We had our plans done by our architect, the structural engineering performed by an engineer, the soils report finished by the geotech.  By now we had amassed $10K in just soft costs and we hadn’t broken any ground (other than the soil sample core drilling on our lot).  Now came the hardest part - the waiting game.  It’s a myth that if you are a homeowner of a single family home that you pretty much have the flexibility to do anything you want with your home.  If you value having a permit and rather not run the risk of getting a stop order (affectionately known as a “red tag” and not one of the ones found at appliance store sales) slapped onto your front door to cease and desist activity or face heft fines - you must go through your city or county hall to receive permits.

Every city or county is different in how they handle the construction permit process.  For us, because we were building a second story we automatically had to submit our plans to the planning department.  The planning department has wide jurisdiction over what is “not in the public interest or community’s general interest”.  Their opinion is only the first hurdle.  Our project required us to submit letters of notification to all our immediate neighbors within a 500 foot radius informing them of our plans.  A hearing was also later scheduled to let anyone who opposed our project voice their concerns to the city before rendering a decision on whether or not our project would move forward.  Although we hadn’t been on the best terms with all our neighbors or even knew some of the ones next to us - luckily we didn’t encounter any opposition.