Washington Plans

Welcome Neighbors

Sonoma City Hall

We want to say hello to all our friends in Sonoma and introduce you to our website.  If you don't know who we are yet, please let us introduce ourselves.  The website www.CottageDepot.com is a trademark of the Sonoma Valley Engineering Corporation.  We have been located in "Downtown" Sonoma for many years.  You'll find us just behind the Post Office at 617 1st Street West. 

Our primary business in Sonoma involves providing structural engineering, civil engineering and permitting services to architects, businesses, municipalities and private homeowners.  We have lived with the issues relating to construction permitting in California for many years.  In fact, the enormous permitting difficulties and extraordinary cost of construction in Sonoma lead us to create this website.  The website attempts to empower the average homeowner to both permit, build and afford his/her own Backyard Cottage or Accessory Dwelling Unit. 

A NEW YEAR'S SPECIAL for 2017

This section of our website is dedicated specifically to City of Sonoma Residents only.  As a gift to all our friends in the City we are offering a FREE engineering lot inspection, FREE site plan preparation and FREE permitting service to any one purchasing a set of plans and an engineering package by January 31, 2017. This is what this one time offer includes:

  1. Free Site Assessment -  An engineer will visit your site to determine whether your backyard is large enough, whether your electrical, water and sewer connections are adequate and whether your site grades will allow permitting of a Cottage or Tiny Home.
  2. Free Custom Site Plan - We will prepare a custom site plan showing your new cottage and all the items necessary for your permit application.  This includes a site drawing with gas, water, electric and gas utility lines, your existing building, fences, trees and lot slopes, as well as the position of your proposed new cottage.
  3. Free Permit Application Services -  After preparing your site plan and engineering package we will walk your permit through all the agencies necessary to obtain your permit. You can sit back and forget about all those permitting hassles.

Have a Happy New Year!

The following is a little more about our services and a description of who we are:

Permitting Assistance Package

If you've been to the building department lately to try to secure a building permit, I don't need to explain the problem.  The paper work, regulations and requirements have made it virtually impossible for the untrained to get a permit.  Worse yet is the fact that you cannot even determine if a permit is possible unless you spend thousands of dollars to hire an Architect or Engineer to prepare a preliminary plan set.   And, to determine the actual cost of a permit is a nightmare of Building Fees, Utility Fees, School Impact Fees, Green Code Fees, Energy Code Costs, Fire Sprinkler Fees, even Upgraded Fixture & Smoke-CO Detector Costs in your main house,  etc., etc., etc.

We've been in this business a long time, some 40 years.  We have designed, built and permitted projects across America and in a few foreign countries.   We have spent the past 4 years developing this website specifically to simplify the permitting process, using the City of Sonoma as our model.   We know the process in Sonoma.  As an introductory offer, only available for a limited time, we are offering  the following assistance to anyone purchasing a Cottage or Tiny House Plan and an Engineering Package in the City of Sonoma.  This is what you'll receive:

    Permit - Design - Build Packages

    Although our website of Tiny Homes and Backyard Cottages is targeted at selling Plans to a national audience, we offer some additional services exclusively to home owners in Sonoma.  In addition to Plan and Engineering Packages, we provide full Construction Services.   That means you can have your Backyard Cottage or Rentable Accessory Dwelling Unit designed, engineered, permitted and built by one company.  No fights with contractors, building departments, planning & zoning officials.  We do it all with no hassle and no surprises.  If you're wondering how an Engineering Company can build your cottage, see below for a summary of our 30 years on the building side of the process.  Our Design-Build package includes:

    • Free Site Assessment
    • Custom Site Plan
    • Architectural Design
    • Engineering Design
    • Inspection by a Professional Engineer
    • Energy Consultant Fees
    • Green Code Consultant Fees
    • Building Permit costs
    • Building Department Impact fees
    • School impact fee 
    • Energy code compliance products
    • Structural & seismic calculations
    • Green Code filings & inspection fees
    • School Impact fee
    • Water connection fee
    • Sewer Connection Fee 

     

    Our Design-Build Heritage

    Most people in Sonoma do not know it, but before moving here we operated a successful Engineering and Design-Build company (Garant-Homes Corp) in Florida and the Caribbean specializing in the replication of historic styles of the Caribbean, New Orleans and Key West.   When we first arrived in Sonoma, we built the "Carpenter Gothic" style House and Cottage located on 275 West Spain as our own home.  The House is an example of Sonoma Architecture in the mid 19th century and is similar to the historic Vallejo Home in the State Park across the street.  The building was designed, permitted and constructed by us, including the complex gingerbread and historic details that were custom fabricated onsite.

    Before moving to Sonoma we designed and built dozens of historically based homes in numerous locations on the East Coast and the Caribbean.  Below is an advertising image showing a number of these homes.  If you'd like to learn more about our construction heritage, you're welcome to give us a call and we'll show you a lot more.

     

    Cottage Images Florida

     

    Some of our Certifications and Memberships