Was your owner builder experience with your County good or bad? I am interested in coastal CA OR and WA?
Question:I have heard that Mendocino County has a good owner builder program and the Santa Clara County building permit process is heavily geared toward corporate builders of track style developments. It has been my observation that heavy limits on individual owner builders doesn't slow or stop development but rather shifts the demographic in rural areas to the gaudy mansions of the multimillionaires and eliminates the middle class. Where on the West Coast can we in the middle class live legally in housing built with our own hands and without paying an engineer to design each hole we dig?
Answers:
I tried to find an answer for you but couldn't, good luck with that!
In California because of energy standards, earthquake standards etc. you have almost no chance of designing/building your own home unless you are a contractor yourself. The drawings you submit for a permit will have to be stamped by a licensed architect no matter what. Also Architects are not engineers (usually) so they will almost always get an engineer to design structural, mechanical, electrical. Your local building department can try to help you but the truth is they are so overworked they will have little time for you.
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