Architect for southwest Ohio

Which counties and towns do you cover?

Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont, Montgomery, Greene, Clark and Miami counties, including Cincinnati, Hamilton, Fairfield, Oxford, Mason, Lebanon, Springboro, Loveland, Milford, Batavia, Dayton, Kettering, Beavercreek, Xenia, Yellow Springs, Springfield, Troy and Tipp City.

How are permits handled here?

The larger cities run their own building departments. The counties serve much of the rest. In Warren County, the Warren County Building and Zoning Department enforces the Residential Code of Ohio, the Ohio Building Code and the electrical code in the unincorporated areas, and county rural zoning applies in the townships it covers. Montgomery County Building Regulations publishes its own checklist for pole barns built as residential accessory buildings. For any other address, the state's building department map names the office.

What kind of work comes up in southwest Ohio?

In Cincinnati, older houses on hillside lots, where an addition often means a new foundation on a slope and close attention to drainage and retaining walls. In Warren and Butler counties, new houses in growing towns and on former farmland, often with a subdivision's design review. In Clermont, Greene, Clark and Miami counties, more barns, shops and houses on rural parcels.

What should I know about building here?

• Slopes and soils. The hills along the Ohio River and its tributaries include areas with a history of landslides. On a steep lot, ask early whether a geotechnical report is needed.
• Fast growth. Warren and Butler counties are among the fastest growing in the state. Zoning maps, utility extensions and subdivision rules change often; check the current version.
• Two codes on one lot. A barn used partly for farming and partly for a business falls under different rules for each part. Decide the use before the design, and say so on the zoning application, because changing it later usually means new drawings and a new review.

How do we work together?

Remotely first, through calls and shared drawings, with a site visit when the job needs one. See new custom homes, permit drawings for additions and renovations, pole barn drawings and zoning and site plans.