When we ran the math on the size of the lot and septic system specs for the county, there was NO “affordable” way to expand or build a bigger house, we had to KILL that deal.Become friends with the county engineers, sometimes if a house is on septic there are opportunities to hook into existing sewer lines.Become friends with a good septic guy and the county environmental health department, sometimes challenging septic situations can be overcome.For septic projects you are generally required to get various soil tests done to determine the quality AND quantity of “good” soil.

I filed for a demolition permit for my 1913 townhouse in D.C and i just got the response that a lead permit maybe required. the comments also state that i should fill an environmental review questionnaire and upload pictures of the house.

This builder isn't the biggest around, but he has a name that most in the area would recognize, hence some of our initial trust in how the contract was written.Questions: If builder pissed away all of our money on the "down payment on the land, engineering, architecture, environmental studies, ect"..

On top of the down payment, there will be all the closing costs, attorney fees, inspections, environmental, and probably a few things I am forgetting.Reach out to the listing broker and see what information they have.

For instance, if there is lead based paint on the walls & wood work in addition to the asbestos you referred to, there will be added cost to remediate by a licensed environmental company.There will also have to be time added to the job to accommodate all the inspections, city dump fees to get rid of the toxic material with a manifest paperwork trail ect.

If there’s a chance it is not a cat, an environmental scientist or mold inspector who does NOT also do remediations (=conflict of interest) would be your best bet to help you discover the source. 

This is beyond me because I would think the auto repair business is more of an issue environmentally.

Umbrella policies do not cover all type of claims, including environmental.

You often see nice lot on the sat view only to get there and find there is a pile of junk that will cost you $20,000 to remove...so you want to make sure that junk pile is not what you are buying....or the lot shows nice and neat on sat view and you get there and find every trucker in the neighborhood is changing their oil and dumping the used on that lot...so now you are responsible if you buy for environmental cleanup.Lots of disasters out there....lots in old mobile home parks that have no sewer, but now due to new laws arent big enough to put in septic...so really unusuable unless you can buy enough to get 1 acre...so maybe 10-20 of those lots.   

What sort of permitting and/or environmental surveys do I need?