You may be wondering, what is the general process to building a home. Every project is different, but this will provide a general overview of what to look for. Our focus is on urban infill projects, meaning one-off projects in already developed areas, so this angle will be different than large scale tract home developments from raw land.
- Finding a site. Locating a suitable building site is much more than just browsing for vacant land or tear down home listings. Once you identify the plot of land you are interested in, you would want to perform a feasibility study to see if the site would work for your intended project and any roadblocks there may be along the way.
- Feasibility. For most projects, you would want to get a survey, an arborist report, and a soil infiltration test. Depending on the site, you may need a geotechnical/soil report and a civil engineer to design utilities and infrastructure.
- Architecture. Working with an architect, you would define the requirements and design the home.
- Structural engineering. The structural engineer will do the calculations and specify the lumber and hardware needed to build the home.
- Submittal/intake. This is when your architect or permitting consultant submits your full plan set to the city. The city will review and may come back with corrections requested. Once everything is approved, you would get your permit.
- Permits issued. Once you get permits, you can apply obtain a construction loan.
- Building. Ready to start building.
8. To be continued… we will elaborate more on the building process in a subsequent post.
ABOUT ADRIAN
Adrian Chu is a full-service real estate professional based in Seattle and San Francisco. Adrian is the Founder & Principal of CHU Design + Build (an urban infill residential development company) and Specialty Real Estate Group (a full-service residential and commercial real estate services company). Adrian is a Managing Broker in WA, Broker in CA, Principal Broker in OR, as well as a Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO-920749) in WA and CA. Adrian is a proud Husky with a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington. In his previous life, Adrian held various technical lead and program management roles with several FORTUNE 100 technology companies.
Adrian can be reached by phone or text at (206) 407-5452 and by email at Adrian@AdrianChu.com.