LEARN
THE PROCESS
Our plans are almost ready as soon as you approve the proposal. There are just a few things we have to do to customize the plans for your specific property so that the City will approve them.
PLANS READY FOR YOU
Architectural Plans Include:
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Floor Plan
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Roof Plan
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Exterior Elevations
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Window and Door Schedules
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Details
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Cross Sections
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Fire Rating
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Recommended Siting Locations
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Lighting and Electrical Plan
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Specific Code Notes
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Title 24 Energy Calculations
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Solar Panels Sizing
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Mechanical System.
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Structural Plans Include:
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Foundation Plan
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Framing Plan
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Shear Walls
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Roof Framing Plan
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Structural Construction Details
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Special Inspections
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​We need to include your property address on all the pages of the drawings.
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Customize the cover sheet to include custom title, property location map, Assessor's parcel map, and project information specific to you.
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If your property is not located in San Jose, we will provide the additional documents and drawings requested by your municipality as an additional service.
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A site plan with the specific location for the ADU and showing all existing utility services, parking, and location of the primary residence. It's recommended that we are provided with a survey done by a civil engineer.
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A site visit to evaluate and understand property, topography, tree locations and other site constraints (Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties only).
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You may request changes to the design as an additional service, but please note that any alterations to the preapproved plans will require the City of San Jose to remove preapproval status.
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The plans should be ready for you in 5 business days after our site visit unless you requested changes to the design of the plans.
GETTING THE PERMIT
As a preapproved ADU set of plans, the construction drawings are quickly ready for the City to review and will go through the permitting process in San Jose faster than their regular process.
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Our firm will deliver the plans to the City and coordinate the review process.
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Once the City accepts the plans you, as the property owner, will have to pay all plan check and permit fees. City fees are not included in our fees.
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Expectations for the approval process with the City is less than 3 weeks.
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We've done this many times before, so we will guide you through the process making it as easy as possible.
HELPING YOU FIND A BUILDER
We have worked with many great general contractors to build our projects in our 17 years in business. So, we will select three (or four) that we feel best fits you, your location and your budget.
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Select 3 to 4 general contractors ready to build your project and give you their contact information.
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The standard practice is that you will meet with these contractors, get bids and select them yourself. If this seems too overwhelming, our firm can be hired to get bids and present them to you.
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Even if you choose not to use one of our recommended general contractors, we can still assist you in finding the right builder to construct your ADU.
Construction Time
Even though we are not specifically offering any services during construction we can still help you with any of the following if you choose to have our added involvement.
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Interior design: helping you to select flooring, cabinets, fixtures, trim, colors, etcetera. We can send you to showrooms or select items for you.
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Site visits at major milestones to confirm that the builder is following the plans and ready to pass inspections.
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Review inspections and let you know if the builder is not passing or is not contacting the City to perform inspections.
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Landscape design: designing the landscape around the new ADU, additional landscaping, or providing you with a referral to landscape architects.