COASTAL DESIGNS :: Planning Tips > The Approval Process (page 1)

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Planning Tips
Designing & Building your Vacation Cottage

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THE APPROVAL PROCESS:
(Page 1 of 2)

Before you start building, you need to get your plan approved.

You need to get approvals from various sources. Do you need the approval of an Architectural Review Committee, a Homeowner's Association, or a Historical Commission? It would be good to get the advice of several professionals related to the building industry in your area, such as a real estate attorney, a real estate broker, a registered land surveyor, a landscape architect, a structural engineer, a civil engineer, a mortgage loan officer, and the local building and zoning permit officials before proceeding.

You can get a lot of help from professionals in the building industry.

Land Surveyors normally know a great deal about lot sizes and other physical limitations of the site. Surveyors also know how to assist in your permit applications with the local planning & zoning departments and environmental regulatory agencies too.

General Contractors normally know how to get through the approval process too, only sometimes in different ways. As a general rule, getting approvals always takes twice as long as you think it should. Deadlines have to be met, fees have to be paid, information needs to be gathered... there are so many details that have to be done in the approval process that you can easily get bogged down unless you get help from people who have been through it before.

Real Estate professionals, I have found, can help you decide what would be the best way to plan ahead for resale or rentals. Realtors® also may be able to help put together other professionals to assist in the building process since they deal with a broad range of builders, developers, planners, mortgage bankers, appraisers, and town officials they encounter in the selling of real estate.