ᐅ Building a Garden Shed... Is a Building Permit Necessary? Potential Detours?

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be an architect… The friendly master mason from next door is also good enough for that. Their hourly rates are lower. Choose someone from the community where you want to build, as they are familiar with the building authority / planning office, which solves most of the problems.

Hello

We had to submit a building permit / planning permission application for the garden house and sauna. It has now been approved.

Hessen

Steven schrieb:

The building authority told me that I could submit the building application myself without an architect, and that it would be reviewed favorably.

Hmm, I would find that surprising. I had to take the difficult route—submitting the building application myself (just because of the size), having a structural calculation done (by a structural engineer, of course!), and in my case, due to exceeding the maximum allowable lot coverage, also obtaining the neighbors’ signatures.

All the paperwork cost me a lot of money, but this way everything is fully compliant, and nobody can cause me any trouble.

Alex124 schrieb:

Hmm, I would be surprised. I had to go through the hard way: the building permit / planning permission (especially due to the size), a structural calculation (from a qualified structural engineer, of course!), and in my case, because the maximum allowable building boundary was exceeded, I also needed the neighbors' signatures.

All the paperwork cost me a lot of money, but at least everything is done according to the regulations and no one can cause me any trouble.

I can only confirm that is correct.

Two years of struggle. In two weeks the building permit / planning permission will be approved. With buildings like these, neighbors tend to get jealous. I wouldn’t take any chances here.

Yes, I will get a quote from the architect, but do you have any ballpark figures on the overall cost? (Architectural services, structural engineering, etc.)

Are there no suppliers of garden houses made of stone that include the entire planning package? I can only ever find something like that for wooden cabins ;(

Dare123 schrieb:

Yes, I’m going to get a quote from an architect, but do you have a rough estimate of the total costs? (architect fees, structural engineering, etc.)

Are there no suppliers of garden houses made of stone where you can buy the whole planning package? I only ever find that for wooden sheds ;(

As far as I remember...
250 for the architect (friendly price)
250 for the structural engineer (he didn’t really calculate, just put together a generous estimate, I always build five times stronger than necessary anyway)
300 for fees at the authorities and minor expenses
100 for wine to get the neighbors drunk to sign off

The costs are one thing, but the real hassle was running around until the authorities were finally satisfied and had all the required documents and data.

Well, I don’t know of any suppliers of solid garden houses, it’s probably too customized and too expensive for most. It’s easier with wooden sheds—you can just pack everything you need on a pallet and there isn’t much that can go wrong during assembly. But you can’t expect a DIY enthusiast to create a load-bearing foundation slab, solid walls, ring beams, etc. If you try to sell something like that, it will only cause trouble.