Are You Ready to Build that New Home or Addition?

As the owner of a small construction business and as a blue print designer, I can attest to many prints we have received from homeowners that were designed by an architect, an engineer, or both that were unworkable and unpassable by the city in question. The worst cases were the ones that were passed by the city in question through a “bypass” of the normal procedures, and later found to be unbuildable.

The purpose of this article is to save other homeowners the pain of finding that they have spent many thousands, and are still miles short of their home goals.

Before starting any addition or new construction project, ask to see other prints the architect, designer, or engineer has produced. Look for detail – there should be callouts as to foundation hold downs, bearing walls, foundation depth and anchor bolts, and ways of connecting the existing foundation to the new. If you see only minor levels of detail, beware. Also, beware if you see great and flowery designs with no detail to back them up. At the very least, you should have all window sizes called out exactly, locations of electrical switches and outlets, and framing materials plus foundation detail fully called out.

Next, make sure that you have a solid contract that gives THEM ownership of any problem that arises during the building phases. We have one poor customer whose architect has made many mistakes, but who charges her for every change he makes to fix his issues.

Once you receive the plans, compare the existing plans (required by most building departments) to the actual structure you are living in. Is anything wrong? Sometimes, the designer who has only visited once or twice just doesn’t have the same level of familiarity that you do with the property. Make sure to give detailed feedback, and include digital pictures to illustrate your points. It is especially important that the roof lines are in the right place, as this affects the tributary length for the engineering stress analysis.

Next, make sure to accompany your designer or architect during their trip to the city for permits. That way, you are fully in the loop on any issues the city engineers bring up and want rectified. Usually, these changes are suggested for a good reason and don’t mean that the city just wants to hassle you.

Follow up, and make sure that these changes are made and fully documented in the print.

Next, it makes sense to have a licensed contractor review them and give comments – preferably the one you plan to retain to build the project. Most contractors would prefer to see the print from the beginning, than to deal with the headache of building to poor plans after the fact! And many will turn down a job if it does not have solid plans.

Take his or her suggestions back to the designer for one more round of changes if necessary – before applying for the final permit.

Some key things to watch for:

1) As I mentioned before, make sure the roof lines (valleys, overhangs, etc) are in the right places.

2) Make sure the bearing walls are called out

3) Make sure all window sizes are specified – a window size difference can mean a huge price difference!

4) Look for the foundation plan, and plans for reinforcement of the foundation

5) Make sure the electrical is fully specified

6) Look to see that the framing materials are fully specified and called out

7) Make sure that anchor bolts, and holddowns are included

8) Check to see that there are reinforcing beams in new areas, especially if they are two story.

These are simple things, but can be a major slowdown in a project if not included.