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Interesting to hear your perspective. As someone who'd also like to buy land and build a house for my future family some day, aren't there relatively inexpensiv

Interesting to hear your perspective. As someone who'd also like to buy land and build a house for my future family some day, aren't there relatively inexpensive ways to do it despite potentially overzealous building codes? Surely there are some pretty nice "cookie cutter" templates out there, right?

gallerytungsten 10y ago
You build your house in an area that is not governed by a building code. No permits, no inspections, do your own thing at your own risk. This generally means a rural area.
- peller 10y ago
  I was actually researching this with respect to the tiny house movement. They are out there. Definitely all rural, which can make it tough when you depend on fast internet to make a living.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
peller 10y ago
I guess it depends on your definition of "relatively inexpensive" :) I've only got residential experience in two states, but from what I'm aware of, there are certainly cheaper routes you can go. Especially with high quality prefab options becoming more common. From scratch though, towns typically expect a professional architect to sign off on a design, and a licensed electrician to do the wiring, and a licensed plumber to do the plumbing, and on and on. I'm officially none of those things, even though I got myself through college working construction, and I know how to use CAD packages for statics analysis, my degree is in electrical engineering, water flows down hill, and on and on. The DIY option is for all intents and purposes off the table, is what I was lamenting.
icantdrive55 10y ago
It's a pain pretty much everywhere. Before you buy land, and build look into zoning, and exactly what year building codes the county is using. Their are some federal lands that don't require any building codes. I'm a contractor, and scared of building inspectors. If I get an attitude, I pull out the camera, and start rolling. They become very nice all of a sudden? They can make a builder's life misserable over minor details. I knew a homeowner who was red tagged because he didn't put little stickers on a dedicated plug. The plug was obviously dedicated, but the Inspector wanted the 2 X 6 mm sticker on the receptacle behind the wall on the receptacle. My father was failed because his electrical panel had 29 3/4", instead of 30". He literally followed the building Inspecter to his car, and jumped up and down on his hood. This was the 80's in downtown San Francisco. Ironically, he grew up with the Inspector. Even as a kid, I couldn't stand this Inspector. I just remember his family's roped off living room. Yes, you Henry. You were a candy arse. No one liked you. That job went straight to you head, like a new college graduate who was just offered a Management position. I understand building codes, but they are overkill for residential building. I honestly think a lot of, especially small towns, enact the latest codes just to collect permit fees, and fines. Bigger cities are sometimes better. They don't necessarily have the latest codes because of the amount of my different stage projects. If you buy a piece of land, don't just assume you will get a variance for anything. In my town of San Anselmo, they will happily take you variance application with a check of over $1000. And, to my knowledge, spend they one minute on a discussion; and deny the variance. I have see homeowner builders over build a residence, and because it didn't look familiar to the Building inspector, was red tagged over what I consider design/aesthetic reasons.

gallerytungsten 10y ago

You build your house in an area that is not governed by a building code. No permits, no inspections, do your own thing at your own risk. This generally means a rural area.

peller 10y ago
I was actually researching this with respect to the tiny house movement. They are out there. Definitely all rural, which can make it tough when you depend on fast internet to make a living.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

peller 10y ago

I guess it depends on your definition of "relatively inexpensive" :) I've only got residential experience in two states, but from what I'm aware of, there are certainly cheaper routes you can go. Especially with high quality prefab options becoming more common. From scratch though, towns typically expect a professional architect to sign off on a design, and a licensed electrician to do the wiring, and a licensed plumber to do the plumbing, and on and on. I'm officially none of those things, even though I got myself through college working construction, and I know how to use CAD packages for statics analysis, my degree is in electrical engineering, water flows down hill, and on and on. The DIY option is for all intents and purposes off the table, is what I was lamenting.

icantdrive55 10y ago

It's a pain pretty much everywhere. Before you buy land, and build look into zoning, and exactly what year building codes the county is using. Their are some federal lands that don't require any building codes. I'm a contractor, and scared of building inspectors. If I get an attitude, I pull out the camera, and start rolling. They become very nice all of a sudden? They can make a builder's life misserable over minor details. I knew a homeowner who was red tagged because he didn't put little stickers on a dedicated plug. The plug was obviously dedicated, but the Inspector wanted the 2 X 6 mm sticker on the receptacle behind the wall on the receptacle. My father was failed because his electrical panel had 29 3/4", instead of 30". He literally followed the building Inspecter to his car, and jumped up and down on his hood. This was the 80's in downtown San Francisco. Ironically, he grew up with the Inspector. Even as a kid, I couldn't stand this Inspector. I just remember his family's roped off living room. Yes, you Henry. You were a candy arse. No one liked you. That job went straight to you head, like a new college graduate who was just offered a Management position. I understand building codes, but they are overkill for residential building. I honestly think a lot of, especially small towns, enact the latest codes just to collect permit fees, and fines. Bigger cities are sometimes better. They don't necessarily have the latest codes because of the amount of my different stage projects. If you buy a piece of land, don't just assume you will get a variance for anything. In my town of San Anselmo, they will happily take you variance application with a check of over $1000. And, to my knowledge, spend they one minute on a discussion; and deny the variance. I have see homeowner builders over build a residence, and because it didn't look familiar to the Building inspector, was red tagged over what I consider design/aesthetic reasons.