All Forum Posts by: Samuel Pavlovcik

@Justin Carter, reach out to @Mike Morawski, I just had a conversation with him yesterday about flat roofs and the product his company makes! I think he might have a good solution for you and is an active part of the BP community!

+1 to @Chris Seveney's response. As an Architect, I have worked in pretty much every scenario. Owner providing their own engineers and contracting everyone separate, Architect providing engineers as part of my contract, and GC providing engineers as part of their contract. It really comes down to preference, convenience, and opportunity. More often than not, the person providing the Engineering services is whoever already had the connection with an Engineer. As the Owner, you have the right to choose however you want to do it. Even if your GC has an engineer you can tell them you don't want to use theirs and provide your own, or you can request that you will use their recommendation but you would prefer to contract with them directly. Most of the time people are pretty flexible, but it can definitely be beneficial to have GC's/Architects/Engineers who have had some type of previous experiences together because it tends to lead to better communication and collaboration throughout the process. Keep in mind, every Contractor, Architect, and Engineer are different so just because something Should make things easier, doesn't necessarily mean it will provide the best outcome. In the end, people quite frequently find that "You get what you pay for", and the amount effort you put into researching the members of your team, the better off you will be.

The City of Chicago is it's own animal for this process as well. The Zoning Variation/Change is a lengthy and expensive process, it requires you to have fully prepared Architectural drawings, stamped and submitted to the City of Chicago by a Licensed Architect or Structural Engineer, then you have to wait for the Zoning department to Deny it (Which can take 8 weeks alone, or you can pay $1,500 to have an In-Person zoning review done in a shorter time period, but i'm not sure how COVID has effected this). Then after the Zoning department Denies it, your Architect needs to apply for the Variation/Change, you need to hire a Zoning Attorney to represent you for your case with the Zoning Board of Appeals and you get put on the schedule for the next meeting which only meets once a month. Depending on when you apply, if you miss the cut-off date you will be waiting for the next one, and the cut-off date is at least 2 weeks before the hearing, but I can't remember the exact date.... During the meeting, your attorney has to prove your "Hardship" and why they should allow you the variation/change, and anyone from the general public can attend the hearing to try to fight against the case as well. So even after all that, nothing is guaranteed...

After the Zoning is approved, you can then proceed with the rest of the Building Department review. If it is denied, you need to either withdraw the permit application, or resubmit with a revised plan, which goes back to the Zoning department...

You can really get a bid from a contractor at any phase; however, the more information and detail you can provide, the more accurate your quote will be. The first thing I would recommend would be to check into the feasibility to ensure you understand the potential difficulties of making the change. Feel free to reach out if you want me to take a quick look into the property for you. I'm a Licensed Architect based out of Chicago and I've had my experience with a zoning variation/zoning change or two...

I'm definitely interested in this as well! I am a Architect currently licensed in IL, IN, and TX and I have been living in Downtown Chicago for the past 12 years. I've been interested in REI for a while and am starting to get serious about it so I joined this forum to learn from others and gain insight. My wife and I plan to move to the North Atlanta area in 2021 and are getting more and more excited for the move. I plan to start REI ventures after we move. Based on our personal travels down there it seems like there are a lot of areas North of the City that are expanding greatly, and we like the feel of a lot of the neighborhoods; all tho some of them seem to get pretty far out into the middle of nowhere and then all of the sudden there's a new residential neighborhood development... Looking closer to the City of Atlanta I've seen some condo markets that appear a little more similar to Chicago proper. I'm excited to learn more about the Atlanta markets, but in the meantime, feel free to reach out anytime if you ever have any Architectural questions for the Chicago/Chicagoland Area; I'd be happy to help out. My company is also available to provide full Architectural Services for any jobs that may need Building Permits or Architectural Drawings. My company specializes in fast turnaround on efficient, cost effective designs for remodeling and additions.

Thanks @Christopher Olsen,

I currently live in a 3-flat in Chicago but my wife and I are planning to move to the North Atlanta area next year so I'm planning on waiting until after the move and looking into the potential down in GA on our new home.

I've been interested in this as well. I've heard rumors from a few of my clients about companies knowing of Grants that can cover nearly 100% of the costs. Apparently there are companies who specialize in all of this information so once you find them, they work out all the paperwork, get paid thru grants, and you get the install for practically nothing. Similar to how a lot of roofing companies will replace your roof "for free" because they can "prove" there were strong storms within the area and your roof was "damaged" from that. Biggest difference would be that this gets paid for by grants rather than from your insurance company which could lead to increased premiums.

I'm hoping someone on BP has some immediate experience with this as I'd like to consider it for our next home.

Thanks @Crystal Smith for the detailed information!

Looks like a solid project, congrats, @Michael Kevorkian How long did this take to complete?

@Brian Ploszay good input, sounds like you have a good handle on a lot of the local markets. What areas of the City are you in?

+1 to @Michael Kevorkian's response, there is definitely a value that can be found with having the right GC and/or PM that can save a lot of headache and a lot of $$ from not needing to do things twice. That being said, it also has to do a lot with finding the Right GC and not just Any GC, to make sure you are really getting the value out of it. It can also depend on how much time, effort, and experience you have in construction. The less you know about construction, the more you will likely benefit from a GC. Additionally, I know that many of the Chicagoland jurisdictions will let you act as your own GC and even your own Sub-contractor (if you don't want to pay for licensed subs) however, that is typically only allowed if you are Living in the property as your primary residence. Additionally, you definitely need to use caution using non-licensed trades, as everything will still need to comply with local codes, and just because you have an inspection done by the local municipality, doesn't mean they can/will catch everything and if you don't know what to look for you could easily get yourself into a dangerous/costly situation.