07-03-2008, 04:16 PM
I can't resist. I do plans and permits in San Diego. About 20% of my work is consulting and getting people out of trouble with code violation. I can only speak for San Diego area but a few things got me here, first an Arch stamp for a carport cover is insane. But I am understanding better now, I suspect the plancheckers in HI County haven't been trained in structures so they can't really review the design, but they have been trained to look for a stamp. One of the advantages of working here is there is usually a building dept Lic Engineer right there available at the counter at review. I would do a carport cover and site plan for about $800.00 and the owner runs the permit. I have been doing code violation consulting for about 7 years now and I have discovered when permits are easy to get, such as a carport cover and the person does not get a permit, it is because they are on a very very tight budget or they are hiding something. More often than not there are other code violations they don't want to bring attention to. Occasionally you do run into the nutcase that is determined to take on the local gov't just because he is a nut. I always recommend get a permit if possible especially for anything outside the footprint of the building. Here in CA they are using close to military type ariel photos to surveill for work outside the footprint. Here in CA if it doesn't have a permit it must be disclosed as non permitted at sale assume similar for HI. One last observation, in my code violation work 90% of the time when the contractor knows he isn't being inspected he will build less than the code requirements. This is a pain in the butt to fix later --get a permit best policy. www.plansandpermit.com