BUILDINGREGULATIONS: A SELF-HELP GUIDE FOR THE OWNER-BUILDER

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

You should initially, however, review carefully the chapter on administration (generally the first one in the book). This is the part of the code which deals with the two immediate obstacles you will face: the building permit and the building inspector!

Before examining what's required to overcome those two obstacles, however, please let me qualify my remarks in two ways:

ONE. I don't know exactly how your building code is written—each code is organized differently—but all such regulations should be similar to one of the four model codes. Or at least similar enough so that a discussion of the Basic Building Code (BBC, also sometimes referred to as the BOCA code), the National Building Code (NBC), the Standard Building Code (SBC), or the Uniform Building Code (UBC)—plus the One and Two Family Dwelling Code (Dwelling Code)—will give you a pretty good idea of what to look for in your own area's construction regulations.

In other words, this discussion and review of the different code provisions important to the owner-builder is mainly valuable to you right now as a checklist against which you can compare your local ordinance. . . so that you will know what has been left out, revised, or added to the code which governs your situation.

TWO. I'll use the section numbers of the various code provisions as they appear in the drafts of the respective model codes. But remember that the numbering system contained in each of the four model building codes will probably be different from that used in your code ... even if your regulation is patterned after one of the models! This situation comes about because each municipality or county has its own numbering system for its ordinances.

All right. With those qualifications out of the way, we're ready to proceed.

THE BUILDING PERMIT

A cursory examination of the chapter on administration in your code makes it apparent that you can hardly do any construction without governmental authorization (since that authorization, in all probability, is embodied right in the written building permit). Just reading the all--encompassing situations in which a building permit is required will give you an idea of the enormous reach of the building codes themselves:

"Permits Required. No person, firm, or corporationshall erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, improve, remove, convert, or demolish any building orstructure in the city, or cause the same to be done,without first obtaining a separate building permit foreach such building or structure from the BuildingOfficial." UBC § 301(a).

You can't even tear down a structure without a building permit ... as incongruous as that sounds! And all the other model codes have similar all-inclusive language (BBC § 113.1, NBC § 102.1, SBC § 105.1[a]).

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print