Do You Figure Permit Fees Into Your Proposals?

Melissa

We usually figure time only for obtaining the permit into the proposal and tell the HO that they will need to reimburse us for the actual fees afterward, because it can vary so much. What do the rest of you do?

AtlanticWBConst

Because Permit fees and rates vary greatly from town to town in my area, we let them know, and also put it in our contracts, that the HO is responsible for any state, town, or local building permits costs, taxes and fees.

Never have had any problems with it. Sometimes they ask us to pay it up front for them. But they always pay it back - as stated, it's in our contract.

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River Rat Dad

Permit fees in MI cannot exceed the actual cost of doing the paperwork and inspection's by law. So they tend not to vary much from one place to another. The Home Builders Association in my county has sued one township for overcharging and WON.....

They are now in the process of suing the city I am in for the same thing...

DecksEtc

Ditto!

Mike Finley

Proposal reads -

Base Price: $9840.00
Permits & Fees: T.B.D.

Grumpy

If I am paying for you you bet it is figured in and you bet I am making a huge deal about it to the customer "Mr. Customer I am obtaining the permit at no additional cost to you. You won't have to take a half day off work to get the permit, and you won't have any suprise charges on your final invoice. You are hiring us because you want your roof done, right and pulling the permit is just part of the roofing process."

I have a spreadsheet done up of all the local village halls, their addresses, their phone numbers and their permit cost formuals so I can figure out my permit costs immediately, however rule of thumb is $50 for roofing permits, except in some towns that want a percentage per thousand dollars of the contract ammount.

copusbuilder

Don't require roofing permits in my corner of the world. Do they come out and inspect for that $50 , driveby or charge for inspection?

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AkA Richard Cranium

Grumpy

Some cities do inspect, some have multiple inspections infact. Not all cities inspect though. BTW the City of Chicago does not require a permit for roofing at all, and guess where some of the absolute worst roofs I have ever seen are located.

There is one city, where Mr. Mikey Jordan, calls home... and we did some cedar siding in this city. Our permit fee for the siding job was nearly $500 but I had it marked into the job because I knew their pricing formula.

Teetorbilt

I'm not paying someone elses permit fees and I charge for the the time that it take to apply for them. Some permits can take days to put together, then there are glitches and you may have to go before the board and describe your particular circumstances.

With roofing here, we have a sheathing insp., dry-in and final. Hurricane zone is probably a litte stiffer than many other area.

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Tscarborough

Permiting could be a company in it self. It is a long expensive process in this area, and I can not imagine including in the base price.

Teetorbilt

We have a few permitting co's in town and I hate them. We still hve a little 4 person desk and these (mostly women) show up with armloads of files and blueprints. Shoot me now!

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You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

small business

Thanks for the tips!!!

Tscarborough

Yeah, Teetorbilt, that is like getting into line at the DMV behind a dealer. Arrgh!

ApgarNJ

I roughly know what the permits are going to be because i work for the same few townships over and over again. i figure in enough that i cover the cost of permits, plus i make a little on it. sometime the homeowner picks them up though. usually $800-2000 depending on how big the job is.