration equals high runoff, which equals a higher C-Value in flash flooding areas. Some municipalities consider even areas covered by permeable tiles as covered by impermeable ones, says Dillon.

If the project involves working the right of way, those plans must be approved by the public works departments in most municipalities. Homeowners must sign liability waivers. Contractors must be bonded when working in the right-of-way and all contractors must provide proof of insurance and certification.

Include the letter of intent with the cost of construction. “Even if the contract and written proposals are included in the permits, it is often the description in the plans that are used by municipalities to understand the extent of the proposed design,” she says.

Ensure that all contractors are registered and that any subcontractors provide letters of intent.

Call for inspections before, during and after construction is complete.

Then close out the permit when everything is complete. Closing out the permit is crucial. If not done, it could affect getting a permit for any future work to be done at the house, even putting on a new roof, says Dillon.

Results

“At the end of the day, there can be real consequences (for not following the permitting process correctly),” says Hirsch.

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