Drawing up plans to submit

[Lewyt McGrath]

Hello Bigger Pockets professionals! 

I know most don't have a bunch of time, so I'll keep it short. 

My wife and I own and manage our own multifamily property just outside of Portland, Oregon. We have owned and operated a couple single family rentals as well as our first purchase, a duplex since 2014. We've had a little bit of experience with minor fixes and repairs and decided this new property will be our largest project to date. We recently purchased a triplex that has an extra 500sqft attached garage we're renovating into a 1 br unit.  

I have spoken with the city and verified that I am allowed to add this unit, we're already under contract to add the meter for power with an electrical company, and have already had the sewer pipes dug and installed under our slab, I am well under way!  After speaking with the city, building permits and plans are my next step, and also the step I am stuck on. 

I have interior plans, provided from a contractors bid, but I was asked to draw plans for the existing exterior walls and roof. The kind ladies at the city planning office explained to me they have seen some in pencil so it does not have to be professional, but I'm hesitant to showcase my lack or artistic ability and unsure where to go or how to acquire drawings for this. 

Could you guys please point me in the right direction to figure this out?

Thank you for your time in advance! 

Lewyt McGrath

LKM Properties LLC

[Ryan Normand]

I would plan on at least a grand for an architect, assuming you can even find one who will look at a job this small. You may be able to save time and money by going to a draftsman instead. Just make sure they are familiar with your local building codes and IRC. 

For simple projects I just do the drawings myself in SketchUp because it's a lot more user friendly than AutoCAD and looks a lot better than pencil and paper drawings. Again, you'd still need a very good understanding of building codes. It doesn't matter how pretty the pictures are if your calculations, dimensions, and/or details are wrong.

For future reference, I don't recommend breaking ground until you have City approved plans and permit in-hand. In my experience, what the city says over the phone and what they say during your actual plan review are two completely different things.