Building permit/septic

[dobanion]

Apologies if this specific question has been addressed before, as I couldn't find one.

I'm mulling over a financial strategy you could say that has plenty of patience on one side of a transaction, and a hard deadline on the other side. As such, I'd like to get permitting done on the former, and construction on the latter. If that makes any sense.

As such, the one thing I cannot quite get made clear to me from reading the literature, is:

Does the septic system need to actually be in the ground before you can apply for a building permit? Or can you have it designed and stamped (but NOT installed) and submit that permit alongside the building permit?

[Chas]

Looking back at my plans, the septic plan was the first page, done by Septic Designs and stamped by Daniel Ideda. The rest of the document was the house plan, stamped by Robert Smelker. They were submitted together to the county for approval.

So, no, you don't have to have the septic in the ground before submitting house plans.

An interesting note. Nick Moore, who is a licensed (and highly recommended) septic installer, actually moved the location of my septic after reevaluating it's placement on the lot. He was in contact with the inspector and got approval to relocate it.

Feel free to private message me if you want suggestions on the entire process. Having gone through it 5 years ago, I gained a wealth of knowledge of what to do, and what NOT to do when building a house here.

[dobanion]

Thanks for the clear answer, I was hoping that was the case.

I'll be PMing you if/when I start moving forward.

[Chas]

Yes, PM me. Better sooner than later...

In the meantime, the following is a post I made in 2021, shortly after I finished building. It has links to some good threads. You even made some posts. But still helpful if you don't remember back that far!

One thing I noticed. (Ouch). In one of the threads I made a statement about financing being a good thing because interest rates are so low. Oh well, so much for that! Truth be told, if we hadn't built when we did, there is no way we would be able to afford it now.

The post:
Rather than repeat myself, see these 2 threads for some good discussion from Punaweb members and my advice for building and recommendation for a good builder. Some of your questions will be answered:

https://punaweb.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=21410

Seeking Home Builder in HPP (punaweb.org)

We already had plans, though I wish I had met Sam Berg/Construction 3, our builder before they were finalized. It would probably have cost less and been a better home. 

It took about a 11 months from the time they broke ground until we moved in. They lost about 4 weeks to some really nasty winter rain.

We did go over budget, but it was because of poor planning and decision making on our part, and all those "Oh, that would be nice" things that we added as we went along. BUT, we knew the cost of all change orders ahead of time and there were no extra or hidden charges. Sam is a good man.

Though more expensive than doing it yourself, the nice thing about a contractor is that they know the process, get all the permits, and take care of all those little details (and there's a LOT of them) for you. You just sit back and watch them build.