Williamson County TN Building Permits & Fees: What You Need To Know

Wooo hooo… We got our Building Permit today! Finally.

Here’s the funny part. (Well, not funny ha-ha.)

The cost of our Building Permit was $9,177! Jim about had to change his drawers when they called to say our permit was ready to pick up.

To break it down…

The Building Permit itself cost us $1,240
The Plumbing Permit cost us $75
The Mechanical Permit cost us $28

And the worst part:

The Privilege Tax amounted to $7,834

Talk about a bittersweet moment!!!

Here’s How The Permitting Process Went For Us…
We’ve waited months for Williamson County to approve our plans and issue our Building Permit.

Since November of 2007, we’ve jumped through hoops and made a few small changes — but each little thing set us back weeks (if not months) at a time.

Nonetheless, I have to say… once all the quirks were worked out, the permit was issued lickedty-split by the Planning & Zoning Department.

The worst part was we just didn’t realize the Building Permit fees would be this much. Partly because the Privilege Tax fee recently doubled (in July of 2007). And, partly because the form itself was a tad confusing. When we were given this form many many months ago, Jim & I thought, ‘Privilege Tax? I don’t think we need one of those.’

You know how it is. When you’re new at this and it’s way early in the process, you just don’t register all of the little details like this. You think: It is what it is. Period. You can’t build a new home without one, so we’ll just be paying whatever it costs for the Building Permit — when the time comes. (Of course, we thought it would surely be less than $1,000.)

Anyway, the fact of the matter is, the Building Permit fees here in Williamson County are high. The most expensive part is the Privilege Tax portion. And, in case you were wondering… the Privilege Tax includes:

$1.00 per square foot for Adequate Facilities Tax and $1.00 per square foot for Adequate School Facilities Tax (includes cities) — for a total of $2.00 per square foot for new buildings considered living space and expandable space.

Next, I bet we’re going to be hit with some really high property taxes on top of this.

…Welcome to the neighborhood.

Williamson County, TN vs Other Places
All frustrations aside, we’re still thrilled to be building where we are. And we wouldn’t change a thing (…except maybe wishing for deeper pockets).

If you are considering building in Williamson County, then the high fees are probably not all that surprising to you. Chances are, you would agree with us about Williamson County being one of the best places to live.

But if you’ll be building your log home somewhere else, then rest assured… your Building Permits & fees are likely to be much much less. That’s because we happen to be building in the most expensive county in the world. (Okay, I guess it’s just happens to be the hottest county in Tennessee, but still.)

For The Record…
The only other fee we had to pay was $350 to Williamson County for our sewage permit.

Building permits are issued through Williamson County at the following location:

Administrative Complex
1320 West Main Street
Franklin, TN
(615) 790-5718

Two Different Men, Two Different Expressions…
Why is this man crying?… Because he has to write a check for $9,177 today!

Why is this man smiling?… Because he’s our G.C. and he’s happy to learn that the County only made 3 small changes to our plans!