Paperwork Blizzard

Once upon a time, if you wanted to build a home, you just got after it. Maybe you cut down a few trees on your land or dug some mud to create your own adobe. You sure didn't need a permit from anyone.

It's not like that anymore. I don't even know how many permits we have for this job. I do know that even something as innocuous as replacing the old kitchen greenhouse window with one exactly like it has triggered a slowdown. The city building inspector wouldn't sign off on the kitchen framing until the planning department received assurances that our homeowners' association had approved the new window.

Well, that's a little tricky. See, the local architectural review committee only meets every so often--the next meeting is July 14th. I had visions of the whole project grinding to a halt while we waited for the paperwork.

Craig the Carpenter asked me to call the homeowners' association to see if they could issue some sort of expedited approval (after all, the window is an identical unit in the identical location as the old one). Doubtful of my chances, I placed the call.

Lo and behold, the wheels of justice were turning in our direction. The architectural administrator told me she'd already talked to the planning department and given her blessing. So we've apparently dodged a bullet.

Now, I hope nobody gets too upset when they go to review our architectural application for new skylights above the living room and realize the skylights have already been installed. We had to make a decision on the skylights while the roofing job was underway, and we filed the permit application on the fly.