Many homeowners believe that getting their own residential building permits when they are carrying out home renovation projects as a way to save money, or they are forced to get their own because their current contractor does not offer that service.
But leaving it up to the owners to get building permits for themselves is a big mistake, says Paul DeFeis, Senior Managing Partner at Trade Mark Design & Build, based in Hawthorne, New Jersey.
Getting your own building permits leaves you open to myriad pitfalls, and it’s much better if you can have a contractor do it for you. Here are just some of the problems a homeowner can encounter if he attempts to get building permits himself:
- Wasted time is a big one because a typical homeowner does not know what he needs and has to go back several times, whereas an experienced design-build consultant may only have to go back once.
- Homeowners are not aware of what is involved as far as scheduling is involved, as well as the complicated process of waiting for inspectors to show up.
- Homeowners can be unaware of or inexperienced with the building code system, which leaves them vulnerable when dealing with code enforcement officials directly. They may be more likely to be given the runaround from the code enforcers.
- Typically if a homeowner is obtaining his own permit, he is dealing with individual contractors. So that puts him in a position of being the general contractor on the project, which is not advised. It often becomes a full-time proposition for the homeowner and can be time-consuming
Building permits are typically obtained by the homeowner for doing work on their home. Any time you make changes within the code, you have to pull a building permit.
By and large, homeowners are unaware of all the requirements that need to be met in order to obtain the necessary permits. And as they are ill-advised, they will end up wasting their time. And if you have to get your own permit, no handbook explains what needs to be done.
Getting a residential building permit should be left up to trained professionals. It might be suitable to get a permit for something minor. But everything over a certain degree of difficulty should require a professional to get it done quickly and accurately.
