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Old 11-12-2016, 09:58 PM
 
Location: Mendocino, CA
858 posts, read 948,913 times
Reputation: 573

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I have browsed Hawaii county's building department website about permitting process. It looks like too much for me to handle personally.

I intend to put up just a simple 1000 sqft house. If I hire an architect to handle all my permit stuff, that means EVERYTHING having to do with the building department, including:

-- Drawing and submitting all papers
-- Running to the department as often as necessary
-- Obtaining all permits (building, electrical, plumbing, rain catchment, septic, driveway, grading and grubbing, wastewater, etc.):

How much can I expect to pay for:

1. Architect's fee
2. Fees to building department?

I see some are in the county site but even for those, the rules are very confusing. I'm hoping for a ball park figure just so I have an idea how much to budget. Thanks a lot.

The site I looked at:

County of Hawaii - Public Works Building Guidelines
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Old 11-12-2016, 10:29 PM
 
Location: Pahoa Hawaii
2,081 posts, read 5,567,770 times
Reputation: 2820
I haven't built a house here since 2004, I never hired an architect, just an engineer. But you architects fee will probably be the most expensive item. Your driveway and grading usually will not require a permit under 3 acres. Your house permit will probably include the catchment and septic at the same time. There are no specs. for wastewater, (I assume you men roof runoff?). It is usually assumed it will be catchment water otherwise they don't care where it goes. If you are oceanfront, there may be some complication.
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Old 11-13-2016, 12:16 PM
 
Location: West coast
268 posts, read 378,255 times
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You may have mentioned thus somewhere else, but I don't remember - are you planning on building yourself?

Reason I ask is I've been researching costs and the other variables in building a house on the island. As you may know there are a number of lumber companies that have house plans/blueprints already drawn and approved. They come with all the materials needed to build the house. That would save you some hassle, unless you make significant changes, then I'd imagine you'd have to get them checked again. I was going to link one of them as an example (Honsador - we're looking at the Oneki, but modified), however when I click any link to their site it gets redirected to some Indian webpages. So they are having some issues with their webpage. Anyway, they all have plans for houses of all square footage.

I had Honsador send me more information and the pics below are excerpts from that pdf. Keep in mind this document is about 2 years old so it's likely the information has changed.

So, you can buy blueprints and the supplies to build the house but still need permits, grading, water, etc... what I found is the cost to have a contractor do everything for you is $125/SF average. This is grading, water system, all permits, construction, etc... This is one contractor I found that talks about costs and what's included. I have no experience or opinions on this one, I just found it on Google and use it for reference. On his FEQ he says the owner can take on as much construction as they want and he'll work with you on adjusting the costs (except plumbing and electrical).

Bobby Inc. Big Island Home Builder Kona Hawaii Construction Contractor
Attached Thumbnails
How much to budget for permitting, if completely handled by an architect?-img_7449.jpg  

Last edited by 67Cam; 11-13-2016 at 12:24 PM..
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Old 11-13-2016, 12:21 PM
 
Location: West coast
268 posts, read 378,255 times
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It seems I can only upload 1 pic per post. I've combined all the other pics into one and attached it here. Hopefully it won't be too small and blurry.
Attached Thumbnails
How much to budget for permitting, if completely handled by an architect?-img_7454.jpg  
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Old 11-13-2016, 12:59 PM
 
Location: Puna, Hawaii
4,365 posts, read 4,782,301 times
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Agree with 67Cam, if you buy a pre-designed home package you'll save a lot grief with the permitting etc. We have an HPM home and the engineer we hired said it was well constructed. Here is the link to their various home packages. Home Packages
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Old 11-13-2016, 01:02 PM
 
Location: Mendocino, CA
858 posts, read 948,913 times
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Thanks for the info.

Yesh I want to build myself mainly because I have a specific house design to take maximum advantage of the view. This builder says he can work with owners' own designs so that's good.

And I like the $125 per sqft price. I was estimating if I do the work myself it would be about $80 per sqft; so that seems a very fair price.
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Old 11-13-2016, 01:39 PM
 
Location: West coast
268 posts, read 378,255 times
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We're far from pulling the trigger but the model we like has a wrap around lanai - all the way around the house. We'd like the house to be about 1500sf, but with the lanai the total square footage nearly doubles. It appears through my research that the $125/sf price also applies to decking, which is what the lanai is. I have a real problem paying $125/sf for decking. I'm hopeful that if/when we get to the point of doing this we'll find decking sf would be prorated to a lower rate.
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Old 11-13-2016, 05:58 PM
 
Location: Mendocino, CA
858 posts, read 948,913 times
Reputation: 573
Quote:
Originally Posted by 67Cam View Post
We're far from pulling the trigger but the model we like has a wrap around lanai - all the way around the house. We'd like the house to be about 1500sf, but with the lanai the total square footage nearly doubles. It appears through my research that the $125/sf price also applies to decking, which is what the lanai is. I have a real problem paying $125/sf for decking. I'm hopeful that if/when we get to the point of doing this we'll find decking sf would be prorated to a lower rate.
Or perhaps you can try to carve that part out and do it yourself? If all wood is cut to length, as in a kit home, putting them together into a deck or porch is pure fun and gratification!

I once bought a house and had a contractor redo everything from wall to wall. Helping on the side while monitoring the work, I was able to learn every detail of house building. Building a home can be very simple. I was slow doing a new type of job for the first time, but I always got the hang of it very quickly.

To me, the benefits of doing the work yourself are many:

1. Saves money. Labor is more expensive than materials in many markets
2. Quality of work. My contract once jokingly told me, "a mistake is not a mistake you can't see it". It's funny but I think it's very true. Doing the work myself may take 2X or 3X the time, but I can attend to as much detail as I want to.
3. It's fun!!

Of course, one needs to have the time to do it. My plan was to have professionals pour the foundation, construct the outer shell, and do the parts that need licenses. Everything else I think I can do myself. At this $125/sqft rate, perhaps I won't bother. However I read the brochure/website several times over, it's not too clear whether this rate is just labor, or labor+materials combined.

If just labor then this is not cheap. If labor+materials, consumer should also keep an eye on the quality of materials used.
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Old 11-13-2016, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Mendocino, CA
858 posts, read 948,913 times
Reputation: 573
Quote:
Originally Posted by terracore View Post
Agree with 67Cam, if you buy a pre-designed home package you'll save a lot grief with the permitting etc. We have an HPM home and the engineer we hired said it was well constructed. Here is the link to their various home packages. Home Packages
Some of the models look really nice too!
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Old 11-13-2016, 06:16 PM
 
Location: Moku Nui, Hawaii
11,048 posts, read 23,862,202 times
Reputation: 10901
As far as I know, the lumber in kit homes isn't cut to size, it's just standard lengths and you cut it as necessary. The 'kit' part is that they give you the amount of materials necessary to build to the set of plans. You may want to upgrade your fixtures from what's provided in the kit, it all depends on the kit, though.
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