Green Building Resource Guide

Archive for the ‘inspection’ Category

Part V: Working with the Building Department

Monday, July 28th, 2008

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Thanks for your patience everyone. I have been swamped and unable to make another entry in my blog for some time. Today I want to talk about what it is like to work with your local building department while acting as your own general contractor. You might think that in the progression of events the next piece of the puzzle would be working with your bank, not the building department. After all, you won’t be working with your building department until you are actually ready to build and you won’t be ready until you have the bank funding. Actually, although a common theory, this is totally wrong in my opinion.
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Working with City Officials

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

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I receive several emails a month from people who need help with the process of finding land, working with municipalities, and building their straw bale home. For many individuals, this is the first time they have ever ventured out into the World of Green Construction, and the implications of building green can affect the approach they take to finding land and working with the local authorities in order to create the dream home they desire. I have written blog entries in the past about evaluating your site, but may not have mentioned information about working with local planning departments.
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Inspecting an Old Straw Bale House

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006

It is often difficult to tell the quality of any home, let alone a straw bale home once it has been in existence for a few years. With bale homes, there are usually not experience home inspectors who can help as in conventional homes as the details of straw bale homes are often beyond the scope of what inspectors know. For that reason, you may be left inspecting the home yourself. Here are some things to consider.
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