All Forum Posts by: Jamie Hora

Hi Chris! Sorry this response is a little delayed.  The piece of information that you've stated, Zoning as R2 for Duplex, is the best item to help answer your questions. In the City's Zoning code, you can look up the R2 and find what is required and/or what is allowed with this zoning.  

Your zoning will have required setbacks for your front yard, side yards, and back yard lot lines. Plus, there will be a min/max size of your building (the minimum will be a SF and the max may be a percentage of the lot).  If the nearby lots are also R2, you'll likely have a similar size duplex.  There will also be a min/max height that your building can be.  But the size of your duplex will have to fit into the requirements of your zoning, so that is already laid out.  

Now, if you're asking a deeper question on the size of your duplex as it relates to cost of your duplex plus what you can rent it for and how you can get the best rate of return for your investment, that's beyond my experience!  I do engineering for developers, so I do not have much familiarity with the finances part of the investing. But I hope some of that info helps you!

Definitely agree with the other comments, Zoning should be your first check! If you are not zoned properly but you've mentioned the nearby properties are multi-family, it is worth having a meeting with the City Planning dept to discuss if rezoning would be considered. 

I agree with a lot of what @Jay Hinrichs has mentioned.  There is tons value in getting the Civil Engineer to do some due-diligence on the site before going with a full contract. There are some basic questions that they can determine if you do not already know like are existing City utilities available for your site, what are the stormwater/runnoff requirements, zoning/lot requirements, floodplain determination, etc.  But here are a few of my thoughts on the infrastructure costs:

- Do you have a site layout plan with roads & lots?  If you are interested in getting any cost opinions from a contractor, you will need to at least have this.  If you have this, you can at least know the total Linear Feet of road.  Also at this point, with no engineer input, you could estimate the linear feet of waterline & sanitary sewer to equal that of the road.   

- Like Jay menitoned, topography is a big deal. This can affect the depth of your sanitary sewer, if a lift station is needed, and if retaining walls are needed.  Hauling dirt into or off the site gets expensive and so if that is ignored during a due-diligence phase and you are only focused on "road/sewer/water/power/landscaping" etc, that can be a huge cost not accounted for.  

- Another big factor is the stormwater requirements of the City.  Will the City allow you to have runoff from the site?  Can you handle stormwater through ditches, or are inlet & junction boxes required?  An the most impactful question, will detention be required?  I had a project, 14-acres of single family homes, that the developer was adamant that no detention would be required. However after a year of trying to get the City to accept this & the hydraulic analysis, they would not. They enforced a detention requirement.  The developer lost 3 lots that were converted to detention pond, a huge chunk of their profit. 

It may not hurt you to call contractors & get their opinions, but if they do not know a site plan or other information, there is not much certainty in the estimates they provide.  Definitely some upfront cost for a civil engineer's due-diligence is a wise way to go!

Great advice David! 

Hey Michael!  I am a civil engineer who works for developers and I would agree this seems to be a steep quote.  Just like in everything else, would recommend getting another 1-2 quotes.

Here are some factors that would affect pricing for the Civil Engineer contract:

- Is there any rezoning & platting required?

- Is the cost for surveying the lot included in their scope, or perhaps a surveyor is contracted directly with you?

- How strict is the governing agency?  If it is rural, I am guessing laid back.  But, for example, projects for me that must be approved by City of Austin, it requires usually 2-3 more submittals than a typical City because of their "pickiness" and difficulty. They could be accounting for this.

- In general, the number of Plan Sheets should correlate to the cost of the contract.  There should be demolition/existing condition plans, site grading, roadway plans, water/wastewater/storm, and detail sheets. If all the utilities are Private, that makes things simple and typically  eliminates the requirement for "profiling" these drawings.

- Are any actual roadways needed, or is this all just driveways being added?  Similar to above, if roads are private, not needing profiles reduces the workload on the Civil Engineer. 

- Drainage Report/Analysis could be a big cost item depending on the governing agency & what the stormwater requirements are. If you are allowed to sheet flow off your site, no big deal. If the City requires a detention pond, a full drainage report, hydraulic modeling, that could be a fair percentage of the Civil Engineer's budget. 

Hope this helps ya!

Jamie

Hi Ismael!  I dont have direct experience with AirBnB, but I am a Civil Engineer that works for developers.  My first bit of advice here is becoming familiar with the zoning & restrictions for the land you are looking at.  I have not done much work in Houston Proper, but lots in a bunch of other Texas cities.  You'll want to make sure that the zoning will allow the density (number of lots/acre) that you desire as well as meeting the requirements for front/side/rear setbacks and street frontage.  Maybe not the exact advice you're looking for, but I figured I'd offer my semi-relevant knowledge. 

Hi Alyssa!  Since you're buying near a lake in my mind it may be semi-remote, do you know if City/Private sanitary sewer lines are on the street? Assuming yes, the CITY line would certainly be able to accept the amount of flows from homes built on 8-acres. If you have concerns, I usually request a "City-Will-Serve" letter from the City in which they provide a formal letter stating that the City service has capacity to accept your added flows. If you are asking about the private sanitary line into your lot, a standard 8" line would be sufficient to collect flows from all the homes on 8-acres.  

I'm a Civil Engineer & work with developers, the "Will-Serve" letters are important to my clients on my larger projects, so we know if the City will require the developer to pay additional cost if existing City Utilities do not have the adequate capacity.  Hope that helps for the toilet question!  Sorry I cant provide any answers for the bedrooms/taxes question!