Montgomery County Building Permit Process

Posted in: Rockville, MD, Deck Permits, hire a decking contractor, deck builders

James Moylan

Friday, December 16, 2011

A Permit to Build: Your Contractor's Chore or Your Own?

building_permit_Maryland

You’ve been thinking about adding to your outdoor living space for ages, and now you’re ready to build. But have you forgotten something? If you live in Montgomery County, Maryland, there’s one last thing you must take care of: obtaining a permit to build. And anyone who has ever tried to get the go-ahead in this county knows the permitting process can be, well, a pain. Design Builders can help!

Each of our customers has the option to pull their own permit to save some money. However, most of our clients are happy to hand over the permitting issues to us for a nominal permit-running fee. We obtain the necessary paperwork to build your deck, screen porch, or addition – you just sit back and wait for us to clear the red tape.

You may ask what the purpose of a building permit is anyway, since you’re doing construction on your own property. Well, in Montgomery County, there are a few items that you need to have:

  • A signed Tree Affidavit stating that roadside trees within seven feet of the road will not be removed during construction.
  • A Homeowner Affidavit allowing the contractor to pull the building permit as your proxy.
  • Two copies of the property plat with the proposed construction site marked to scale.
  • Two copies of the building plans.

But that’s not all. If you’re going about this process on your own, there are several more hoops you’ll need to jump through before your permit process is complete. Once at the Montgomery County permit office, you must sign in at the administration desk and present all the necessary paperwork. Up next is zoning, which you have to go through to ensure that the project is being constructed within building restriction lines. If you’re on a septic system in your neighborhood, a separate septic zoning check is also required. After zoning, you proceed to plan review to go through your structural drawings with a plan review technician.

After these many steps have been completed and approved, you will pay the county cashier and then post your building permit at your residence where it can be easily seen. If your project will include the building of a roof, a yellow sign will be issued and must also be posted at the site within three days. Just to make sure you’ve crossed your t’s and dotted your i’s, a sign inspection is scheduled by the county for the third day to confirm that your permits and permit signs have been properly posted.

Do you have time (and patience) for all of this? If not, we’re happy to take care of your building permit needs.

See also: building permit in Virginia, permit for a deck in Fairfax, VA

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