building for our future

Well...sometimes you bite the bear; sometimes the bear bites you. Michael, our GC, submitted our building permit application to the township in early April and was told that they were running about three weeks or so at that point. Four weeks later, he gave them a call. A day later, they responded with a letter detailing 10 things that needed to be changed/added to our plans. Some of them are minor things; some of them just cost us money such as the architect having to add all the cut sheet details for every window and door directly to the plans. One is going to cost real money. Sprinklers.

There is a relatively new ordinance in our township that requires sprinkler systems in new homes and for renovations that are over a certain square foot in living area. We are apparently over that mark with the approximately 1850 sq ft we are adding to our home. At first, it appears that we were going to be required to sprinkle the entire structure, new and old, but Michael was able to speak with the Fire Marshall and explain the nature of our 18" thick stone walls and non-contiguous attic spaces. Now, we’ll hopefully only be on the hook for putting a sprinkler system in the new structure. But it’s still additional cash that we were not anticipating. What’s really nuts is that according to our architect, a number of his clients were able to beat this and a very large, well-known builder of "McMansions" working around the corner may also have beaten this requirement. I suspect we could fight it, but the additional time delays and risks associated with that are not something we want to pursue...we all expected to be pouring cement and hammering nails by now.

Residential sprinkler systems are relatively new as requirements. Based on my reading, they do have value and may help to slightly lower our insurance costs. But it will likely take many years to re-coup the $5-6K cost that it’s adding to our already over budget project. (The septic update I previously wrote about? $12K...nearly as much as the original system cost in 2000)

One other item that really bothers me is that the township absolutely requires copper pipe for water supply lines. We intended to use PEX, both for faster installation as well as to avoid the problems we already have experienced with our acid water situation. We don’t want to use an acid neutralizer as it will take our already soft water (tested by Penn State University) and make it hard...subsequently requiring softening which brings sodium concerns as well as maintenance costs. We’re also not going to fight this and delay the permit, but we will be having serious conversations with the inspector post-permit to see if we can make a case for a more modern and proven reliable solution for water supply in the addition.

So cross your fingers...with any luck, MAYBE we can get this project started soon. The contractor is ready. The family is ready. The ground is ready. Even the money, well most of it, is ready. We just need that piece of paper...