Deck Building permit cost?

[MuleShack]

All i'll say about that question is, your probably all good until it is time to sell the house.

[walleye vision]

Mule,

Why would that be a problem? I've known lots of people that have finished basements etc and never had any issues when selling. Maybe times have changes, or maybe i'm just misinformed. Can the city fine you after the fact?

[MuleShack]

I thought everything gets checked before the house is sold. I wasnt speaking on true facts, just on hear say. But isn't the point of getting permits so that everything is built to specs and it is verified for safety.

Where's that building inspector that chimed in earlier? Maybe he can answer this one. All I know is I dont want to try it.

[chad austin]

As a contractor I've ran into new homeowners who have problems with HVAC, electrical and plumbing for example and have turned around to the previous homeowner and sued because they didn't pull a permit.

While I totally agree some permit fees are too expensive (it's up to the head building offical to set a "fair permit fee scale") it is the law. Think of the permit fee as an insurance policy to cover your butt, if you were to do something wrong there is someone to correct you.

Permits, codes and officals for the most part keep the "hacks" out of your neighborhood. If you were to build a new house would you want just anyone building it or a licenced contractor who knows exactly what to do, every aspect from the foundation to the roof?

[Farmboy1]

Mule,

Why would that be a problem? I've known lots of people that have finished basements etc and never had any issues when selling. Maybe times have changes, or maybe i'm just misinformed. Can the city fine you after the fact?

Liability reasons apply. If someone falls off your deck and sue you because you failed to fix a problem, you pay. Insurance companies will not cover this. Same goes if you finish you basement and fail to get permits. Your house burns down caused by electrical that did not meet code or even met code but you have no proof of this, you are liable.

Cheap easy insurance.

It will problably trigger the property value nazis to come and look at your house to try to get their taxes off you higher property value, but it is the nature of the beast.

Also to meet the handrail code, set your tablesaw at and angle of about 15 deg. Rip a small chamfer on the backside of the rail making 2 cuts about 1/2" deep. This will take about 15 minutes and meets bldg code. I believe code says grippable, and that is what I did when I was still hammering nails.

[WallEYES]

Permits for work performed is a great, but cheap insurance policy for both homeowner and contractor. I'm dealing with a situation now where a condo was remodeled with no permits, no inspections, sold to a new buyer. Every thing was re-done including adding a bathroom, rerouting walls, non insulated lights in a insulated attic.......... The previous owner had not disclosed this in the disclosure statement and now the real estate agent and previous owner need to basically gut the whole unit out because of illegal plumbing that would of affected other building tennants soon, illegal wiring and fixtures, uninsulated walls, along with taking the rating out of fiewalls and exit passage way walls.....Total estimated costs of redooing the work is around 300K. The buyer backed out of the deal and now the seller is paying the price for stupidity.

All homes that are build have a file at your city of everything that was done to it when it was built and is a matter of public record....so it is not hard to find out what was done on a residence on the basis of permit issuance. So you guys doing basement finished without permits....big mistake....it's going to bite you in your arse when trying to seel your home. A lot of people, along with a lot of real estate agents are not being dumb anymore....they all do there homework when purchsing a home nowdays