When I get a call from someone who says they want a renovation without permits, the answer is an easy no for me.
I will be the first to agree that over the years district building departments have done a terrible job explaining to the public why they are an important part of the building process. But that’s not really their fault, it’s why they don’t let scientists explain their own inventions, that gets left to the PR people. Unfortunately it’s a hugely overlooked area.
95% of the time people are afraid of getting permits for 1 of 2 reasons.
1. They have done renovations on their home without permits in the past, and are afraid of involving the city now.
To me, this is like using a shovel to dig your way out of a hole. Your local building department is there to help not beat people up. In most cases, they will stick to inspecting what they were called about, and maybe make suggestions if they see things that are not up to code.
The few times they have asked us to fix something it was because it actually was a “life safety issue” this means that someone’s life could be at risk. That is a really high threshold.
2. They are trying to save on costs.
The city is there to ensure that all work being done is correct. They are there to protect you and keep the contractor honest. I recently went into a project where the previous contractor told the homeowner they didn’t need a permit for the work they were doing. The home owner believed them and it voided all warranties anyone could offer on future work because they didn’t build the space to current codes and didn’t complete the building envelope properly and have created a situation where Radon gas can now be off-gassing directly into the client’s home. The fix is well over $20,000. The cost to do it right was different gravel, about 30’ of PVC pipe and 2 rolls of poly so maybe $1000 on a $15k-$20k project.
I don’t think the contractor was being dishonest, I think they just didn’t know they did something out of their normal scope of work and they didn’t want to involve the city and now they built something wrong.
Just making one call to the city would have solved this entire situation, kept everyone safe, and cost the homeowner maybe $1500, instead of either spending another $20,000 or having to live with something that may cause serious issues down the road.
Is it worth it?
The city is there to support and help homeowners, they act as an enforcement tool to ensure that your renovation is done right, and if it isn’t they can force the contractor to comply.
Using the city as a tool in the renovation or build process is an invaluable asset to homeowners.
