Carport Kit Engineered Plans
Though there’s no way for us to stay current with the building codes and regulations in every area of the country, we maintain connections with engineers licensed in forth-eight of the fifty states. As a result, we can offer our assistance in securing a building permit for your new metal carport, if you happen to live in an area where permits are necessary.
Fortunately, most building authorities classify our carports as removable (that is, once built, they can be taken apart and transferred to another spot). In many places this means that you won’t be required to obtain a permit to erect your carport.
There are places, though, where the authorities insist on fully engineered plans and calculations for your carport, before they’ll issue you a permit to set it up. If you happen to live in such an area, we’ll be happy to set you up with plans that will satisfy the local requirements. As a matter of routine, our plans include any and all concrete and foundation work your carport may need – planning details you’d pay extra for, with many suppliers.
Though we stand ready to assist you, we should also mention that responsibility for adhering to local building codes is ultimately yours.
You might choose to go ahead and set up your carport without applying for a permit. In fact, a goodly number of our customers do just that. If you do take this route, we still recommend that you do a little homework in advance, to be sure you’re erecting your carport according to any local “setback” regulations – that is, rules about how far a structure must be from your property lines, and from other buildings on your property. It would be a shame (and an inconvenient one) to end up having to move your carport once it’s been installed, if it happens to be too close to a property line, and somehow comes to the attention of some enterprising local inspector.
Another point to bear in mind, if you’re taking the no-permit course of action, is that it’s well worth it to document certain construction details as you go. To be specific, you should take photos of the foundation work while it’s in progress. This includes photos with a measuring tape clearly visible, so the depth and dimensions of your foundation can be seen. This applies to reinforcing bar placement too, before concrete is poured. For more about this, see our concrete / foundation information page.
Carport Plan and Permit Fees
The fees your local building authorities will ask you to pay for a building permit (if any) are totally dependent on the fee schedule in your particular area. According to what customers have told us, they may be as little as $100, or in excess of $750.
In some cases you’ll be asked to supply engineered plans to obtain a permit. In this case, we can provide you with necessary plans, stamped and sealed by an engineer licensed in your locale. The fee for such a set of plans is normally $450. In rare cases, such as with specially customized designs, or where a sloping site necessitates unusual foundation requirements, the fees may be higher. In any case, the fees for plans cover only our costs for them – the fees we must pay the engineers we’ve retained to supply plans, and assume liability for their accuracy.
If, after you’ve already built your carport, you learn you need engineered plans, we can still supply them.
If you have any question about plans, engineering or permits, one of our associates will be happy to answer them for you – just give us a call.
Requesting Engineered Plans
Before ordering engineered plans, we recommend you contact the building authorities in your area. You’ll need to find out whether you will actually need engineered plans for the type of carport you’ve chosen. If plans will be required, you’ll also need to know what type of plans and/or other documentation they will expect. Whatever type of documentation is needed, we’ll gladly work with you to obtain it. You may be lucky enough to live in an area where original, signed drawings are not needed. If that’s the case, and we happen to have the type of drawings you’ll need in our archives, we’ll provide them free of charge. The bottom line is, we don’t want you paying any fees you don’t absolutely have to – and none at all, if possible.
When you’ve contacted your building department, be certain to ask about these three points:
1. What are the local rules about setback for carports. That is, what distance must there be between your carport and your property lines.
2. Distance required between your carport and other structures.
3. Load requirements for your carport. This is especially important in areas that experience high winds or heavy snows.
Next, fill out our Engineering Request Form. You can do this via the internet, or by printing a copy of the form and faxing or mailing it to us, once you’ve completed it. Our fax number is 480-768-1514.
When we receive your completed request form, we’ll send a detailed drawing of your new carport, along with an invoice for the necessary engineering fees. When we’ve received payment for the invoice, we’ll forward the plan request directly to one of our engineering associates.
