If updating my home - Do I need to pull a permit or hire a professsional?

The PERILS OF NOT PULLING PERMITS or hiring professionals, especially plumbers, electricians and HVAC professionals…

     As consumers, most of us are continually looking for ways to stretch our hard-earned dollars.  In that vein of thought, a homeowner may, at some point, be faced with the question of seeking a building permit for certain updates and improvements to their home or electing to “save the money” and not pull a permit.  Specifically, there may be small (or large) electrical, plumbing or heating/air conditioning/ventilating (HVAC) work that needs to be done.   Today’s tip, offers insight on this topic.  A recent transaction, through a home inspection, caused the buyer to request from the seller verification that the plumbing and electrical improvements that had been done met the necessary codes.  The buyer was asking the seller to have a licensed plumber and electrician come into the home and verify the integrity of the work that was performed.  In this case, and it was disclosed in a seller’s disclosure statement, the sellers had done the work themselves and had elected to not pull permits from the municipality. 

Upon beginning his inspection, the licensed plumber quickly determined there was a problem when he noticed the seller/homeowner had connected a future wet-bar sink drain to a “plumbing pipe”.  The problem was, that “plumbing pipe” was actually the vent pipe for the home’s passive radon mitigation system.  This future wet-bar sink drain had now, we suspect unbeknown to the seller, become a direct pipe into the home’s lower level for the discharge for all the radon gas.  The lesson learned here is simple: the cost of the permit and the cost of hiring a licensed plumber would have been considerable less than what it was now going to cost the homeowner to correct this issue.  A permit is always recommended and highly encouraged when work is being done to the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems.  If you are planning to do work on your home, it is a good idea to begin with the municipality to see if a permit is required.  My experience is that most municipalities keep the cost of such permits very reasonable in terms of price so as to encourage, rather than discourage, homeowners to seek and pull the necessary permits.

 CONTACT LARRY EBERHARD for your Real Estate Questions:

651-702-4000

larry@larryeberhard.com

Keller Williams Realty