Getting A Building Permit

[Timothy]

I gutted my house, wired, plumbed, installed new doors and windows, replaced the boiler and put in a second bath all without pulling a permit!

[PegLeg45]

I gutted my house, wired, plumbed, installed new doors and windows, replaced the boiler and put in a second bath all without pulling a permit!

We pretty much only have to get a permit for dwelling improvements if it adds square footage.

[Timothy]

We pretty much only have to get a permit for dwelling improvements if it adds square footage.

I never asked!

[billt]

I gutted my house, wired, plumbed, installed new doors and windows, replaced the boiler and put in a second bath all without pulling a permit!

Can't that cause problems if and when you sell?

[Timothy]

Can't that cause problems if and when you sell?

I sold it six years later with no issue.  That was 1997...

[Sponsor]

[Pathfinder]

When I looked at wiring the unfinished lower level of my house in ND, I talked to the electrical inspector by phone - who, BTW, handled ALL of eastern ND except the 2 big cities. He told me I would need to submit a plan, have a middle and final inspection before I could close up the walls. When he found out I was going to do the work, he cut out the middle inspection, saving me a whopping $50 - and him a trip to my town. That's one of the many reasons I loved living in ND.

Here in KY we remodeled 2 bathrooms - complete gut jobs - and never needed to pull a permit even. One of the many reasons I love KY.

In IL, however, it is/was a completely different story. I was remodeling my kitchen and a couple of other rooms, and the permit alone - without changing the footprint of the house mind you, was nearly $1200 - in 1990!! I got an old dude, Charlie with a waxed mustache no less, as an electric inspector, who spent nearly 90 minutes going through the kitchen, family room, lavatory and back entry (all of these were cosmetic, the kitchen was a complete makeover to the studs). Problem was, I had a buddy do the wiring, a professional electrician who had worked at O'Hare airport among other places. Ol' Charlie spent that whole time trying to find something wrong. BTW, this was in Cook County, so conduit was mandatory.

When he was done, ol' Charlie gave me a yellow slip with 2 whole violations on it - a loose conduit nut and a conduit staple 1/2" too far away from the box. 90 minutes of taxpayer-paid time and that was it. Well, almost.

Ol' Charlie also announced I had to ADD 2 outlets, one in a deep corner over the counter - there was an outlet 3' away from where I needed to add one - and a second in the end panel of the island. Note that I had had contracted with an Amish firm in central IL to make my cabinets, and I had a beautifully worked end panel that I was now going to need to cut a hole into.

I asked ol' Charlie why the plans had been previously approved without noting the 2 outlets, and he growled - literally growled - "fix it", shoved the hand-modified plans and yellow slip into my chest, and walked out.

It was only later I discovered HE had approved the plans originally . . .

[PegLeg45]

Here's a stupid thing they do with permits here: If you are building a porch, you have two options for permit prices. You can pay the full price or they will write it up as a "storage shed w/o electrical" for half the cost. When I was in the hospital for over a month back 2003, my dad and some co-workers built a new front porch with an extended ramp so the EMT's could get me into the house once I was released (as well as back out to make doctor visits every two weeks). Well, when he paid for the permit, they wrote it up as a storage building to save some on the fee as mentioned above.
Fast forward about seven years and I look out one day and see a county inspector just walking around with a clipboard. This is not uncommon, as they do this randomly to see if folks have built stuff without permits and such, or if stuff was built as permitted. Noting the puzzled look on his face I inquired if he needed assistance and he replied that he was looking for a 12x12 storage building that should have been there since around October of 2003. He had, by then, walked up on the front porch where I was and I told him that he was standing on it. He looked at the permit papers and giggled and went AH-HA. It was listed in the 'notes' section and he missed it. We both agreed that it was kind of a stupid thing altogether.

[Majer]

A friend of mine lives in a town where if you want to build a deck off your house, if it's more than 4 inches off the ground, you need a building permit, less than that you don't, they have all these huge decks in that town that are all built 2 inches off the ground. Also, no added property tax if lower than 4 inches.

[Big Frank]

A friend of mine lives in a town where if you want to build a deck off your house, if it's more than 4 inches off the ground, you need a building permit, less than that you don't, they have all these huge decks in that town that are all built 2 inches off the ground. Also, no added property tax if lower than 4 inches.

What about if the deck isn't attached to the house, like if it's an inch away? I saw that done on TV or someplace.

[PegLeg45]

What about if the deck isn't attached to the house, like if it's an inch away? I saw that done on TV or someplace.

That changes the cost here.
If you build a deck/porch that is directly touching but not attached both the permit and taxes are at a different rate than if it is attached. If it is attached, even if it doesn't have a roof over it, it is considered an addition the same as adding a room and taxed as "dwelling" square footage. If not attached, it is taxed as a "add-on" at a lower rate.
For example, my back deck is around 400 square foot and it was taxed this year at an assessed "addition" valuation of $2500 on top of the valuation of the house. If it were attached to the sill of the house, it would add 400 square foot to the total of the house itself and be taxed as a whole.

Funny thing, living on a farm, I do not need a permit to add on to or improve any existing farm structure.