I write this with a background of nearly 50 years obtaining residential building permits from cities and counties throughout California.  I am a Designer/Builder who draws the blueprints for houses and then executes them and I have always honored the local building officials for the work they do to improve the quality of our homes and to enhance the safety of the community.  I believe the Planning Departments and the Building Departments provide a valuable and necessary service for the public.  Working together in partnership has always been my approach,  so it is with frustration and disappointment that I feel an urgency to write this article.

Every partnership, to be successful, must be based on mutual respect and support … a relationship wherein both parties help one another to achieve a shared goal.  It’s imperative that both partners know the other is looking out for them and has their interests at heart.  It requires trust and communication.   I no longer have confidence in my collaborator and feel betrayed by the bureaucracy.

What happened?  How did it become so complicated and time consuming, not to mention unbelievably expensive, to review a set of drawings and give feedback?  Why is it I feel I’m an adversary rather than an ally?  On me falls the responsibility for fulfilling the wishes of the Clients while solving every design problem, adhering to every ordinance and code requirement, creating and providing every necessary document, and coordinating with every engineer and consultant  … you would think I might be thanked and encouraged but it seldom happens.  Each year the scope and complexity of these responsibilities grows larger and each year I bear the burden by increasing my workload and improving my efficiency,  but it has all become too much.  The rules are changing at a geometrically increasing rate and we have reached the point of absurdity …  the Cities and the Counties can’t keep up with their own requirements.  The time required to review the plans is double or triple the time it takes to create them in the first place.  Something is wrong.

At the same time this expansion has taken place, it has become correspondingly difficult to get accurate estimates for when the reviews will be completed.  Months go by …  years go by …  waiting without any coherent idea of when I can start to schedule any part of the construction, despite the fact that the documents are accurate and require no corrections.  Phone calls go unanswered, emails are not responded to, vague promises turn into ephemeral estimates and the only reaction from the Building Officials is the offer of voluntary ‘Expediting Services’ which cost up to $500.00 per hour accompanied by more vague promises.  It truly feels like graft or extortion.   I could never conduct my business the same way and hope to survive.

I have some perspective on all of this.  When I started building in Los Angeles in 1969 it was possible to obtain a permit for a two-story home by submitting a simple one-page document (folded, 11×14) called a ‘Type-V Sheet’,  available at the Building Department counter.  On this piece of paper were printed relevant excerpts from the Building Code and a space about 8″ x 8″ was provided to draw a small Plot Plan.  Permitting could be a one day process depending on the discretion of the City Engineer.  In 1976 I was issued a permit for a two-room addition in Berkeley in 3 days, including Planning approval, and that addition still stands today.  Over the ensuing years, driven by the interests of various professions and trade groups as well as a vastly increased population pressure and exponential growth in property values, our legislators and commissioners have worked to limit liability and to guide development by passing multitudes of new laws.  Mostly reasonable changes.  The benefits were meaningful, but the costs were largely ignored and have now grown enormously.  The benefits are fewer and fewer.  It’s time for a new paradigm.

Get rid of the unfair and unaccountable system of  ‘expediting’ the review process.  It’s wrong in so many ways.  I believe it has helped create a culture based entirely on self-interest, and as long as the money flows no one downtown is worried about the effects on people like me.  From my point of view, these effects are not good.   I am paying a heavy price and I don’t feel like I’m being assisted.  The Clients are paying heavily, and not getting much in return.  Not good government.