Building Permits, Who Needs Them?

     The answer is:  You do.  And by "you" I mean both the homeowner and the contractor.

     Sometimes, I run into the situation where someone, either the homeowner or the contractor, is suggesting that the work should be performed without obtaining the appropriate  permits from the city or town.  This is a bad idea, regardless of whether you are the homeowner or the contractor. 

     If you are the homeowner, a contractor must pull a permit, otherwise, you will be ineligible for the guaranty fund available through the Office of Consumer Affairs.  Having a building permit, also ensures that someone will come and look at the work performed, at least in a cursory fashion.  Now, a word of warning here.  Homeowners must understand that the inspectors who come to your house from the town are not guarantors of the work the contractor performed.  They are not going to spend three hours at your house looking at every nook and cranny to make sure that the work was done in a good and workmanlike manner.  By the same token, contractors must understand that just because an inspector signs the building permit, the inspector is not signing off on your work that it was performed correctly.

     So, aside from the guaranty fund, why else do you need one?  It is the law and if you do not get one and the town or city in which you reside finds out, they can make you get one retroactively, charge you a penalty or in some circumstances make you undo that which you did.  The building inspector looks at the project while the homeowner’s walls are open and can check the framing  to make sure that the building is not going to fall down.  If you are a contractor, you want to insist on the permit for similar reasons.  It is the law and if the project goes bad down the road and you do not have a permit, you can bet that the homeowner (or their counsel) will make a big deal out of the fact that there is no permit.