10 Steps to Secure a Building Permit in Davao

When my parents ventured into the restaurant business, I knew there would be a lot of work to be done. One of the first few things that we had to take care of is to secure building permit. This is a document awarded to the applicant or business owner, which in this case are my parents, so that they can perform construction or other building projects. There is an expiration to the building permit, though, so it is important to renew that from time to time to ensure the legality of the business operation.

To serve as your guide, I will outline the steps that we followed while securing the building permit for our business. They are as follows:

1. Obtain a copy of the building permit application form. There are 5 copies in total that you need to fulfill and each one provides their own list of requirements.

2. Obtain first endorsement to other office agencies. Prepare beforehand a copy of your building plan and its supporting documents to any Building Official. They will verify the requirements before your application is endorsed to other agencies such as DENR, BFP, etc. depending on the required clearances.

3. In case the applicant does not own the lot in which the building is going to be constructed in, a Written Consent or Contract of Lease must be presented. If there are any clearances required from the previous step, make sure to complete them at this point.

4. This process involves the evaluation and assessment of the site wherein the building will be constructed in. A Building Staff will conduct the evaluation based on the plans presented to them. Applicants must prepare 5 different plans, all of which had been signed or sealed by a licensed Engineer or Architect.

5. The initial inquiry on the status of your building permit application can be done one day since the initial filing. If, for instance, no deficiencies were detected during the evaluation and assessment, then you can move on to step 8 and skip all of the succeeding steps.

6. If the initial evaluation and assessment proved unsuccessful, further structural design analysis is conducted. Load tests will oftentimes be conducted, especially for building higher than 3 stories.

7. All documents that must be corrected must be re-submitted. Also, if there are any lacking requirements, make sure to comply with all of them.

8. The certificate of location clearance, City Fire Marshall endorsement, and zoning results will be released.

9. Fees must be settled on building permit, zoning fees, and the sign board for the start of construction.

10. The approval of building permit is granted and construction can begin at the site.

In case you are planning to apply for a building permit in the city, follow the steps we did above to make the entire process much easier for you.