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There are three sides to every coin and that includes residential building permits. Our governments and business have learned very well how to hide the truth. Its not about what they tell you, its trying to figure out what they don’t tell you! Permits are game just like life! It’s like cowboys and indians, cops and robbers or Corporations and the people. A home owner trying to get away without getting permits because it is going to cost twice as much and take twice as long is the same old song.
The only good thing that comes from getting a residential building permit is that the building inspector will make sure all work is up to code and they would weed out any contractors without the proper insurance. In my 20+ years as a professional remodeling contractor, my opinion is that there 3 downsides and just that one upside. Of course you still need to hire an experienced contractor who knows they are doing which can be half the battle.
The first downside is the project will take +/-
The second downside is your tax base will go up. If you have ever got permits and wonder why they need to know the “approximate cost of project?” That is because the tax assessor will eventually get a copy of that and raise your property value accordingly. Some Municipalities will use Google maps and go house by house of the previous year with a carbon copy type program and see if there is anything different such as additions or decks on the home. This usually only takes place in upscale communities!
The third downside is if you open up some walls and find something that is not up to code that has no implications on the project, your building inspector will make you redu that issue and bring it up to code. In many cases this has happened to me and it just is not feasible to bring things up to code so the project hits a wall and the home owner is out of some money and everyone’s time is wasted.
I have concluded that over the long haul as a contractor it is cheaper to try and get away with not getting permits and take the hit on the ones where you get caught. My professional opinion is to only get permits for any alterations on the exterior of the home like decks, additions, garages, sheds and fences. Anything done on the interior of the home do not get permits, use Bagster as your dumpster and get rid of all the evidence in as short of a time period as possible. Keep an eye on nosey neighbors, put a lock on their gas meter on the coldest day of the year if they report you!