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tv   [untitled]    January 16, 2011 5:30am-6:00am PST

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franchise never doing construction because 250 percent of what they estimated from the franchise was not enough to get him opened. it never happened. the project never happened. the team has to come in and if we want to name the team it's all the way from lawyer, architect, contractor. with the contract or they bring in electric, plumbing and mechanical. it's best to pay folks a fee to come in ahead of time and talk about the high's and lows of each location before signing a lease. >> most architects will work with you in that way. they will give you an hourly rate. it's cheap. they are master's of the code or know who to call to get the answers. i would always have an architect by my side. yes , sir. >> do you have an idea of what
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it would cost for say you put a -- say the architect [inaudible] >> so, how much would a fee be is the question. so from an architect, let's say, take an architect as an example. rule is 15-20 percent of construction costs. you have to have the construction costs the chicken and the egg thing. you want a ballpark on that and give you a soft cost. when it come to up front costs like consulting. consulting i would get up front from the architect. what they will provide or any contract or, have them do a
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quick sketch. write out the information they will survey for you. and an estimated amount of hours per item. it could be an hour, 2 hours per item out of 5 items. you have a 10 hour, you have 1500 dollars. 2 thousand dollars. it's a good way of breaking it down so you understand ahead of time what's necessary. >> there was one in the back and we will take a break. we have been here for an hour already. yes, please. >> [inaudible]. >> could you repeat the question? >> [inaudible]. >> yeah. i enjoy having folks bring the team in to walk a space when you have narrowed it down. >> you should have your team before you got the space. you should say, i'm thinking
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about doing this when i find spaces i would like you to help me look at them and have your team ready to go. time is of the essence. let's take 10-15 minutes and we will be back at 10. thank you very much. >> that will stop it. okay, welcome back. once again i'm laurence kornfield chief building inspector. i'm pleased to have you here. karl hasz will be right back. we have a couple of folks who have come that am share other information from the city's small business commission and their service. let me ask agnus to come on up and tell us a little bit about what the city is doing to help
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solve the complicated, how we deal with restaurant permitting and operating issues. and may be we can give you a few phone numbers for contacts. >> introduce yourself. >> thanks laurence my name is agnus briones ubalde. we are located in city hall in room 448. my number is 554-6134. we provide an aray of different informational referral services for restaurants and other small businesses that want to either expand or identify you know commercial spaces in the city. we work closely with the small business registration at 455 market. i brought one of our technical assistant providers who work on
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the of the development center louise dawson who is a restaurant consultant who helps businesses like yours identify the best steps to under go before you even decide to want to remodel or expand your business. we at the commission also connect you with other resource providers beyond what the city provides as far as technical assistance through the building or planning department through nonprofits that provide free resources. if you are looking for free, low cost resources to help you figure out what you need to do to market your business, expand or remodel our business the best thing to do is seek out free resources and work with consultants to help you figure out the entire package before being forward and signing leases
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or entertaining contracts. as you know, timeñi and money i important to you. you have a lot of things on your plate. i think it's important to talk to exerts. so, again we have a website on sfgov. org. our office is the small business commission. >> agnus tell us about the work you are doing with spur? >> currently our office has been working on a pilot project with the san francisco planning and urban research organization they are looking to help us figure out a tool set to help stream line the permit process for restaurants. the pilot test we have undergone intensive research in looking at the departments responsible for permitting from the planning department to the building and health department and the
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entertainment commission as well as the fire departmenting all part of the development phase of being able to start open or expand a restaurant. so, we have been looking at all the different forms, all the different steps that one would take to simplify the step for you. what we would like to do is introduce a top 10 list that we could circulate to the departments that are in the city. so, that when you or others you know are wanting to get in the business you are not stuck in not knowing who to go to first. we would like to automate the top 10 list and get it to various organizations like the small business development center or the small business administration and to the various departments. you all know there is massive
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information that you are having to read and review. and codes and exceptions and all these different things can sometimes make it very difficult for you to actually do what you need to do best, which is be creative and run your businesses much what we like to do is make your life more simple so you do have just a quick sheet. i think laurence eluded to the quick sheet. we are trying to create a top 10 list that you probably can keep handy in your folder or wherever you want to keep it. you could use it as your guide book in terms of wanting to know what you need to do to expand your restaurant or start a new one. what i heard through the presentation already is, you know, the quickest step if you do want to start a restaurant the ideal is to take over an existing lease. without having to go, you
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probably talk about the conditional use process thoon another layer of complication. one of those things in our highlights of the top 10 list is try to move into space that's easy to move into. >> you heard that before; right ? what i would like to do is go through some of our out line and invite louise dawson to comment as we move along. we will try to go fast and in a half-hour charlie salter one of the city or nation's leading acoustical exerts will talk about noise issues related to restaurants patron noise, employee issues, fixed source noise and neighbor issues. we will briefly talk about those in 20 minutes to half an hour. >> agnus thanks, when is the spur stuff released 124 >> we are vetting it with the
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various departments now and wanting to test it out with a few restaurants and also our commission of take a look. it will probably be released sometime in the next couple of amongs. i think right now we would like to be that it works before we distribute it to all of you. if it isn't useful information obviously we are not getting the right information from the folks. >> thank you. >> as most restaurants or small businesses, i passed along to the small business commission onof my occurrence the fragility of businesses to either quake hazards. you need to be concerned about closures to either quakes, we are expecting either quake you need to consider business intrupss and safety and is this building appropriate for use in
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an either quake zone. don't forget that it's a big issue. some people's team include a structural engineer who looks around when they are thinking of opening a restaurant or leasing a space. small businesses are so fragile and if you are shut down for 3 weeks or a month after a quake or there is no business like after the 89 quake people could be up and running but we had no business. nobody visits san francisco. tremendous impacts from earthquakes to be considered. >> okay. let's -- sure. >> again what's your last name? briones ubalde. what's your title? >> director of the san
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francisco small business commission? >> how do we find out about the free resources for low cost resources. >> visit our website at www.sfgov. org/sbc. or you can contact our main number at 554-6134. >> thank you. >> great. so louise you want to sit up here in case we have questions you can help answer. i will change the speed for a minute. i will flash through some of my out line. and you guys still ask questions. we will triple the speed of this thing because we only have 3 hours. so back to our first page. here you go louise this is where we are working. i think we got up to the planning department? the first thing on the first page. other agencies that are involved
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and there are many include the building department and the building department looks at mechanical, electric, plumbing and building issues. there is the fire department is involved and they both do planned review. look at sprinklers and if you have a restaurant that seats 50 or more the fire department will do an annual inspection. may be more than annual you will have to have a long working relationship with the fire district inspector. health department, they do both a planned review of your submittals. we will talk about that in a second and they also issue you permits and licenses and they continualy do inspections not scheduled they will come through and i'm sure you are away the
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health department and their scoring and you see that in people's windows. i scored a hundred or a 62. i don't know, i have seen a few in the 90's or a hundred i never seen anybody post one below 70. what's the lowest score you can get and still operate? the entertainment commission, is a city agency that was created not long ago may be 4 or 5 years ago at the most. 2004. and it was to consolidate permitting issues from other agencies regarding night time entertainment and other entertainment including if your restaurant if you want live music, a dj? you need to get permits from the entertainment commission. is. i could find their number. one of the things i have been
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advising people to do is if they think that in the future they might wish to have entertainment in their venue they should consider that when they begin their development of their plans you have to address the noise issues of entertainment as well as get these permits. and there are special space and exiting issueses. if you think you might have more people than you think for dining, you have plan on that in the earliest phase of design planning. phone numbers are the d be. >> find them. >> okay. all right. department of public works is on my list because public works issues both permits for construction, tables -- excuse me -- street space permits,
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scaffolding permits and for tables and chairs and many restaurants do want tables and chairs. it's the policy of the city and board of supervisors to encourage the use of tables and chairs and aunings and such in the fronts of buildings to increase the liveliness of the street scene. even though they increased fees for tables and chairs i encourage you to work with public works. they want table and chair services. >> can i ask a question? >> sure. >> can a neighbor quiet your [inaudible] if they are next door? and they say i'm the neighbor and i don't want you to have that. >> can the neighbor appeal the use of tables and chairs. yeah about a month ago at the board of appeals there was a cafe in the mission that had a permit issued by public works for tables and chairs. the neighbor appealed and won and there will not be tables and
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chairs on that side of the restaurant only in the front. neighbor issues in san francisco are so strong, neighbors have rights to appeal anything, any permit. everything is appealable which makes sense to be on excellent terms with all neighborings all the way through your process. did we find the entertainment commission? >> i got it on my palm pilot. there are a lot of other local agencies i wanted to mention. some of the federal and state agencies. there is the abc, of course, and the liquor license issues. a lot use a broker for licenses? right. i understand. for wine and beer it's not as critical as where you want full service is that your understanding? >> once again, why would you want to be an expert in all the
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things. you want people who know the people at abc much the entertainment number, 554-5793. that's great. thank you very much. appreciate that louise. >> back to the sidewalks. if you go dpw for that permit? >> yes. dpw has a desk with people at 1616 mission called the san francisco permit center where the building and planning offices are. and dpw has a desk where they have someone from the street use and mapping section. they can actually do the permit submittals there. i think they send them to stevenson street and have an inspector and measure the sidewalk width and do a report. >> you don't have to have a phone number. >> it's 554-5810.
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875 stevenson street on the fourth floor. >> yes. they have a person there who will assist you. either one stevenson is where they actually do the processing of the thing. yeah. i put a little list here yesterday of things that are complicating factors in opening restaurants or remodeling restaurants. i thought i'd mention. we got more questions in the back. yeah, sure, go ahead. >> [inaudible]. >> people from public works are saying you should go to stevenson street to get table and chair permits. you have the forms, do you not, at 1616 mission the application forms. >> no, we don't. >> you don't. okay i'm corrected. >> thank you. >> okay. things that complicate.
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i just through this in for our own amusement everything is expensive twice as expensive as you think it will be that's true for restaurant remodels. it's the rental and property cost and every other cost you can imagine is extremely high. local construction costs are high. do you have any comments? >> as you were saying with the frafrpizee where they took national averages and times them 2-1/2 times was not close to our costs locally. please, please, not just from the architects and designers get a contractor to do a rough budget for you because they can stand by their number. >> it's difficult to find a contractor who can start and
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work on your schedule. your costs are inkri mental. >> sit down and look for missing components in the plans ahead of time mu. we call it a red line party so you know what the costs will be. once you get going a classic factor to ride them up a little bit whether it's a nicer carpet or whatever. trying to control your costs. once you ride up costs it's tough to make up the extra investment. >> right. >> louise feel free to chip in any time. >> sure. >> i heard something about certain parts of san francisco require [inaudible]. >> does certain work require
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union contactors? are you aware of any? >> yes. the over riding rule is downtown, union square, certain sections of south of market. the idea behind it is if you have00 i will speak freely here, if you -- well -- i dealt with labor relations for a long time. if you have a building where there is a lot of space for lease like upstairs, office space and using a nonunion contractor. that's not good for the landlord who's trying to lease the space upstairs. the landlords will make sure you use unions so they don't get picketed. if it's a low rise building and it's leased may be the landlord will not have issues and you can take your chances at that point.
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>> please. >> so, a majority of the time -- a majority of the time where you will see you know, where you will required to use union workers will be on like a crocker gallery or a strip mall, sometimes port property and any time that you apply for redevelopment money you will be required to use union. that probably doubles your cost. just be aware when you are outlooking for loans, know what you are actually getting into prior. you know something that wasn't mentioned before when we talked about putting the team together. unless you are a lawyer or understand real estate law one of the first things we tell people when you have your investment, your money's in the
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bank, that's the time you go out and look for your space. either get a real estate agent or a broker to represent you because they can represent you they can protect you or something like a leasing coach who would be able to negotiate that lease on your behalf. it's the biggest investment you will make much the more protection the better for you in the long run. >> i completely agree having heard people walk into long-term agreements that are not agood. you have to have reasonable expectation only then they can be met. most people have unreasonable expectations. why is it taking so long? why is it costing so much? you want your expectations to be met. that's part of what you should meet with your team about to
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understand what should you be expecting so you are not frustrated or unhappy. this should not be an unhappy experience. >> a lot of folks feel they are being bounced around. it's good to state from the beginning construction will take this long however there are other components. the operator permit per health. and how long will it take to get the inspections done before i get my alcohol license. knowing that ahead of time is less frustrating you know all the components will add time to your project. reasonable expectations. be happy, do it and enjoy it. don't be frustrated. becoming an expert or hiring an expert. you cannot become an expert in all of the subjects we are talking about. you need your team. you need to take advantage of
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services that are community offered or pay for services. this is a business proposition you have to be prepare todd pay for this stuff in most cases. that should be part of your budget to try to do planning and do your own plans is a recipe for frustration. i see it all the time. i drew it myself. let me take out the red pen and show you how you may want to revise the plans. i'm happy to help. we don't mind but it's a lot of time and effort and it's usually cheaper in the long run to hire someone to do it right the first time. on the second page i was starting to talk about all the different permits and licenses. i wanted to without going through them all in detail. the things that came to my mind yesterday, of course you need
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building permits. you may need a permit from the public works if you use part of the street or scaffolding on the sidewalk. you often need a separate permit to put in the fire sprinklers or fire extinguishing system in the kitchen. the fire sprinkler company will get that permit. you need plumbing and mechanical permits they are not part of your building permit. you need a sign permit. the city planning department has extensive regulations how big a sign, what shape? is it flushed? you need sign per mits every one is appealable if you don't have good relationships with somebody. i have seen businesses stopped while their excavation permit is
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under appeal. people need to have licenses. people say i will do the work myself that's not acceptable to the building department for commercial space. you need a licensed contractor. this is the bear start of permits and licenses and fees you have to pay. >> you need a license to have candle in your restaurants and you need a license to play music in your restaurant. can you hear me? >> you need a permit from the fire department to light candles in your restaurant and you also need a permit to play music in your restaurant that come from the entertainment commission, i believe. >> right. >> permits to play music. >> yes, ma'am. >> [inaudible]. the permits and the size. >> about signs? >> from the planning department. and their number is here on this sheet in the middle of the page.
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558-6377. >> under that same note, there are i think we created 8 historic districts in the city. you have down at forth and townsend we have a restaurant there, that's a historic district. even getting the signage was an extra step of going before the landmarks commission not just planning to be able to get that sign approved. >> more work. now why do we have so many regulations in san francisco? it's not this hard in other places. because the board of supervisors and past regulation base on the demands they are elected officials and elected by you because you want things done and that's why we have all the regulations. we have all the code amendments to the california building code. san francisco is the most highly regulated city i know. everything is