Today's progress was getting the threeplex building permit submitted and passing the initial screening at the counter by the safety codes officer.  As per the recent trend, that permit cost another $11k, that'd be about $22525.62 in permitting 'losses' over the past week, but who's counting?   

Are we at the end of the permit phase on the threeplex?  Seems so, there aren't any permits remaining to be applied for (that I am aware of).  These so called 'soft costs' are accumulating quite substantially right now.  I've yet to account for overall preconstruction costs to date, so I will arrange a date with my bookkeeper and get it sorted out.  The costs incurred before starting work are now getting to frightening levels. If there is one benefit from these upfront costs it is perhaps the barrier to entry to building will grow such that there will be less competition for land.  Of all the building costs, nothing remotely compares to the high price of land, and it has escalated substantially in 2017 (a year with rising rates and flat economic conditions in Calgary). 

Look no GST on building permit fees - that seems to be another opportunity to raise tax that the government is overlooking.