Building permit expediters/consultants

This isn’t going to do you any good, but the contractor did all of that for us. And it was fairly fast. When I built a house in St Tammany in 1993 I did all of that myself and it wasn’t bad. The people at the Parish were very nice and helpful.

quote:

---

I can manage all the "subs" myself.

---

All the subs??? Do you have a relationship with “all” the subs or is this a one off???

Expeditors are typically a racket outside of a select few AHJs where you actually need them to get a permit within months (NYC, cook county, etc) most of the services I see are just a bunch of dudes in India with some process severs they pay a couple bucks to run around and check on things.

if you can manage the subs, you ought to be able to get the permits. Just have a good sets of drawings, septic specs, set backs, and compliance statements for flood, windstorm, nat gas. County will inspect proper slab elevation, septic tank size, and maybe electrical. easy peasie

quote:

---

I know people, personally and professionally, that do all the work required to build a house

---

Knowing them personally and professionally one thing… being a priority over a contractor with multi-builds is a whole other thing… one offs in the residential construction business are the lowest priority… not every trade but most of them

Beware if you are subbing everything yourself:

A sub considers you a one and done client. The builder who gives the same subs 5-10 houses a year is the one with the gold, and they live in his world. That builder says jump and they will ask how high do you need us to jump. I had a friend who did it himself, and at the time claimed he was going to save $80K.

It took him two years to build it.

He was preoccupied with them all the time, having to leave work to meet with them...all the time. Phone calls/headaches/fires/etc.

He had to threaten subs with lawsuits and spent money on legal fees. The subs flaked out and made the builder with the gold the priority.

It was normal for him to line up all the subs, then have no shows, which pushed everyone back, and when work resumes, the next sub in line is now delayed a month because he gave his time availability already, and the client is now to the back of the line.

He had to use multiple subs for the same task, as they flaked out all the time.

He never admitted it, but I know he spent more that he saved, and would have saved if he used a good builder.

Are you ready to deal with every little headache? Would you be better off focused on making more money with your livelihood, and just delegating that to a builder? The subs give a stuff factor is high when they work for a reputable builder. They want to be called again. You? Who cares as you are a one night stand to them.

It's not worth it to me.

quote:

---

I respect the fact that there are contractors who make a living "managing subcontractors", but

---

You sound like the kind of a-hole subs don’t want to work for and will milk.

First of all OP, I’d go talk to your local permitting office and see how it goes. As said, there’s plenty of good people in those local offices that will more often than not help you out. Absolutely knowing people and knowing how to grease the wheels goes a long way, but just being nice and polite does also.

quote:

---

And he would have got a better house.

---

By all builders? That’s a ridiculous statement. So many what ifs.

Lot of truths here though OP, as said don’t expect it to go fast.

Generally speaking to do this well, you want guys that don’t work for the big builders. Because otherwise they will absolutely toss you to the side weekly if not daily. But at the same time, those guys won’t have as much experience with larger new builds either.

quote:

---

Beware if you are subbing everything yourself:

---

The people I would hire don’t work for GCs. They’ve established their own businesses and don’t have to play circus monkey to keep work. Most of the GCs I know use subs that are new to the business and are trying to establish themselves, so they take the work they can get. If their service call business is good enough they eventually have enough work to keep them busy without having to work for GCs. But this probably all depends on where you are. The negative of it is you have to deal with the permitting office, which everyone, and I mean everyone, has an issue with. So I was looking for someone to deal with it for me. I’ve gotten some good advice here, sounds like expediter isn’t an option.