City Permits And Regulations: What To Expect And How You Can Prepare For Your Hardscape Project!
We know that obtaining city permits can sometimes be a headache and inconvience.
Unfortunately, they take time, money, and can change the course of a project’s schedule.
We understand that this creates an obvious obstacle for many homeowners. However, have no fear! We are here to help you get all the necessary permits and regulations to allow you to create your dream hardscape space!
In this blog, we hope to better explain how permits are an important and a necessary part of the process for all hardscaping and home projects, and how as a homeowner you can prepare for them and know what to expect to see from them as you go through your hardscape project’s process.
As a home owner, here is what you should expect and what you should prepare for during the process of getting a city permit:
Each City has different regulations and permit requirements
Starting from the beginning, city permits are required for a number of home projects and often times, especially as of recent, cities will have multiple requirements and will require you to have approval, plot and survey planning, and all the necessary permits in order to add on and create hardscaping projects onto your home and property.
Due to that each city has different regulations, the requirements will vary depending on the city. Some cities may require a simple city permit which we can put in approval for and obtain for you, and other cities may require you to go a little further and get a city permit, go in front of a board to get approval, and also get approval from a city commissioner.
Additionally, in our personal experience, we have found that the cities with the most regulations tend to be: Leawood, Mission Hills, and Prairie Village, and permits also tend to be needed mainly for Kansas cities rather than Missouri cities. With that said, when you are ready to move forward with a project and get started, it never hurts to do prior research on what your city requires of you to have. That way you can get an idea of what you will be looking at needing ahead of time for your project, which will be especially helpful if you live in any of the above cities where regulations are most common. City requirements are also frequently updated so it is also good to refresh yourself on what may have changed for your city as of recent!
However, regardless of whatever the specific regulations may be for your city, our team at Kansas City Hardscapes has a wide variety of experience with the processes of getting city permits and we are happy to do the work for you if you would rather not go through the process yourself.
While this is an additional service that we offer and have an additional fee for, by having us do it for you, it eliminates the headache of doing it yourself and also makes it so you do not have to waste your own personal time going through the permit process!
Permits and Regulations have potential to change your project’s timeline
As we mentioned above, each city has different types of regulations and permits that it may require you to have before we can begin work on any hardscape project on your home. With that, each type of regulation and permit that is needed has potential to impact your final timeline of your project.
For example, you could live in Stilwell, Kansas and only need one permit which could take as little as a week for us to put in for the approval, obtain the permit, and get permission to begin the project.
Whereas on the other hand, you may live in Mission Hills, Kansas, which could have multiple regulations and permits and could take as long as 6 weeks for us to put in approval for permits, obtain the permits, and get permission to begin the project from the city.
This is important information to consider if you are planning to start a project, because without these permits your start date and completion date with us to will be pushed back until we are able to obtain the proper city permits and begin work.
However, once you begin the project process with us, we are very familiar with the permit system and what each city requires, and we will communicate to you and help you know what permits you will need to get and answer any questions you may have about the timing or the process of obtaining the specific permits. Then from there you can choose if you would like to obtain the permits yourself or have us obtain them for you. We always try to make it as easy and as fast of a process as we possibly can, but regardless, it is always still good to know ahead of time that having certain permits may cause a change in your project’s schedule.
Permits and Regulations will have additional costs and fee’s associated with them
Unfortunately, if you have ever had any experience with getting permits and regulations prior to starting a new project, you will know that there are always some extra fee’s associated with obtaining government permits. They are not usually very pricey, many can be as low as a $100.
Although, we know this can still be a bit of a headache, especially when you have a specific budget in mind for your current project. However, when considering what could happen if you do not have the proper permits before starting a project, you will be saving yourself a lot of time and money down the road.
Many alternate hardscaping companies may disregard these permits and processes, and not give it the attention it needs, which will cause you to be looking at an aftermath of thousands of dollars in fines and issues that the city will bring to attention at the expense of the homeowner. This is why at Kansas City Hardscapes, we do not cut any corners and we always make sure we have proper permits and are up to code before we start building on any project. Like they say, “the honest way is usually the easiest way”, and without obtaining the proper permits, it will only cause an even bigger headache for you to have to deal with later on and burn an even bigger hole in your pocket in the process.
In conclusion, We know that permits are a headache of a process. We also know that they are absolutely necessary to adding a hardscape onto your home and it is important to do the process correctly.
We will tell it to you straight, permits will take time and money, but taking the necessary steps to complete and get proper city permits for your project is a small price to pay in consideration to the alternative that you would have to pay later on if the process was not completed properly—and fortunately, we can do the entire permit process for you!
That way you can stress less and not worry about things like city permits and the process of obtaining them, and instead be able to put your energy towards getting excited about the addition of your new hardscape project!
Special thanks to The Shawnee Mission Post and 24hplans.com for the imagery!
https://shawneemissionpost.com/2017/06/14/leawood-public-works-and-information-services-directors-announce-their-retirements-63771
https://www.24hplans.com/do-i-need-a-building-permit/
