From commercial pilot to general contractor: (6) Calculating time frames for permits

EDITOR’S NOTE: John Bleasby is a retired commercial pilot transitioning to life as a general contractor. As he builds his family’s new home, north of Toronto, he is blogging his experiences. 

If you missed John’s previous posts, here they are:

(1) Flying by the Seat of My Pants

(2) Oh, the Things You Can’t Control!

(3) Half-Load Restrictions, Half-Speed Construction

(4) How I Became an ICF ‘Block Head’

(5) Mistakes Will Be Made!

Last winter, while still in the design phase of my new house, I started to consider all the prior approvals and inspections required prior to the start of construction. I realised that in order to confirm a desired start date, I had to calculate backwards the approval time frames for each step. Since I was looking at an early April start, I needed to start the approval process early in December. That in turn meant applying pressure on my architect to get moving on the design and site plan.

The details:

Before the ‘White Hats’ arrive for inspections during construction, the entire application process needs to be completed. That takes a little bit of planning and a surprising amount of time.

In my Township, the regional Conservation Authority has oversight over a large area of land to ensure protection of natural habitats, waterways, ponds and streams. No building application will be considered by the Township without the prior approval of the Authority. This obviously impacts what land is attractive for building and its value. In the specific case of my lot, the issues were minor. The Authority had to simply review my site plan for the building, the well and the septic system against required setbacks from potentially sensitive areas.

(Here’s a tip: Get your Site Plan and Lot Grading Plan done early! Although the Authority said rough sketches would be sufficient, I went armed with professional drawings by a reputable land surveyor. I would need them later in the process anyway, but it was useful having them available at this first stage.)
Time for permit approval: 4 weeks (due to the Christmas break)

Next: The Zoning Certificate from the Township. It’s like a mini building permit application. They look at the Site Plan and the Lot Grading Plan to make sure all the setbacks are correct. These plans should not be mere sketches! Have your architect’s and/or surveyor’s professional work ready at this stage.
Time for permit approval: 2 weeks.

Then the Septic System application: I contracted a very reputable firm to provide a turn-key septic package that included all applications fees and soil testing, in addition to the actual design and construction of the completed system. Because of their credibility with the Township, this really helped.
Time for permit approval: 5 days.

And finally the Building Permit application itself. With all the prior approvals in place, and detailed construction drawings from my architect in hand, off I went to the Planning and Building department. (Here’s a tip: Having my architect accompany me as I presented my application was a boost. Not only were his drawings were immaculate and complete, he knew all the staff by name, so we were able to have an informal preliminary discussion.)
Time permit issuance: 10 days

I also allowed additional time between each of the above steps as both a contingency, allowing my architect and surveyor to prepare required drawings along the way. Result? I started the process in the middle of December and had my approvals in hand at the start of April.

In an upcoming installment, I’ll outline my experiences with the inspection processes themselves that included the Township and all the other relevant authorities such as Hydro One, the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), and Enbridge (a conga line of people in white hard hats), not to mention the obligatory workplace safety requirements and insurance issues.