General handyman is also a must.Eventually, you will also need a licensed electrician, lawn care/snow removal person, licensed contractor (for pulling permits), masonry person, etc., etc.But first things first are the big 3.

I love my architect in SF because he knows the nuts and bolts of pulling permits as much as he knows building codes and design.  

HI Melissa,To get some correct numbers for your build, you would need to "permit ready" blueprints.

Schedule permitting, hopefully Ill see you at the next meeting.

Jerry, "the pay really is more equal for sexes than most other professions"That is an interesting statement as I also read that there is a discrepancy in the pay scale in most professions between men and women whether you are  software engineer, physician, lawyer, accountant etc, but there is an even playing field between men and woman in how much one makes in real estate sales. 

Think about what public records tend to be very accurate (ownership and loan information, deed related data, etc) and run largely off of those, because anyone can change structural details without telling the county, getting permits and reassessments in order to reflect those changes, etc.

As far as City of Atl and permits.

Matt,Does your $130/sf cost for new construction include soft costs (design, permit, ect)?

Hi Ali, I'm a software engineer, like many others in Silicon Valley.

Since I plan to do some renovations in basement, I have to pull permit.