Building permit in HAWAII?

[maggiethecat]

Hi y'all!

Looks like Hawaii is on the list of possible candidates again. My husband just talked to a realtor who has a nice parcel of land in the big island for an affordable price. We still prefer WA but...has anyone experienced trying to get a building permit in HAWAII?  We REALLY want to build the Grandfather's cottage. )

Please let me know if you have any pointers. If I got it right, the parcel is only an hour away from Home Depot! )

--maggie

[rwanders]

Don't know about building permits, but there as some real benefits for a builder there----you will not need to worry about heating or AC  (ceiling fans are good)----not many homes have either----also only need minimal insulation. Most walls are only 2x4s and many cabin-sized homes are only "single-walled"----meaning that the exterior walls are 2x4s with outer sheathing only----not even sheetrock on the interior surface. T-111 cedar with 1x3 battens is very common architecture feature on even expensive homes---sort of a poor mans' board & batten look. All that should allow for relatively cheap building for a owner-builder. However, the other living expenses are pretty high-----but, aahhh that climate!!!

[maggiethecat]

Hi rwanders, it really looks like we're off to Hawaii! My husband lined up a place to live while we build the cabin! That was the deciding factor. We needed a month-to-month with no credit check (I absolutely OPPOSE paying any "credit check fee" or "application fee" on principle) . It had to be near the property we saw for sale and we had to afford it. We ended up finding not one but three different houses for rent that would be willing to work with us. So we leave by end of june and the adventure will begin! I can't wait!

By the way, if anyone wants to buy some art for their houses check my sig...I'm selling all our paintings now since the car transport company won't allow us to load our belongings in the cherokee.  So we're selling way cheaper than usual.

I'm not looking forward to paying more for shipping our paintings but there are certainly advantages! One of the realtors I spoke to on the phone today said her son just built a cabin himself in a lot! We gotta be friends with these people, they can help us figure stuff out. She said permits are slow, but she wasn't sure. She just guessed it because it took her son so long to build.

If we don't like Hawaii at least we'll leave after one year and will have land with a house on it to sell. That oughta double the property value at least!

By the way, the lot is 8040 sq, at $19,000.

--maggie

[rwanders]

Hooray----good on both of you! Not a lot of sandy beaches on the Big Island, but the active volcano should provide some great inspirations for your art works----it'll be great for someone who uses color with such exuberance! We will probably be on the Big Island next March---usually go to Kauai, but the wife has never been to the Biggie. I haven't been there for quite a few years. Land prices are definitely much lower than the other islands. Keep us posted here on your progress----perhaps we can admire your home building and art in person then.

[glenn kangiser]

That sounds pretty reasonable, Maggie. Hope all goes well there.

[CREATIVE1]

A bold choice, and certainly (at the least) a year of adventure.   

I know you could've found 5 to 10 acres in Washington for similar money--but it might've been too remote for your needs.(?) The real estate market has slowed down everywhere (more in Oregon than in Washington), and there are DEALS to be had.

Have you checked out the cost of airfare?  I don't know where you'll be flying from, but it's EXPENSIVE.

FYI, lots of cool info about Hawaii.

http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/index.html

[maggiethecat]

Hi y'all, this is what I found out about Hawaii so far...

It will cost us $1055 to ship our car from Long Beach to Hilo. The car can't have anything in it and it's going to have the windshield replaced otherwise the shipping company can't take it. There's just a 6 inch crack on the glass and they still don't want to take it! Grrrr...

We are having to let go of our kitty cat because Hawaii quarantines pets. The fee for them to allow the kitty into Hawaii is $1080 for holding her for 120 days! That's annoying. We can't afford that right now, especially because, recently, to register our car in the People's Republic of Mexifornia the LA DMV made us spend a fortune (car failed the communist standards of inspection -- check engine light bulb was busted, cost $65 to diagnose, $95 to change, $5 for bulb...$60 for smog check,  $178 for title $62 for registration...).

We're almost in the hole with all the crazy expenses we had this month, mostly government bs...we can barely cover first, last and deposit on the house in Pahoa, plus car shipping and plane tickets, but we're going forward because we have to leave this bs behind. Alaska would have been the perfect alternative but rent in Alaska is expensive, more than Hawaii. We know the excremental matter is about to hit the fan in the mainland and it's time to move out, stock up on dry goods etc...

So anyway, if anybody wants to buy some art for their cabins and help us escape, please see my link on my sig...

Glenn, if you read this, your son sent me some samples of his art, my jaw dropped! He is SO talented, I love his art!!

--maggie

[glenn kangiser]

Hope you get things worked out maggie.  Hard telling how long things will hold together -especially in the cities over here.

Glad you like Simon's art -- Your's reminded me a lot of his although he is bent a little more toward the weird.

[Sassy]

Wish you the best on your plans!  Never been to Hawaii, but from the pix I've seen & what everyone says, it's beautiful - great weather, wonderful beaches, lots of gorgeous scenery.  You're young, why not take the chance & see how you like it!   

[maggiethecat]

Thanks for the comments guys! :o)

We've been reading about the building permit situation.
http://www.hawaii-county.com/permits/permits.htm

There is one paragraph I found a bit confusing:

All plans and specifications authentication shall state, "This work was prepared by me or under my supervision." Additionally, it shall bear the authorized seal or stamp of the duly licensed professional engineer, architect, or landscape architect licensed with the State of Hawaii and under the seal or stamp, the authentication shall state, "Construction of this project will be under my observation" and signed.

But if we buy the grandfather cabin plans here...they are not drawn by an architect in Hawaii. I wonder if they mean approved by a Hawaiian engineer/architect after the fact?

A LOT of people build unpermitted there. But I heard that the CCRs are beginning to get enforced more. Obviously the globalists in government are trying to reduce the number of places where americans can still be free. But anyway...

We leave to Hawaii at the end of the month. Then we'll inspect the land for sale and possibly buy it. I am guessing the construction process will be very slow due to the way building permits work in Hawaii. I can't wait to get started!

We found that the majority of houses there are on pier-and-post foundations. Water systems are by rain catchment only which means we need a Berkey filter. Berkey filters are Alex Jones-approved so I won't complain about the investment. I posted a guide on the free stuff forum about how to create a water catchment system. Sewer is septic and I am guessing it has to be the first thing in the property...there is power on the street and phone in the area.  I don't really want a phone line. It is well known that AT&T is compliant with the FBI and CIA to keep an eye on the public. Many smaller phone companies actually belong to them under assumed names. I much rather have high speed internet and use something like Skype. But cell phone service works well in the area...just don't use them for sensitive information, since the government does have digital voice-to-text software in their satellites and can recognise key words that can mark you as someone to keep their eye on.

Owner/Builders can only run one project every two years and the houses cannot be sold for a year after building.
Here's a link I liked about building in Hawaii:

http://bigislandliving.com/building_a_house_in_hawaii.htm


I'm hoping these posts will help other owner/builders in the future who do a search for Hawaii on this forum...

--maggie

[CREATIVE1]

Very good information.  One of my clients will be building in Hawaii, and I'll forward your research to him.

From your quote about engineering/architect, you will have to pay for engineering, though probably you won't have to have the plans redrawn if you make only minor changes.  Shop around--prices vary.  I found that some companies charge two and three times more than others.

[John_C]

The phrase

..."Construction of this project will be under my observation" ....

bothers me.

If that means that the engineer or architect will have to inspect the building at various stages of construction in addition to or in lieu of the building inspector it will add $$$$ to the cost of construction.   It is one thing to require an engineers stamp on the plans but that implies involvement throughout the process.

[Johnny P]

Maggie,
Much Aloha and congrats on comming to Hawaii. It seems we are flipping spots. Ive been living on Oahu for 4yrs and am know moving to B-ham to start my cabin in a few months. I looked at a lot of land on the Big island last year its great , but I was still working on my last project (know complete) restoring an old sailboat. I chose to wait for my next move to do the cabin thing. If you and your hubby need any help (info, airport rides, etc.) let me know.

[maggiethecat]

Hi Johnny! Thanks for the offer! One thing we haven't figured out: how easy is it to transfer a car from island to island? We saw some very good deals on cars but they are on Oahu and we're going to Hilo. If I buy a car on a different isle, how can I get it ferried over? Any idea?

I don't remember how much the building permit in B-ham was but it scared us. Especially because it seemed to require inspections and approvals every step of the way. In Hawaii it doesn't look like we're going to spend much on permitting. If push comes to shove we'll build unpermitted. If there's so much unpermitted work going on we'll be a leaf in the jungle. Only problem is if we try to sell later. Also, no homeowner's insurance (which I think is a scam anyway).

I just found out there's no real door-to-door postal service in the area we're headed to. This complicates things a little. We'll need to get a P.O. box. Looks like we won't be shipping much, we're only taking  what fits about four suitcases.

--maggie

[Johnny P]

It is pretty easy to get a car from island to island. Two companies ship Matson and young brothers. I dont know the prices off hand. Another option is using the ferry that unfortunatly doesnt go to big island, but it does go to Kahului Muai. It costs around 50 bucks. Then you might be able to ship from Maui to Hilo for cheaper. Either way Im betting the charge from Honolulu to Hilo is around 200-300, but that just a guess. If you guys are handy with cars you might consider picking up an old island bomb pick-up truck for around 1000.00 that might simplify things a little. Hope this helps

[Redoverfarm]

Maggie there was another member building his own cabin there. I don't recall who it was but if I get a chance I will tryto go back and find him.  He is a member of a construction company as well as an owner/builder.

[maggiethecat]

Hi guys, I worked very hard today getting this apartment cleaned up so I'll have to make it short. Thanks for the tips and info, both of you...by the way Johnny, are you selling a car? Just wondering. ;-) The young brothers site at http://www.htbyb.com/yb/shipvehicles.php?sub=Costs  shows a cost starting at $149 to ship between islands. That's great! DH ("dear husband") has a near fanatical devotion to his Jeep and we fought a lot today over the fact that I don't want him to ship it to Hawaii when he can sell it here and buy something else there. The problem is that the Jeep has a golfball crack on the windshield and Horizon Lines won't ship it if there is any crack on the glass at all...so $1055 to ship the  car plus $450 to replace the glass? Not if I have something to say about it.

Thanks to your tip about the Young Bros site I now know we can just find a car on craigslist anywhere in hawaii and are not limited to the Big Island/ )

Redoverfarm, thanks, I look forward to reading about other builders in HI!!

--maggie

[Redoverfarm]

Maggie "travis" was the guy building in your place of endevor.  Here was his post. I haven't seen him on here for a while. He doesn't list a E-mail. Maybe he might pick-up on a PM .


http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3799.msg43740#msg43740

[MountainDon]

DH ("dear husband") has a near fanatical devotion to his Jeep...

I fully understand that, IF it has been modified to his likes. But not if it's just another ordinary Jeep.

[Redoverfarm]

Maggie depending on the year jeep and it's condition are you going to be able to find comprable transportation over there for $1500 which would be the cost of shipping your's there.  Just a thought.

[CREATIVE1]

A sidenote:  I thought I'd picked a rainy spot in Washington!  Hilo is the wettest city in the United States, with 127 inches a year.   We get 89 inches in Hoodsport on the Olympic Peninsula, with 136 sunny days.

[glenn kangiser]

How about a Hawaii record?

12 months (U.S.)     Kukui, Maui, HA     Dec 1981–Dec 1982     739 inches.

[maggiethecat]

Thanks for the link, Redoverfarm! Do the countryplans.com plans come with instructions on how to build that type of foundation? I see a lot of pier and post foundations in Hawaii like that, in photos.

The Jeep is just a car. We are not in the financial situation to spend $450 on a "red tape" formality to get the jeep shipped. DH thinks he's going to need 4x4 traction. I think it's easier to not drive in the mud! We can buy a car there that will do the job, it doesn't have to be THE one he wants. There is no logic in spending $1500 on shipping a car that's only worth about $3000 just  because he "loves" his car.

We can buy a used van in hawaii for $500 to $2000. Right now as it is, if he chooses to ship the jeep we will probably have to live on ramen noodles every day. And I'm pregnant! Grr!

We're putting up all our art for sale on ebay really cheap hoping to raise more money for the trip. I usually sell those for a lot more but everything must go. I want us to take just 4 suitcases each...We're waiting for the DMV to send us the title to our Miata so we can sell that as well.

--maggie

[Sassy]

Sounds like lots more on your plate than Ramen, Maggie.  Men think women are difficult... 

[considerations]

You may want to consider the price of cars in Hawaii.  One way or another someone pays the ocean freight to get them there