The Dreaded Plan Check Comment Period

There are very few opportunities in life that are as nerve racking as dealing with plan check comments. To name a few, I would say probably having to break a bone to escape, having a root canal done without the help of general anesthesia or going through an IRS audit.  Very easily it can go in a direction that you don't want it to and suddenly your project is set back several months at a time.

So some things to do to relieve the stress:

1. Make a pot of hot tea
2. Go skiing
3. Take a day off. Plan check can sometimes last up to 4 months with a public hearing
4. Grow a beard
5. Go sailing
6. Play the guitar. If you don't know how, learn how
7. Try online dating
8. design a pool, build it and then swim in it
9. Make new friends at the airport bar

So there's those few "ideas". But as architects, there's always something coming up and we have to be able to justify what we're doing, why we're doing it and then show to the city that it was within code and compliant. Usually, this is quick on the architecture end of things, but from the city side, it could be a knuckle dragging process since on the whole, a county might have to deal with tens of people coming in daily asking why they can't convert their garage into a pool or trying to get the permissions to build a 50' high security tower with floodlights. Sometimes it's real, sometimes it's nonsensical, but it all has to be processed. What's the use of a government for the people if it's not used by the people anyhow?

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