General Notes & Details-
Each jurisdiction will also normally have a list
of other general notes and requirements that they want to see
imprinted on the plans for your submittal. You can usually
just copy these notes verbatim from the list they provide.
These notes can be quite lengthy and will effect how and where you
must place different pieces of equipment, plumbing, etc. as well as
the required types of finished wall, floor, and ceiling materials
for the different spaces and functions in your project.
The Building Department-
The Building Department concerns itself mostly with issues of
life and safety within and immediately surrounding a building. These
include compliance with
Building Codes,
which also includes structural stability, energy efficiency,
lighting and ventilation requirements, plumbing, electrical,
mechanical, material specifications, and other items relating to
public safety. Specific to commercial buildings will be the
regulations that come from the
Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA), this being an entire
subject in and of itself. Your plans to this department for
most tenant improvement projects, will not usually require a lot of
structural information, as most of this has generally been taken
care of in the permitting of the original building. But there
are other issues that will need to be addressed.
The Site Plan-
Generally, the
Site Plan for a tenant
improvement project can be very simple, mostly just indicating where
within the context of the larger building or group of buildings your
project is located. You may also be asked to confirm or verify
the available parking for your building or group of buildings.
Title 24 Report-
Even for a tenant improvement project, you will
usually be required to provide a
Title 24 report,
at least for any new and/or modified lighting in your project.
The Title 24 report for any existing heating and/or cooling
equipment will usually have already been provided in the permitting
for the original building, unless you intend to modify and/or
upgrade the existing heating and/or cooling system for some reason.
To obtain this report, you will need to provide the consultant with
a Lighting
Plan,
Mechanical Plan, and/or
Reflected
Ceiling Plan.
Non-Structural Details-
Much of the time, tenant improvement projects will
include non-bearing interior walls, and perhaps even ceiling soffits
of some kind not included with the original building "shell".
Though these are not generally considered major structural
components, there construction and attachments can be important for
public safety so you may be asked to provide details for these
items. For any soffit or significantly long un-braced wall or
other items, it may be wise to consult a structural engineer about
these details in at least a limited way.
Plumbing Plans-
Plumbing, especially for food-service oriented
businesses, can be quite complex so it may be required that you
provide a completely separate
plumbing plan and some diagrams to more fully illustrate these
items. There will be separate grease lines and waste lines
that the different plumbing fixtures may be connected to in
different ways so these details and
diagrams can be
quite a bit more involved than in typical residential plumbing.
You may even be require to hire a separate consultant for this area
as well.
Public Works
Department-
The Public Works Department
mostly concerns itself with
public areas such as sidewalks, driveways, streets & roads and
infrastructure/utilities issues such as water, sewer, electrical,
gas, etc. They will typically play a much larger part in the
plans for a new commercial building than in a residential one, but
for tenant improvement projects, most, if not all of these issues
should have already been addressed during the permitting of the
original building, and should not play a significant role in a
tenant improvement project.
Fire Department-
Though most of the major Fire Department issues
will generally have been taken care of during the permitting for the
main building, there will still be a few issues that this department
may want you to address as part of your tenant improvement.
Mostly this has to do with providing a Lock Box where you can store
a key to your tenant space in a locked box located at the front of
the building so they can get inside in case of a fire or other
emergency. There may also be additional requirement for
exiting, lighting, and signage that would all be related to escape
from your space during a fire or other emergency. This
department will either provide a list of the required items to you
ahead of time, or this list may be submitted to you as part of the
corrections from the Building Department.
Time Lines-
Your Health Department review will generally
take about 2 weeks. There may be requested corrections to your
plans, and then when you re-submit, the second review, and hopefully
approval, may take another two weeks.
The time it will take for the building permit
review will vary quite a lot, depending on the size of the project
and the current workload of your local department. It can take
from days to weeks, to a couple of months depending on these unknown
factors. Again, you may be asked to revise your plans according to a
list of corrections, re-submit the plans, and then wait a couple of
more weeks after that for approval. Building Department
approval will depend on prior Health Department approval, and they
generally will ask for a set of stamped, approved plans from the
Health Department as part of the final, corrected submission to the
Building Department.
Costs-
Health Department fees will be based to some
extent on the size of your project, but mostly keyed to the length
of time they think it will take to sufficiently review your project.
Provided with at least a rough plan, they should be able to give you
some idea of what those fees might be before you proceed further
with your plans.
Building permit fees are based on several factors, including but
not limited to, square footage,
project valuation,
and other factors. When you submit your plans, the Building
Department will generally evaluate your plans there on the spot and
calculate your fees accordingly. Once that total is
calculated, you will generally only be required to pay a certain
part of the total up front, the remainder being due once the permit
is ready to issue.
If you are interested , I offer a
low-cost feasibility analysis
to help you in planning your tenant improvement project.
