September 10. Just a couple of days to lay the formwork for the Tiny House foundations. Our building inspector, Bob, says it’s the neatest formwork he has ever seen.
Tiny Houses
Excavation complete
September 7. Excavation complete. That’s a mighty big hole for a tiny house!
Boom
Now is the time for tiny!
Excavation crews began work yesterday on cityLAB’s Tiny House in Garfield.
Reporting live from the scene was Andy Sheehan from KDKA-TV | CBS Pittsburgh. Click here to watch his interview with cityLAB’s Eve Picker on what small changes are in store for Garfield.
In the weeds
What’s that you see in the weeds?
Progress!
Yesterday marked yet another milestone for Pittsburgh’s first Tiny House. With construction permits in hand, the Tiny House team held an on-site kickoff meeting, finalizing arrangements for breaking ground. Thanks to our partners and supporters like you, soon the site will be buzzing with construction as the Tiny House comes to life.
Stay glued to the Tiny House journal to keep on top of the latest news, and get ready to bring big change to Pittsburgh when Small Change launches!
The joy of approval
It’s official. The Tiny House has been approved for construction!
After review by the City’s Department of Zoning and Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections, a building permit has been issued for the Garfield Tiny House. With the permit in hand we are now free to start construction.
Picking up the building permit for the Garfield Tiny House today was a joyful moment. We’re celebrating today!
With a few more tweaks to our financing package, we’ll be able to break ground.
Permitting
It has been quite a process to get to this point and it’s always nerve-wracking applying for a building permit. As I ride the elevator to the third floor of the Civic Building, I can’t shake the feeling that after all of this work we may still not reach our goal – permission to build the Tiny House.
When the elevator doors open, I begin the journey that the City of Pittsburgh refers to as applying for a building permit. First I turn left and head towards the zoning counter. This time I’m lucky and am able to walk straight up to the counter without waiting in line. I submit my completed occupancy application and answer a number of questions, such as “what’s the size of the deck?”, “what materials will be used for the pergola?” and “what are the overall dimensions of the house?”. When the questions are complete I’m given a receipt.
With receipt in hand I cross the hall towards the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections (PLI). I visit the cashier on the way who takes the zoning receipt and creates a file for the project and gives me a second receipt.
With the second receipt in hand I enter PLI and line up at the submission counter on the left. When it’s my turn I submit two sets of construction documents, stamped with our architect’s seal, along with a completed application form and the paperwork I had received from the zoning desk and the second receipt from the cashier.
They give the drawings a number and enter us into the queue of other hopeful projects awaiting their fate. Then they hand me (yes, you guessed it) a THIRD receipt which I will have to bring back once the building permit is approved.
All we can do now is wait for the call.