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What is a plan check? And why does one have to be done?
When you submit a building permit application you are telling the building department what you would like to build at your house or in your building. The person reviewing your documents are called plans examiners, and they are tasked with ensuring the proposed plans meet the current building code.

What to look for when buying a house… from a permitting point of view.
It is important to understand that when you buy a house, the new owner becomes responsible for any and all potential issues that the house may have, including unpermitted work that may have been done by the previous owner or even a couple of prior owners.

I love this topic because people are always asking me how to extend or maintain their permit open legally, and it is actually pretty simple. The current codes tell you exactly what to do, but not all the building departments are very clear at communicating this. The main reason is they don’t want open permits for many years, as it could become a nuisance to adjacent buildings or neighbors. I have seen active permits for over 10 years, legally.

Differences between Condos, Apartments, and Townhomes.

From our last blog the question came up about understanding townhomes. So, I decided to write a blog providing the difference between condos, apartments, and townhomes from a building code perspective.

What do all these have in common? All of these are Residential occupancy, and all of them have several living units attached to each other.

Building Permit versus Permit Application

For over 15 years, I have been working on the code enforcement side of the building process, and I love all the details that the code has to offer. For many, the code is a completely different language, and in this blog I want to make an important clarification that not many people think about it. For the non-code enforcement user, there is no significant difference between a permit and a permit application. But there is a huge difference that can be quite costly for those who are unaware.

A Certificate of Occupancy and Certificate of Completion are documents issued by the building department, to the builder or owner once the construction project has been completed. These documents have different meanings, and we will review in detail what each of them represent from a building code compliance point of view.

A Certificate of Occupancy and Certificate of Completion are documents issued by the building department, to the builder or owner once the construction project has been completed. These documents have different meanings, and we will review in detail what each of them represent from a building code compliance point of view.

Residential versus Commercial Code

Understanding the building code that applies to your project is essential; however, for people not involved in code compliance it is not as clear as it should be. I will try my best to make it simple and understandable.

When you build a new house or go through a remodel process there is a set of construction documents that are processed at the local building department prior to proceeding with the work, unless someone did work without a permit! These historical documents are called “Building permit records.” In my experience, these records are available at the local building department for projects done within the last 10 years (after writing this post I found that Florida requires a minimum of 10 year of records retention); however, older projects also may be available depending on the records keeping policy that each jurisdiction currently has.

What is a blueprint?
Have you ever spoken with your builder or anyone about your blueprints??? Actually, a lot of people understand that you are referring to a floor plan or construction drawings, but this terminology is obsolete, and it has been for almost a century. Since the old construction prints were blue in color, many people still refer to them as blueprints.