05/06/2008: "Money Up Front For That Building Permit"

Starting next week on the 12 of May, applicants for a building permit from the County will have to figure out what the project may cost, and then pay a fee based on that amount.

The building fee schedule is a part of Ordinance 49-2007, which sets all of the fees for CD&P (Community Development & Planning). They will begin implementing the collection of estimated Plan Review Fees at the time of Building Permit application submission.

This requires that the permit applicant provide an estimated valuation of all the work, including materials and labor, for which the permit is being issued, such as electrical, gas, mechanical, plumbing equipment and permanent systems. If the estimate is too low (according to CD&P), then one will be charged more.

The estimated valuation should be equal to the contract cost a contractor would charge for all the work, utilizing new commercially available construction materials. The estimated valuation does not include the cost of the land or non-building site improvements.

What happens if the estimate is too high? Will the County come back to the applicant with a refund check? Or what if the applicant believes the estimate by the County is incorrect? The County will not use actual costs to determine the fee, but a guideline that sets arbitrary amounts for the cost of construction.

The ordinance states an applicant can appeal a code interpretation by paying an appeal fee of $525.00; but what about an appeal of a permit fee? The intent of the interpretation fee is to pay for the cost when the department is asked to respond to a land use or building code ruling; but will the County also charge a fee for an appeal of a finding of construction costs, based on the code, when the applicant questions the amount?

Following are a couple of examples of how the math works, but once the application has been fully reviewed, the building official may disagree with the estimate that the applicant submitted, in which case there will be an additional charge to make up the difference.

Example: For 1 and 2 family dwellings and their accessory structures, the Plan Review Fee is equal to 0.4 % (0.004) of the valuation.
Estimated Valuation = $200,000
Estimated Plan Review = $200,000 X 0.004 =

Example: For commercial, multi-family, or mixed-use projects, the Plan Review Fee is equal to 65% (0.65) of the Building Permit Fee. The Building Permit Fee is equal to 1.1% of valuation. This results in a Plan Review Fee equal to 0.715 % (0.00715) of the valuation. There are two ways to obtain an amount:

Estimated Valuation = $200,000
Estimated Plan Review = $200,000 X 0.011 X 0.65 = $1,430.00
OR
$200,000 X 0.00715 = $1,430.00

For the month of May, 2008, the applicant will be allowed to submit the estimated Plan Review fee within 1 week of application.

After June 1, 2008 the estimated Plan Review Fee will be required at the time of application.

And don’t forget that the final building permit valuation shall be set by the building official. Where the estimated valuation is lower then the final valuation the County comes up with, the revised Plan Review fees shall be assessed.

So why the change? Turns out that not every permit that is processed and ready for pickup, is picked up. So as the old saying goes, a few bad apples have spoiled the barrel