Building a House in 7 Steps | Step 4: Permitting

Step 4 of the series: how we move a set of plans through permitting and keep the timeline honest.

Step 4 of the seven step series. Permitting is the step people dread and the step that costs them the most time, and almost none of that time is the city’s fault. In the same jurisdiction where other people wait 6 to 12 months, we pull permits in 45 to 60 days. The difference is not a relationship. It is follow up.

Two parties actually matter

Your architect and your jurisdiction. That is the whole permitting relationship. If your builder is running the submittal for you, expect a markup on the architect, so keep direct contact with the architect yourself. The builder still matters here, because the energy code answers come from his side of the house.

What goes into a submittal package

1. 01

   Plans plus engineering

   The architect draws the box, the structural engineer specifies what holds it up: 2x4 or 2x6 walls and the rest of the details. Some jurisdictions let you use prescriptive code, a set of pre-engineered rules, instead of hiring your own structural engineer.

2. 02

   Site plan

   What the lot looks like and exactly where the house sits on it.

3. 03

   Energy code sheet

   Square footage, the volume you are heating, furnace type, water heater type, gas or electric, window glazing, and insulation values such as R15 in a 2x4 wall or R21 in a 2x6. The city is checking that the system is neither undersized nor wasteful.

You do not need to know any of this personally. Your architect has submitted plans many times and carries a standard set of typical specifications. Your builder answers the energy code question, the storm facility, and erosion control. Ruben asked his architect what it would cost to handle the entire submittal on his fourth personal house: $500 to $1,000, depending on how many correction rounds it takes.

The correction loop, and where the months go

You submit through the city portal. The city gives you a target review date, usually 2 to 4 weeks out, and comes back with corrections: show the setback here, make the storm facility bigger, show where the roof water is collected and dispersed. You route structural corrections to the engineer, everything else to the architect, and resubmit. Most projects take one to three rounds. Your only job is to shrink the gap between rounds.

Master coordination, or adult babysitting

Here is the exact sequence that makes the difference. Ask the architect what day he is submitting. On that morning, confirm he submitted. Then email the permitting department directly and confirm they received it. Two answers are possible: yes we have it, or we do not know what you are talking about. The second answer is the one that saves you three months, because the alternative is finding out in month four that nobody ever hit send.

Once the city confirms receipt, ask them one more question: what is your target review date? Say the answer is the 21st. Go back to the architect and ask him to book the 22nd on his schedule now. Architects run 2 to 8 weeks out. If you wait until corrections land on the 21st to call him, you just added eight weeks to your project for no reason.

Ready to issue is the finish line that matters

After the last correction clears, the file moves to RTI, ready to issue, called preissuance in Portland. The city confirms every reviewer signed off, you pay permit fees, and you can break ground. Pay attention to this stage for one specific reason: an owner builder loan requires permits in ready to issue status before the loan can close.

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Common questions