Building Permits

The permit process hopes to stop Cathedrals of Junk popping up all over the city.  As artistic as this pile of junk may be, I doubt it has increased the property value of the neighborhood.  Or worse, city inspectors may come in and require you to comply with building standards or tear it down.

For over a month, one of the things we have been told was that the builder is working on pulling the appropriate permits for our home. This got me thinking: What permits are needed?  How long does it take to get a permit? 

According to the City of Austin: A permit is required to erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, improve, remove, convert, move, or demolish any building or structure within the City’s zoning jurisdiction. Generally, cosmetic work to a house does not require a permit such as painting or carpeting. Replacing shingles on a roof for a house does not require a permit unless the decking is replaced. A 6-foot privacy fence does not require a permit. Swimming pools require a building permit. Separate permits are required for plumbing, mechanical (air conditioning and heating), and electrical work.

I am generally amazed by the shear amount of information available online.  Again, the City of Austin did not disappoint.  I did a search for our property online and magically, all the permit applications, active permits, and pending permits appear.

It turns out there are a lot of permits required to build a new home.  I am not even going to pretend to be an expert on permits, but it looks like there are permits for the overall project, water, waste water, electrical, plumbing, driveway and sidewalk, and several other permits. 

The costs of each permit ranges from $7.50 to $1,800 for the waste water permit.  The initial permit application for our home was submitted on March 2nd and approved March 14th.  After the initial permit was approved, subsequent permit applications were submitted.  Some of those permits are still pending.

The report also shows the date inspections are scheduled, the number of attempts to earn approval, and the contact information for the person in charge of the inspection.  I imagine that this could come in handy down the road.