DOING IT THE LEGAL WAY -a.k.a – Permits and Paperwork

 

 

Might as well put our engineering degrees to some use…..!!!

The Frederick county codes are listed here. The county codes refer to the National codes which can be found at this site.

The county codes also reference the MD state code. But the MD state code references the national code. So this bit is causing us to run around in circles. We hope to reach out to the planning department and get this cleared soon.

For now, the plan is to go over the National code first. We then look over the county codes – this essentially refers to the national code; but specifies any variations or additional county imposed restrictions. Even though the National code looks scary; vast swaths of the document will not apply to us – for e.g., rules pertaining to swimming pools, garages, basements, central heating/cooling and multi-story constructions – to list just some of the items. I’m not trying to trivialize the effort required – all I am saying is, this is not very very very scary. It is just………….well………….scary.

We have also picked up the permit application document from the county and this includes useful items like document checklists; fee schedules and a landowner form (since we are building our house ourselves).

A word of caution here for others who plan to build their own houses – check your local state and county  laws first. There might be restrictions or you might even find you qualify for waivers from some formalities! Either way; you could face problems when it comes time to sell your house (if you ever have to). I know that most of us wouldn’t want to do that after all the blood and sweat equity that we put into the house. But life happens and you do not want to be caught unawares. You won’t necessarily have problems selling; but I would research into the implications of such a sale; find out your escape clause. Also, if you plan on using the property as an investment property or a rental, you will invariably not be allowed to do the electrical/plumbing work yourself. It is strictly restricted to owners who plan to reside the house themselves once the Certificate of Occupancy is issued.

Both of us plan on taking the Homeowner exams for Plumbing and Electrical permits. These are mandatory if the homeowner is designing /implementing their own electrical and plumbing systems. If you check out our schedule here, you will note that we plan on completing the standards review by the end of 2016 and take the exams in early 2017. There are no study guides and the syllabus is the entire National/International code!!! The exam is open book and the reference material is provided during the exam in the form of hard copies of the codes. Once you clear the exam, the results are valid as long as there is no change in the code.

Note that Alan is a licensed PE from UK and I am a licensed PE from the US (state of MD). We have both majored in Electrical engineering – Alan has specialized in Power and I have specialized in Signal processing and Communication systems. (Yeah; might as well toot our horns!!) However, that doesn’t qualify us to do the electrical wiring in a house unless we clear this exam.