Approved Permit and Inspection Schedule for our Small Modular Cabin

We don’t have a permit yet, but we have a job box ready for it.

It should not take this long to get a permit, so Taylor went down again to try to shepherd it through. They said they had sent me an email about the problem and I found it in my Spam folder.

The problem is the driveway. Because we are using the driveway the city put in off Comet, instead of making a new driveway off Dartmouth, the driveway is on a different parcel from the house. It doesn’t matter that we own both parcels. We need to “deed that part of the property as an easement for the property in the rear.” We already gave the city an easement to use that property, but that doesn’t matter. They want us to have another survey and grant right of way. Taylor called around, they want at least $1500 to survey an easement. Another survey! We must have paid for 10 surveys here already! And do we really want a permanent easement through the back yard of this house?

There is a driveway for that parcel. They can see it on Google Satellite and Street View. It turns a sharp corner and runs really close to the back of the house they built on the lot next to ours. The flag was there first, so the builder knew how close the house is to a surveyed off driveway, but still… My daughter and her husband use the driveway to park their camper.

Taylor re-applied for a building permit with the driveway coming off of Dartmouth. He marked it with a parking area and a walkway to the cabin. If we have to, we can put in a bridge.

The driveway we put in will be the construction driveway. The driveway off Dartmouth will be the official addressed driveway.

The permit application shows how far from the property lines the cabin will be.

They agreed. The new driveway is a construction entrance.

The permit now says

Jobsite Address: 2194 Dartmouth Rd
Jobsite Directions: Construction Entrance will be off of Comet Drive. Sign in Place

The permit is approved. Now we can finally move forward!

The email from the city also informed me that the waterway we just worked on is now considered a blue line stream and we can’t build within 50 feet of it. Good thing they hadn’t made that decision before we built our house, since it is about 5 feet off of it. They must have come out right after a rain. The whole mountain seems to take this route to the brook, but it is dry the rest of the time.

About a week later we saw someone wandering around in the back yard. It was a surveyor. Taylor said they had never called back, but somehow they got their wires crossed and were out there surveying for the easement. Cliff called Taylor, Taylor called the surveyor and he left. But we have another set of pins and flags. This must be the most surveyed piece of land in the county.

Modular Home Inspection Schedule

Are you wondering what inspections are required for a modular home? Most of the inspections are already done where the house is being built. These are the inspections that are done here.

Required Inspections

• Temp Saw Service
• Footings
• Foundation
• Deck/Porch Piers
• Final Electric
• Final Plumbing
• Water Service
• Sewer Line
• Final Mechanical (HVAC)
• Final Building
• Tie Together
• Setup

Temp Saw Service is temporary power for construction. We don’t need it. We live close enough to run an extension cord or they will use generators.

We also won’t need a Tie Together inspection, since there is only one piece.

Our contractor is Taylor Fowler with Fowler Excavating in Western North Carolina.