On PDD Practice Exam Form-1 Case Study-2 Question-2 I don’t understand why the correct answer explanation used Business Mercantile for the fee cost…? The scenario states that that the building is a factory and the occupancy type “will remain unchanged”. Because of this I used Factory as the basis for the fee to do my fee calculations. While I see the scenario lists the renovation as renovations to existing office space the fact that earlier in the scenario it listed the building as a manufacturing facility with unchanged occupancy. This would lead me to believe that the building is a factory with the office space as a small accessory space…? Or should I have taken this as the renovation is of business space so permit will be for business use even though the overall building occupancy is factory?
Hi @tdebarros ,
We will do our best to help explain! At a glance, I’m thinking the building was perhaps a ‘factory’ when built, but the existing use (to remain unchanged) was Business per another area of the prompt.
@coachchrishopstock can you please take a look into this question?
Thanks,
Darion
Hi @tdebarros and thanks for the question!
The fee schedule provided for this case study lists the AHJ fees for renovations separately from those for new construction. For new construction fees, the typology of the building matters, but for renovations, it does not. Since the scenario notes that this is a renovation project, you need to use the fee schedule for renovations to answer the question correctly.
I hope this was helpful and good luck in your studies!
I’m still confused by the answer to the original question here.
The scenario does say the building is a manufacturing facility and the occupancy type will remain unchanged, and I’m finding no additional information that might suggest the building use has changed since being built, as @coachdarionziegler suggested! However, the provided floor plan does show only business functions within the space, is this something we are supposed to assume to calculate permit fees using B/M rather than F occupancy? Additionally, @coachchrishopstock mentioned that as this was a renovation we should be using the Alterations Fee over the New Construction Fee, and therefore the occupancy type doesn’t matter… But the Alterations Fee is listed as 70% of the New Construction Fee, so the occupancy type still does matter to answer correctly.
In addition to the occupancy type, I was confused by a second factor. The project is not simply a renovation, but a renovation and addition to the original building. The New Construction Fee is more specifically for “New Construction and Additions” and Alterations is for “Alterations and Miscellaneous Construction.” Would the permit fees be broken down by each type of work’s SF, and we’d use plans/other provided project information to separate the SF for calculation? Or, would the permit fees be decided by one category? If this were the case, I would think the AHJ would certainly choose the category which they most profit from, which would be New Construction, not Alterations.
Thanks!