Monday, November 4, 2013

Are Building Permits Really Necessary?

By Kevin Ierardi


If your starting a building project on your home or business there is a good chance your curious if you need building permits. The fastest answer is yes you do. But in this article I will talk about what these permits will do to your project as well as discuss the times when it might be overkill to acquire these, they are not always necessary.

Most of the time when it comes to larger projects like putting a new living room onto your house or completely gutting your kitchen, maybe building a new structure from the ground up then getting permits is what you want. By getting these permits you will know that the process of you build is done right and to the codes of your town and state. Furthermore, you will be taxed by your town and state more accurately by attaining these permits. If you don't have these permits and you take on a big project you could be fined or shut down during the work process, which is not good for any party involved.

The time has now come to get started on your newest project. With all the things already going through your mind the one thing in the back is when will the time come that you need permits. At this point remember that the rules for said permits are different depending on your area.

For the sake of this article I will use the example of doing updates to your bathroom. You're looking to install a new toilet and a new vanity and do some painting. With these few small things, assuming you are not moving any large plumbing, then you don't need to pull any permits for something like this.

When it comes to these types of small renovations you will not need a permit with your town, these are basic upgrades. If your thinking that you want to gut the whole bathroom down to the studs, move some walls, make the space twice as big and redo all the plumbing then getting a permit may be a good idea.

When it comes to building permits be ready for the good and the bad. When it comes to the bad you can consider the cost of the permit to the overall budget of your project. As far as the cost goes its most likely to be based on a certain price for every $1000 your job will cost to do. So if your project is $20,000 and it costs $10 for every thousand then your permit cost is $200. This is only an example to give you an idea how cost is calculated for permits.

After you consider the cost you want to keep in mind that building permits will slow down your project. The reason they slow things down is because an inspector will need to check in all along the way to make sure your building is being done right. This again is good and bad because although it slows things down sometimes you can be certain that everything is done the way it should be.

At the end of the day this is what you want to remember. If you're doing a small project then you don't need a permit. if your taking on something big then building permits are really a must.




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