John Hagan is an accomplished home inspector working and living in North Carolina. Serving all of Raleigh and the Triangle area, Hagan is owner of Hagan Home Inspections, a full-service residential inspection company. Here, Hagan explains what an after-the-fact building permit is, and why he offers the service to many clients.
It is really common for homeowners to make additions to their houses without realizing that they needed to obtain the proper permits before going forward with the project. While moving forward without permits might have saved time or money at the beginning, doing construction on a residential property without first getting permits from the city or county will likely lead to major headaches down the line, especially if the homeowner tries to sell the house in the future.
That is where after-the-fact building permits come into play. An after-the-fact building permit is a service that I offer that helps homeowners get the proper permits from city and county officials after construction has already been completed on a project.
It might be that a homeowner added a sun room to his house. It might be that he finished a basement, or finished a bonus room on the second floor. Or, in some cases, it might be that a homeowner finished an entire third floor on his house.
Out there in the public, I have found that there is not a lot of knowledge about building permits. Because of this, a lot of people tend to do construction on their homes without even realizing that they needed to get certain permits before moving ahead.
There are also times when homeowners will hire a contractor to handle the remodeling work on their home without asking whether the contractor got the permits himself. A lot of times, it turns out that the contractor did not get the permits ahead of time and the homeowners did not either, and you end up with a remodeling project that was not done according to city or county regulations.
What homeowners can do in this case is hire someone like myself, who can help them obtain an after-the-fact building permit for whatever portion of the house was finished without the right permits. I offer a turn-key service, where I will essentially come into a project and handle everything.
When a homeowner hires me for a project like this, I will first come in and inspect the space that was remodeled without the proper permits. From there, I am able to give the client an estimate of what it would take financially to bring the entire property up to code.
For years, homeowners have made mistakes and done remodeling work without first getting the right permits. But this has really grown to become a huge issue in real estate in recent years because more and more realtors are beginning to ask homeowners about the permits before they agree to list the home for sale.
If any additions were done to a home without the right building permits, this information has to be disclosed to the realtor and also potential homebuyers. Not only that, but realtors are beginning to check in with the city and county records to see for themselves whether the right permits were issued for home add-ons.
Failing to obtain the proper permits when remodeling or adding-on to a home can be a real deterrent to listing it for sale because most realtors will not be able to list the full square footage of a home if any of that space was not permitted by the city or county.
In cases like that, I can help struggling homeowners. I have people who can bring pretty much any property up to code. I have contacts with really good electricians, heating and air technicians — you name it. Whatever resources are needed to bring it up to code, I can bring those experts in to make the fixes and get the job done.
As part of the after-the-fact building permit process, I will meet with city and county inspectors first. They will tell me if anything needs to be done, and we will get it done. Then, after the work has been completed, I will invite those inspectors to the job site again to take a final look and grant the final permits.
My knowledge of codes and the system as a whole can help expedite the entire permitting process. And for homeowners who failed to get the proper permits before doing a remodel, this service can be the fastest to get their home up to code and listed on the market with its full square footage.
