On Your Mark - Get Set-

We now have our Building Permit in hand, and I suppose this was our unofficial ground breaking. My hard working crew started digging the 17 footings that will support the front porch.

Many steps were involved securing this permit and I found every Dept involved at the Town of Mansfield was more then willing to help me with the process. Overall the entire experience was painless, and at times very interesting. It is always a pleasure when you work with good people.

The following are the steps taken to secure a permit. This list does not include the meetings I had with the many different dept heads as they patiently explained and quided me through permit process.
I never was good at filling out forms.

1) Filled out a application with the Zoning Agent.

2) Applied to the Zoning board of appeals.

3) Presented my plans to the zoning board of appeals at a public hearing.

4) Filled out a application for the Inland Wetlands

5) Inland wetlands did a field trip out to our house to get a lay of the land.

6) Appeared at a public hearing for Inland wetlands to answer any questions

7) Attended a meeting with the Conservation Commission to answer any questions

8) Filled out a application with the Dept of Health.

9) Perc test was done on our property by the Dept Health to be code compliant.

10) Filled out a application with the Building Dept, and presented them with 2 sets of plans.

We are very close to a official start date and I believe we will start very soon. I hope to have all the contractors on board this week. I will say I was very surprised and very disappointed many left me hanging while I waited for a quote from them, not so much as a courtesy call to inform me they were not interested after looking at the scoop of work.
They say everything happens for a reason, and I believe I am going to end up with a some really skilled Tradesmen that are truly interested in this unusual project.

And I think we will need a picture frame for our Building Permit.