how do you know the local codes?

[jonese]

I'm planning out a pole barn garage and am doing the necessary research to make the decision of whether or not I want to attempt to do it myself. If I'm going to do it myself I plan on getting a permit and building it right but I'm a little worried about being able to build it to code. Is there some place you can get a list of the codes for your area? I'm going down to the tax office in the morning where you get your permits and am going to see if they have a book on codes or possibly even catch one of the inspectors in their office.

I got a quote recently to have a builder do the garage for me for $19,000. I have priced out all the items I need and it comes out to less than half that(neglecting surprises of course). I can get a lot of tools for the difference but if I have to keep redoing things because they're not up to code it may not be worth the headache.

Has anyone been in my situation before and can add a little insight?

 

[csp]

Check with your local government's website. Their building department may have links to the codes and it should tell you which IRC version is applicable.

 

[timgr]

I'd just talk to my town's building inspector. The town web site should have a phone number. Or go to city hall and ask directly.

Where are you located? I recall that Massachusetts does not allow plumbing or electrical construction by amateurs. You simply can't pull a permit without a license. That's spelled out on my town's web site.

 

[larry_g]

I kinda met things in the middle. The local building supply has pole building kits. I negociated with them for the kit, prints, and the permit which ment they run the plans through the inspectors office for preapproval and stamps. The stamped plans came back from the county with all the details highlighted that they would be looking for at the inspections. Then all I had to do was follow the instructions. By having the 'kit' I got all the materials delivered. No having to figure out all the small bits and pieces that make the building go together. Looking back I would have spent the $6k to have it erected as in the end I saved very little doing it myself, and it took a year to do instead of a week or so they would have spend doing the erecting.

 

[mikeyr]

I kind of did the middle also. I was going to build my garage myself and my wife looked at me like I was crazy, she said I could spend the next building it or pay and have it done in less then a month and use it it for the 11 months instead of building it.

The cost was prohibitive so I had my contractor pour the slab, do the walls, just studs, no sheeting except where shear panels were needed and I hate roofing so he did the roof. I also had a electrician come in put the 100amp panel and minimum 1 incandescent and 1 plug wiring, no doors installed, just basic framing and that got me passed all the inspections and got the building signed off.

I then sided it with plywood, tyvec and hardi board siding myself, that took over a month since it was weekends only, put in the doors myself and since the wiring was going to be more complex than I have done before got a licensed electrician to come in and do it after I ran some circuits.

Instead of 1 month, it took about 3 months but my wife was right, if I had built the whole thing myself I bet it would have a full year or more. And who knows how many failed inspections I would have gone through, the contractor did some things on the framing that I had never seen but the inspector wanted.

 

[jonese]

Thanks everyone. A few years ago I would have been too intimidated to attempt this but after paying someone to build a pole barn for my wife's horses I realized how simple these structures are. I am going with metal siding and roofing and right now I'm planning on hiring out the concrete work. I did a patio out back once and I don't want to attempt doing something 3 or 4 times bigger, no thanks. My brother-in-law is a commercially licensed electrician and has offered to help me do the electrical work. I just hope they'll let a commercial electrician do residential work.

 

[dittle fart around]

Thanks everyone. A few years ago I would have been too intimidated to attempt this but after paying someone to build a pole barn for my wife's horses I realized how simple these structures are. I am going with metal siding and roofing and right now I'm planning on hiring out the concrete work. I did a patio out back once and I don't want to attempt doing something 3 or 4 times bigger, no thanks. My brother-in-law is a commercially licensed electrician and has offered to help me do the electrical work. I just hope they'll let a commercial electrician do residential work.

Commercial Electricians need to have residential experience to get there license.
My son's soccer coach's mom is a permit officer. I call her for any code information. Pull a permit and become friends with the code inspectors. They're there to help ask questions.

 

[ddawg16]

$19K? It must not be very big and NOT include anthing inside.

I have almost $30K into my 2-story garage...

It would help to put your location in your profile....it helps us give you a more accurate response....there is a big difference on how you build stuff in Alaska vs Texas....

Getting back on topic...as least your asking the right questions. As mentioned above, talk to them.

I had the inspector out today for the foundation inspection for the 2-story addition to my house. Wife called me and said he was there....guy waited 15 min for me to drive home. I already knew I was not going to pass...(missing a couple of hold down bolts). But I really wante to discuss my electrical setup...so he took the time to help me work out what would work for both of us.

When the inspectors know that you want ot do it right....they treat you right.

 

[darkk]

When the inspectors know that you want ot do it right....they treat you right.

become friends with the code inspectors. They're there to help ask questions.

Where I live the inspectors are a little different. I had some questions about footing depth and wall thickness. When I asked them a question, I got : I can inspect it for you and tell you what you need to fix. But I can't tell you how to do it. You should hire a contractor if you need help. This is the same guy that inspected my electrical upgrade several years back. He said to make sure I installed a new 8' copper ground rod, which I did. when he came out to inspect it, he said you have to run that ground cable to the water pipe also and oh by the way, the wire has to be one piece. So I repalced the ground wire with a one piece cable. He came back to inspect it and then said. You needed have two of these ground rods not one, and they need to be 6 " apart. Oh..and the ground cable needs to be one piece. So I got to get yet another cable. Some inspectors are a$$hole$....at least mine was.

 

[red]

Where I live the inspectors are a little different. . . . . Some inspectors are a$$hole$....at least mine was.

When I was building my house the surveying engineer (PE), made it very clear he wasn't interesting in answering any questions about the building. No Problem! Inspectors today seem to me to be interested in Finding Something Wrong.

Does not matter that it's built to code or code plus. Or that there are several valid interpretations of how things are suppose to be done. Best one is when the inspector insists that it should be done one way and when he comes back weeks later wants it done the way you had it done to begin with. Seen that happen with licensed contractors. (I left the scene immediately - wasn't pretty)

 

[banzaitoyota]

My county has a pole barn handout with all the pertinant details.

When I "built" my modular house; I had to educate the local codes and permits department on conditioned crawlspaces. They then asked if they could keep a copy of all the national code info and the info from Liberwitzes website

 

[jonese]

Went down there today and they directed me to a website that they go off of for the codes. I also got the numbers and office hours for the inspectors although I'm sure it will be very difficult to actually talk to one of them(only two for the county). Also found out I don't need a licensed electrician. By the way I live in rural SC.

 

[ket-tek]

Glad you found the info.. I was gonna say check online. My county has it all available right on thier website, you can even schedule and check status and comments of all the inspections, and engineering comments of the drawings.

And like mentioned above the inspectors are usually good at helping homeowners if your obviously handy and your aura glows with common sense.

When I had inspectors check along on my past addition one told me that he only really sees 2 types of homeowner addition/garage builds, ones that don't have a clue what they've gotten themselves into and the work is terrible, and ones that overkill everything easily meeting code or better, and do cleaner work with cleaner job sites than most any contractors they inspect.