All Forum Posts by: Daniel Flesher

I'm looking for Philadelphia engineers that do soils, underpinning, wind bracing, structure. It could all come from one office or from several. 

Let me know who you use. Thanks!

The code is pretty clear that you always round down, so 1079sf is a duplex and would require going for a variance to get anything more. 

Lot area is determined by the deed description, which is the most accurate. The deed will not give lot area, but dimensions, which you'll need to use to draw out the lot and calculate the area.

The only use for the numbers on Atlas or property.phila.gov is if one of those said 1080sf but a plans examiner was saying it was 1079sf. The "bad" information from those websites would be helpful in arguing your case for a variance, but you'd still be stuck going through the process.

Thanks for the shoutout @Troy Sheets . 

Zoning changes include the requirement of a 5' setback for pilot houses at the rear of a property in addition to the 10' at the front of the building. This can make placement very tricky without getting a zoning variance. 

Lot coverage is 75% for mid-block properties (for zones that use lot-coverage). The rear-yard setback for lots less than 50' in depth used to be 5' for the first floor and then the greater of 9' or 20% of lot depth. This has recently changed and is now 7' all the way up (but you still have maximum lot coverage to account for).

Of course, a lot of this varies from one zone to the other. Having a good architect on your team will help immensely in knowing how to maximize a lot. 

Another huge thing coming up is Philadelphia is about to switch from the 2009 IBC to the 2018 IBC and 2015 IRC (we're in a dual-code overlap for another couple months).

In the 2009 code, if you were able to meet your maximum travel distance, you could have a roof deck (4th floor) that exited out the 3rd floor of the unit it served and get away with a single means of egress. In the 2018 code, if any part of the 4th floor is occupiable (roof decks), then you'll need two means of egress all the way out of the building from that floor (or from the floor the unit exits). This will wreak havoc on tried-and-true plans people have been using.

Also, the Streets Department has been cracking down on front bays if there are utility poles on that side of the street. You have to get permission from the utility company to project a bay into the sidewalk if you're within 10' of a utility line. Since most sidewalks aren't more than 10' wide, this will be more difficult to do moving forward. 

All corner lots need Checklist #2 from the Streets Department. I've been handing this off to an engineer to do. It often takes 3+ months to get approval from the streets department. You can still get zoning approval in this time, so plan your schedule accordingly and get it early if you're building on a corner lot. A good Project Manager will be using the critical path method and will have Checklist #2 on it early since it can hold up an entire project. 

The Water Department also wants to pre-approve your plans before they approve them. This is done via email and tends to take 1-3 weeks. 

That's all I can think of for now. If anyone has questions, feel free to reach out.

I'm looking to get my own home tightened up. I'd like to know who you use and recommend.

It's a rowhome. I'm looking for dense pack blown insulation for the front and rear walls, 2" closed cell foam for my basement w/ exposed joists and possibly doing the floor space between the garage and first floor (it's a 1950s airlite) and the attic. 

I'd like to get 2-3 names so I can get competitive quotes.

Thanks, everyone!

I'm starting a real-estate investment company and was wondering if anyone has worked with a lawyer to jump through all the hoops to start investing/working legally in Philadelphia, and to just help me know the best ways to structure my business. 

I'll also note that this is a little unique because I'm a licensed architect and I'll be using my stamp for some of these projects, so the architecture firm needs to be its own business (and the requirements for that are much more stringent), making this is a little more complicated than normal. 

Thanks in advance for any recommendations you can give.

I am a licensed architect living and working in Philly. I have an idea for a business but wanted feedback from other investors to see if this is something that people would be interested in. I also wanted to look at the potential pit-falls that I might not see because of my inexperience in real-estate investing.

The basic model of the business is that I would purchase property, most often land, then create the zoning and building plans, and sell the pre-developed property to a real-estate developer, netting the difference .

The potential benefit to developers is a shorter turn around for their projects. They purchase the land and the architectural plans are already completed. I already work with a lot of developers so I am aware of zoning laws, what developers are looking for, etc. I can also crank out a building set on my own in roughly one month (anywhere from single family to six units). So in the time it takes for me to close, I can have the project ready to go back on the market.

The potential downsides to me are the closing costs on the property, buying/selling fees, carrying costs if it doesn't sell quickly, designing something that a potential buyer doesn't want to use and potentially limiting my buyer base by excluding non-developers from by buying pool (unless it's single family). So I have to pass these expenses on to the next buyer or let them eat into my profit (which in essence is my architectural fee).

I'm wondering how I should structure the business to limit my liability, and show as much "loss" on paper as possible to reduce my tax load.

My questions are:

Is there any business structure that would work best for this?

Does anyone else think this is a good idea? Would you buy from someone who is doing this?

Is there another opportunity I am missing, such as wholesaling if I can get the plans completed fast enough?

Are there other downsides I am missing?

Thank you all for your responses!

I am a licensed architect living and working in Philly. I have an idea for a business but wanted feedback from other investors to see if this is something that people would be interested in. I also wanted to look at the potential pit-falls that I might not see because of my inexperience in real-estate investing. 

The basic model of the business is that I would purchase property, most often land, then create the zoning and building plans, and sell the pre-developed property for a profit to a real-estate developer. 

The potential benefit to developers is a shorter turn around for their projects. They purchase the land and the architectural plans are already completed. I already work with a lot of developers so I am aware of zoning laws, what developers are looking for, etc. I can also crank out a building set on my own in roughly one month (anywhere from single family to six units). So in the time it takes for me to close, I can have the project ready to go back on the market. 

The potential downsides to me are the closing costs on the property, buying/selling fees, carrying costs if it doesn't sell quickly, designing something that a potential buyer doesn't want to use and potentially limiting my buyer base by excluding non-developers from by buying pool (unless it's single family). 

I'm wondering how I should structure the business to limit my liability, and show as much "loss" on paper as possible to reduce my tax load. 

My questions are:

Is there any business structure that would work best for this?

Does anyone else think this is a good idea? Would you buy from someone who is doing this?

Is there another opportunity I am missing, such as wholesaling if I can get the plans completed fast enough?

Are there other downsides I am missing?

Thank you all for your responses!

Philadelphia's website: http://epay.phila-records.com/phillyepay/web/

It's not free.

But there's property.phila.gov as a one-stop site for pretty much everything else.

Hi Nancy, 

My firm, Cadre Design, works with a lot of investors in the Philadelphia area. We do rehabs, new construction, single and multi-family. Feel free to reach out to talk about your projects and what you want to achieve.