Our lot we plan to build on has HOA limits of 30 feet to the highest point of the house. Our house will measure about 34 feet. It states, "Maximum building height of any residential structure shall not exceed 30 feet. All heights shall be measured at any cross section of the structure from finish grade to the highest point of the structure immediately above." My question is if we grade up to the house 4 feet, will that satisfy the requirement to be at 30 feet? Also, the back of the house will not be graded as high so will which point will the measurement come from? The back or the front? Thank you!

I'm not a builder or in construction, but I have dealt with a HOA for over 30 years. I'd submit any plans for approval to the HOA. My neighbors have had approval from the county, only to have the plans rejected by the HOA. Explain your situation to them and provide your plans. I wouldn't take a chance trying to figure out what their CC&R's actually state. Don't forget to get your approval in writing!

Thank you for the response. I will definitely get written approval prior to building. I'm just trying to fully understand how the HOA wrote the covenants so I have ammunition if they try to deny it. According to the wording I believe I'm OK.

I have had paint colors denied, while others had the same colors approved. Ask for help if you are denied. Being unreasonable or argumentative may cause you more problems in the long run. Good luck!

HOAs tend to write covenants vaguely and ambiguously to give them the power to interpret. Has your architect or builder built in the development before? They should, then, be familiar with the codes. Does the HOA have a engineer/architect on retainer to make judgments about plans?

My take on the covenant, is that they measure from the highest point of the house to the grade below that point. So lets say the construction is simple and there is a single roof peak. The height of the peak will be measured from then down to finish grade. Which would be where the ground meets the wall of the house.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

HOAs tend to write covenants vaguely and ambiguously to give them the power to interpret. Has your architect or builder built in the development before? They should, then, be familiar with the codes. Does the HOA have a engineer/architect on retainer to make judgments about plans?

My take on the covenant, is that they measure from the highest point of the house to the grade below that point. So lets say the construction is simple and there is a single roof peak. The height of the peak will be measured from then down to finish grade. Which would be where the ground meets the wall of the house.

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Thank you. My builder has built there before, however, the problem in figuring out if it'll work, is the fact that the opposite side of the house will sit lower than the front so I'm not sure which side they will measure from.

I attached a basic floor plan of the house we want to do so maybe that will help. The point that will be a little too high is the garage roof peak. The front of the house will be graded up which I assume would be fine, but the garage on the other side will sit level so it will depend on where they measure from. Basically everything, but the garage/driveway will be graded up 4 feet (although it will still be graded away from the garage).

My assumption is that even with a house that has a "walk out" basement, they measure from the front. I hope that assumption is correct.

PS Everyone has been very helpful. Thank you!

The covenant specifically says;

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All heights shall be measured at any cross section of the structure from finish grade to the highest point of the structure immediately above."

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That "immediately above" says to me they will drop a virtual plumb line from the highest point to the grade level. So I would not expect they would measure from the front. If the problem is the garage, can't the architect just increase the angle of the peak to make up the 4 feet? Di you really need that much air space in the garage?

Nice house by the way. Someone is into basketball!

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

The covenant specifically says;

That "immediately above" says to me they will drop a virtual plumb line from the highest point to the grade level. So I would not expect they would measure from the front. If the problem is the garage, can't the architect just increase the angle of the peak to make up the 4 feet? Di you really need that much air space in the garage?

Nice house by the way. Someone is into basketball!

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Thank you Scott! Yes you could say we like our basketball!! Haha. The court is actually on the 2nd story and the garage would only be 9 feet high. The problem is we need something like 18+ feet at the peak of the garage and 11-12 feet at the edge of the court to allow for normal shot arc without hitting the ceiling. Even with the low garage and the minimum roof pitch allowed by the HOA at 4/12 this puts us a little over 30 feet. We have a little wiggle room to lower it, but I don't think we can get below 30 feet while still having full court use.

You've been very helpful though and I appreciate that. I will attach a rough side drawing of the room/trusses.

Well, they are pretty specific - they are measuring from grade to the highest point. It is very clear that their intention is that from grade - not the highest but the lowest (most houses have a fairly even grade all the way around) they don't want the house to measure more than 30' high. So, your plans are not appropriate to the site and should be changed before you build. Surely you can build an adequate home with a 30' allowance - that's a pretty damned tall house!

As another option - my cousin dug a very deep basement and installed a regulation basketball court in that basement. They are a little nuts about basketball too, and it paid off - three kids on full ride basketball scholarships more than made up for the cost!

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Originally Posted by dontknownuthin

Well, they are pretty specific - they are measuring from grade to the highest point. It is very clear that their intention is that from grade - not the highest but the lowest (most houses have a fairly even grade all the way around) they don't want the house to measure more than 30' high. So, your plans are not appropriate to the site and should be changed before you build. Surely you can build an adequate home with a 30' allowance - that's a pretty damned tall house!

As another option - my cousin dug a very deep basement and installed a regulation basketball court in that basement. They are a little nuts about basketball too, and it paid off - three kids on full ride basketball scholarships more than made up for the cost!

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Thanks for the advice. We considered the below ground option, but due to sub levels in the area, we cannot dig deeper than 5 feet for the basement. Right now the minimum height we can get while still having a court that we won't be hitting the ceiling with is around 32 feet. It's so close that I hope they will allow it. Any lower will cause issues.

Out of curiosity, what makes you say that they would measure from the lowest grade? It certainly doesn't say that? Wouldn't say, the average grade be more logical? Or from the front of the house? Especially since many people have walk out basements?

Really, the best thing to do is submit your plans to the HOA and ask for a variance. Tell them you understand that your plans MIGHT be over the allowed 30' so you are asking for whether it will be and for them to grant a variance if it is. First go to your neighbors and ask them if they will agree to the variance. So you can present to the HOA that there will be no objection.

All we can do is interpret the covenant for you, but the bottom line is you need to get HOA approval IN WRITING, before you put a shovel in the ground.

I think Scott is quite correct that taking you plans straight to the source would be the best plan. Trying to comply after the fact only leads to a lot of disagreements and penalties you don't want later. Maybe your builder can help you with this too, talk to them first. He may have some good insights into this, or carry some influence, or experience with your HOA, that can be very valuable.