Architectural Drawing Bid – Caddworks

by J Scott October 23, 2013

We’ve spent much of the past few weeks getting bids from architects and draftsmen who could take our homemade house design and translate it into architectural/engineering drawings that we can use for permitting and construction. While we don’t technically need an architect (we know the design and details we want), finding someone who is competent […]

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ECP/SDP Bid: Fisher, Collins & Carter

by J Scott October 21, 2013

As I mentioned earlier in the week, we started looking for an engineering firm that could complete our ECP/SDP and handle the other engineering services we’d need during construction. We spoke with about a half-dozen firms, and prices ranged from about $5000 to about $12,000, not including all the reimbursable expenses and the filing fees. […]

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ECP/SDP

by J Scott October 14, 2013

Because it turns out that we’ll be disturbing more than 5000 square feet of land during our build, Maryland (and our county) has a requirement that we go through a complicated environmental and engineering review cycle before they will grant us permits to proceed with the new build. This involves having an engineer create and […]

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Public Sign Posted for Variance

by J Scott September 24, 2013

We got an email today that the sign we needed to post for 15 days prior to our Administrative Adjustment hearing was ready for pickup. We headed down to the county office, paid our $325, picked up the sign and posted it where we were told to do so. Our hearing is scheduled for October […]

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VBLOG: The Siteplan Submission

by Carol Scott September 14, 2013

The Abbreviated Version: Hmm… an administrative adjustment hearing? For REAL? Sounds pretty official, right? Allrighty, let’s get ready for a judge, jury and supporting evidence. Not really… Turns out that a conference room, one county representative and a couple of curious neighbors would do the trick.

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Submitted For Our Administrative Adjustment

by J Scott September 13, 2013

We submitted our petition for an Administrative Adjustment today, along with survey and proposed build drawings from our surveyor: AA Survey The next step is to wait for the Department of Planning & Zoning to accept the petition into their system, schedule a hearing date and provide us a public sign to post.

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Site Surveys Completed

by J Scott September 10, 2013

Our surveyor completed the site surveys for the property. He did both an “as built” survey, which is current representation of the lot/structure and a “proposed” survey, which is the representation of the new configuration of the structure: As-Built Survey Proposed Survey You can click on the images above to see the full detail of […]

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Our New (Old) House

by J Scott September 1, 2013

We purchased our house today! This is the one we’re planning to tear down and rebuild. And while we won’t own it in this form for very long, I thought everyone might be interested in seeing what we’re starting with. Here are some pictures:

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Survey Bid – Frederick Ward Associates

by J Scott August 2, 2013

After calling around to various surveyors and engineering firms, I was able to get a bid for the boundary and topographic survey for under $2000. The surveyor — Frederick Ward Associates — agreed to do the work for $1950. Hopefully they’ll be completed by the end of next week…

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Administrative Adjustment Process

by J Scott August 1, 2013

As Carol discussed in her recent video, we want to modify the front setback of our house — bringing it 10 feet (20%) closer to the street. The county has a streamlined process for making small (less than 20%) changes to various zoning regulations; the process (called an “Administrative Adjustment” or an “AA”) is similar […]

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Welcome to The Scott Pad!

by J Scott July 1, 2013

Welcome to our new blog. Here we will detail and document the purchase, tear-down and construction of our new family home. It’s sure to be a great adventure, and we’re thrilled you’ll be following along… Thanks! J and Carol

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