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Obviously, it is not possible for us to stay current
with all the governing municipalities in this country
that regulate building requirements in their respective
areas of jurisdiction.
While all of our garage kits are portable and removable
in that just as they are bolted and screwed together,
they can be unbolted and unscrewed for disassembly,
Absolute Steel makes no guarantees that you will not
be required to obtain a building permit before erecting
your garage.
Ultimately, YOU are responsible for adhering to the
guidelines set by your local building department. It
is your responsibility to determine whether to gain
a building permit and to follow local building codes.
Many of our customers do not obtain permits even though
we always inform them that anything that is affixed
to the ground requires a building permit. At minimum,
we suggest that you observe the required property setbacks
and the distance from other buildings on the site so
you do not erect the structure in violation of where
it is allowed to go on your land. Obtaining a building
permit after the fact is not much trouble if you you
adhere to this simple suggestion.
In some cases, we have sold structures to out-of-state
customers who have gone to their local building department
and found that submitting our assembly instructions
is adequate for permitting purposes and that they do
not need engineered garage plans. However, we do not
recommend going to the department after the fact.
If you are not obtaining a permit, it’s a good
idea to photograph (show the measuring tape to clearly
illustrate) the depth of your concrete caissons or footings
and floor, whatever is applicable, and to include a
photo of the properly placed steel rebar in the footings
for a building.
Visit our garage
floor information page for advice on what is recommended
by engineers for our building and carport / canopy products.
Talk to your local building department and find out
what they charge for permitting. In some cases they
can charge upward of $800 just to review your design
plans. However, we have had customers report the fee
being as little as $100. Again, it simply depends on
your local municipality.
If you decide that you want to get a building permit
and need to submit engineered plans for your garage,
we can help. We have relationships with licensed engineers
in most states with whom we work with to provide you
with original engineered plans showing all the appropriate
structural calculations, along with the concrete/foundation
plan, for your local building department. The engineers
are familiar with the garage kits we offer.
Should you request the normal requirement of three
sets of original stamped and sealed plans by an engineer
licensed in your state, we can provide you with them.
There is a fee of $550.00 for this service. Custom or
nonstandard structures are sometimes a bit more.
We are not in the business of selling plans for a profit;
this is what we are charged for the “signature”
and the engineer having the liability for his/her calculations.
We will always do this for you, even if you find you
need them after the structure is erected. We
have no desire to sell you garage plans if you can not
use them.
Before ordering engineered plans for your garage kit,
you will need to check with your local building department
and verify they will allow you can put the building
where you plan. Every building department or planning
and zoning department has certain rules about “accessory
structures” which is what our products are usually
defined as.
Remember, before ordering engineered plans be sure
to make sure that the structure is allowable at your
site -- we have no desire to sell you garage kit plans
if you can not use them. It would be a waste of your
money!
Two very important items to ask about in order
to verify you can build the structure are:
1. Property “set back”
requirements, or distance from your property line, in
which they will allow something to be built.
2. Distance from other structures
Assuming you have checked out the above described items
and your placement of the building complies with the
regulations, you are ready to move forward with ordering
your engineered plans.
IMPORANT: Before you submit the form
below, you must find out and furnish us with all the
design loads called for on the forms.
We can not order plans without this information. This
information can be obtained from your local building
department. The information you will need is:
1) Wind load
2) Snow load
3) Seismic Zone
4) Live Load
5) Building Code
6) Any other information that you will need on your
plans. You will just have to ask them.
Once you have this information, please fill out the
Garage Plans Engineering
Request Form, or print
a copy and fax it to us at 480-768-1514. Please
include a hand drawn sketch of the floor plan you have
in mind.
We will then provide you with a more detailed and “to
scale” floor plan along with an invoice for the
official signed plans. You can review this invoice and
then arrange payment with us.
Because this is an out-of-pocket expense, Absolute
Steel does not order your engineered plans unless they
are paid in full.
Please Note: If you are only required
to provide ”shop drawings” or copies of
engineered garage plans (no original signature or seal
and perhaps not originally prepared by an engineer licensed
in your state) and we have them in our archives, which
we often do, we charge you nothing. |
