Temple Area Builders Association

Salado Building Permit Update

You may recall past TABA president John Kiella’s October 2006 editorial where he wrote about the potential for an extreme increase in the cost of Salado building permits.  Since that time TABA has worked with the Aldermen of Salado to make sure that our industry has a voice in this process.

It will be necessary for Salado to adjust their fees in the near future in order to adequately fund their inspection process.  In determining how to best handle this increase, the Village of Salado has been accommodating to TABA’s request for input into the process.

Since our initial conversations, Salado has considered an analysis that TABA provided in order for them to compare their prospective rates with those of neighboring communities.  With this analysis in mind, the Aldermen opted to assign a committee to further explore ways to address the municipality’s needs.

Alderman Merle Stalcup is heading up this committee, and he recently provided TABA with an update on the committee’s work.  The following paraphrases the correspondence that he has had with TABA:

The committee has met twice.  We have reviewed the overall condition of the permitting system in Salado.  At the same time, the committee heard interviews and presentations from multiple third party providers of plan review and building inspection.

The companies that were interviewed were Bureau Veritas, Metro Code Analysis, and Inspection Tech.  All three had very good references, insurance, experienced inspectors, and a system in place to support the Village of Salado in the permitting process.

In a January 2007 meeting, the committee recommended to the Board of Alderman that Metro Code  be the third party provider of plan review and inspection service.  In doing so, they would also serve as our “Building Official” since the Village of Salado Building Official recently resigned his position.

At the direction of the Board of Aldermen, we have contacted Metro Code in effort to begin the negotiations of a contract with the company.  Once completed, the contract will go back to the Alderman for final review.

A February 6th meeting will take place in Salado in which the committee will review the chain of process—from the time that the contractor/resident requests information about a building permit to the time that actual permit is issued—for our building permits.

The committee has agreed to work within the constraints of international building codes, and to gear our primary efforts toward the continued improvement of our permitting process and ensuring that we are contractor and resident friendly.