Obtaining a Business License for At Home - not so easy

[sofadoc]

I was also told by the City Planner if he went to my Facebook page he would probably see all sorts of furniture (yup), which will get me in hot water.

This might explain why I've seen a lot of websites and FB pages that are extremely vague as to their exact location. Some just list an email or cell phone#, but they don't even say what state they're in.

[kodydog]

Currently my wife and I are working out of a two car garage. We live in a small historic town just north of Gainesville Fl. My wife is a "by the book" type person. She wants everything to be done in compliance. So she called zoning. They said we could have our business at home as long as it is attached to our house and as long as we don't disturb the neighbors. The catch 22 is finding insurence that will let you have an upholstery shop attached to your house. Rose managed to find one.

When we moved here we made sure to tell all our neighbors exactly what we do. And we give neighborhood discounts. Because we live right around the corner from the elementary school most of our neighbors are young families. This means during the day the neighborhood is empty, nobody for us to bother. Our garage door is usually open and when the kids get out of school they usually check in with us. The parents think its cool we keep an eye on them. And if you think our staple gun is noisy you should hear these kids.

Our original plan started 3 years ago. That was to buy a commercial piece of property. After checking out many commercial buildings and estimating property taxes and insurance we nixed that plan. Everybody has their hand out when your a small business. The city charges double for water usage to commercial.

We bought the lot next door and plan to build a 24' X 30' shop. Rose has called zoning many times to find out just exactly what we can and cannot build. I guess the guy got tired of her calling because one day he told her, just do what you want. He asked, do you have any idea how many small businesses are running in peoples backyards here? He said when you apply for a building permit do not call it a garage. If you call it an accessory building you will be fine.

Soooo my point is zoning differs from town to town and state to state. Here its one guy on the road and two ladies in the office. pretty laid back. 

[sofadoc]

Every town has it's restrictions and ordinances. But in every town you see people that are obviously in violation of them.

I think a lot of people opt to get forgiveness instead of permission.

[Mojo]

I have a rule of thumb I have gone by for most of my adult life. Never contact any government agency unless absolutely necessary.

We formed an LLC in Florida and that is it. We ran the business out of our house and had customers come now and then. But then our property is zoned agriculture and our county could care less. We only have a couple neighbors anyways. If we ever build a building on our 3 acres I will pull a permit. Otherwise I never pull one for doing renovation work, sheds, etc. I typically do not play nice with zoning people so I stay clear of them.

When we moved to a new building we purposely selected a place outside the city limits which eliminated one layer of government ( and taxes ). We will be looking for a large building to expand into and I can promise you it wont be inside any city limits. Dealing with the State and County is a headache enough.

Chris

[gene]

I think a lot of people opt to get forgiveness instead of permission.

Yes, and if caught, they will be forgiven, then they will be fined and required to pay for the permit or whatever it was to begin with, and then they will whine and complain to anyone who will listen about how unfair it is and how they got screwed.

I have a rule of thumb I have gone by for most of my adult life. Never contact any government agency unless absolutely necessary.

With city budgets increasing every year, revenue enhancement is what it's all about. Speed cameras, drones looking into your back yard, permits required for more and more things.

A few years back our county politicians wanted to add "the inside condition of the house" as a variable in assessing property taxes. That meant that if you neighbor is a pathetic slob who has flee infested furniture, old fast food bags and empty pizza boxes littering every room, and dried dog sh*t all over the floors, he'll pay less taxes than you would.

How about firefighters making $400,000 a year.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/03/02/firefighters-earning-up-to-400k-in-san-ramon-draw-criticism/

gene

[SteveA]

Gene that sounds way too high but given they eat smoke, endanger their physical health and well being at every shift, and save lives routinely - I have to say it's money well spent.  Now these Senators who spend too much time campaigning - golfing, dining, are another story - I would take another look at their health care - pension - and salary before cops and fire service
SA

[sofadoc]

I think a lot of people opt to get forgiveness instead of permission.

Yes, and if caught, they will be forgiven, then they will be fined and required to pay for the permit or whatever it was to begin with, and then they will whine and complain to anyone who will listen about how unfair it is and how they got screwed.

True. They may be fined. They'll probably whine and complain. But the bottom line is........they'll have that permit that they otherwise wouldn't have gotten had they properly applied for it in the first place.

[MinUph]

Around here if you dont pull a permit and build something without one they make you tear it down. There is no forgiveness here. Seems a bit harsh but that's the way it is.

[kodydog]

The thing everyone leaves out of this whole "in compliance" scenario is will the city catch you not conforming. In this part of Florida zoning does not have the manpower to have people riding around looking for noncompliance. They don't have drones flying over residence back yards. They may occasionally accidentally find someone not in compliance. But I think that would be the exception not the normal.

Zoning does need permission to come onto your property. They would have to have a pretty good reason to obtain a court order to forcibly enter your private residence. Perhaps lightening consistently striking a big ball on a tower in your back yard would be cause for concern. But keep your shop low profile. Don't leave discarded sofas lying around in your yard. Keep the noise to a minimum by keeping your shop doors and windows shut.

Of course don't try this in a highly restricted neighborhood. They will fine you and put leans on your house. But a little known fact is the covenants in these neighborhoods are not enforced by the city or county. They can only be enforced by a group of elected officials in that neighborhood. This is not a good place to have an at home business and quite frankly not the type neighborhood I'd want to live in. Some of these neighborhoods would frown on my delivery van parked in my driveway.  

[byhammerandhand]

HOAs suck.   I remember old "This Old House" episodes where a few neighbors got on the "historical committee" and the little bit of power and 30 seconds of fame went to their heads.  Most were ignorant of "historical" considerations and tried to rule on the shape of spindles, number of panels on a door, etc.    When we looked for a new home last year, an HOA was a deal-breaker.   One daughter lives in a neighborhood where they have an HOA.   They had to get approval for color on their garage door, and when they tried to get a fence to keep the dog in, they were rejected because the gate had an arch that made it 4" too high.  My daughter pointed out that about 25% of the neighborhood had this exact fence and gate and they got an "exception."    Son-in-law ended up getting elected to the HOA board so hopefully he will bring some common sense.

In a way though, what Kodydog says is true, unless someone complains, it will likely slip.   Even though my old house was about 200 yards from the building office, right on the main drag, they never gave me or my neighbor any grief.

[brmax]

D3
Thats a great point you mention in post 12 with some places requiring a certain professional license. Some above the regular business license, i guess to assist customers better their intended plan.
I ran across this information regarding California and some in Florida in the interest of Mechanics license and particular heavy and roadway types service business. Im sure there are more than just these states i mention, these two were discussed with me as an old wrench.

So in respect to both, what was interesting was the marine area mechanics in some situations were not required to have these certifications working in the marinas, so able to wrench freely!. Versus on the roadway or inland equipment shops, as i understood. Topping this off was the same requirement to collect monies for the instructional information classes like many of us may go to occasionally.

Well from a person that spent a lot of money getting these same certs for "the carrot" hanging in front by entities of all sorts, this is tough for me. But still what erked me most was the same reason it was started and was that crap work can be had from both.

In doing code searching homework i found interestingly some areas had a specific distance from home to another home for business of any kind. This was when i started stitching, and at that time was curious of another shop type location. Tip: building code references to a biz can be in short order enlightening, just so one knows prior to any future inspections if they do that.

good day there
Floyd

[BCKC]

Just remember you are only as good as what your worth!!!! from following... your worth a MILLION!!!!