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derek4u
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# Posted: 26 Apr 2020 01:13pm
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Hi,
Does anyone here have any stories they can share about being forced to take out a permit on an existing building? I'm sure everyone would appreciate the shared experiences.
Please no advice, opinions - just stories about your experience or someone you know. What led to getting inspectors involved? What was the remedy? Thanks!
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 26 Apr 2020 01:57pm
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Not to myself, but this has happened to a friend who built. He built a free standing garage with no permit. No reason was given when the inspector showed up, which was when the garage was nearly finished. Maybe it was a complaint, those must be followed up on and the person reporting will never be revealed. Or maybe the inspector or another town official noticed the new building and decided to check. The structure was very visible.
1. He had to cut several holes in the drywall inside, at points designated by the inspector, so the in the wall wiring could be inspected.
2. He had to dig a hole to expose the underground electrical feed for inspection.
3. A hole also had to be dug alongside the foundation to show the footing was deep enough. The inspector did cut some slack when the builder came up with a picture that had been taken showing that wire mesh reinforcement had been laid. There were also a few pictures that showed the building exterior walls and roof had building felt applied.
4. He had installed the garage door with a steel header beam above the opening. The reason for that was to make more space available for the use of a taller door so his lifted Jeep could be driven in. That does not meet code, so he had two choices; remove the steel and install a code approved header, or obtain an engineer's stamped approval. Fortunately, an engineer I have worked with made him a deal and supplied the paperwork.
He had to pay double what the permit would have cost if obtained before building.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 26 Apr 2020 02:06pm - Edited by: ICC
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And about 8 years ago someone here was building a cabin in the woods. Plainly visible from several public roads.
The owner-builder applied to the electric company for power. The power company inspected the partially completed cabin and found the electrical lacking in quality. They told the county building dept. The building dept inspected and red-tagged the whole place. It sat weathering in the uncompleted state for a year or so. In the end, it was torn down and the property sold. It was not a local, but someone from the city. I never actually met the people, but anyone could see what they were doing from the county road that serviced the lot as well as from down the hill from the state highway.
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Princelake
Member
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# Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:47pm
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Not cabin related but a buddy of mine bought a older home and helped renovate the whole place. We tore down supporting walls and put beams in, all new electrical,etc. 2 years go by and he got a extremely well paying job out of town so he puts the place up for sale. Some people that looked at the house that didn't even end up buying it called the city to find out if all permits and what not were pulled. The inspector randomly showed up at his house fined him $5000, had to pay all the permits. Thankfully he took pictures of every part of the job and sent the inspector pictures and didn't end up opening up any walls.
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Irrigation Guy
Member
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# Posted: 26 Apr 2020 07:25pm
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Here is an article about a guy from my town building a house without a permit. He used to be in my volunteer FD, he is a real piece of work. https://www.27east.com/home-garden/house-built-without-permits-1403641/
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 26 Apr 2020 07:45pm
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I just recalled that back during the 2008 housing crisis there was almost no new construction going on here, very few renovations, almost no permits being issued. Many of my carpenter friends and contractors had no work. One of the guys I knew took a chance and took on a job that should have had a permit. The property owner and he came to an agreement for low price w/o permits. They got caught. He only escaped having his license revoked because the building officials took pity on him and he had no serious violations for years. But he did get more rigorous inspections for a while after work ramped back up.
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justinbowser
Member
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# Posted: 26 Apr 2020 10:20pm
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Years ago, probably 35 or so, I built a storage building in my back yard. I tried to sneak it up over a weekend and when I got home from work on the following Monday and found it tagged. I took the tag to City Hall, pled ignorance, and just had to submit a drawing where it was was on the property and pay the regular permit fee.
This was back when the town I live in was rather small and laid back, today they would have probably raked me over the coals...
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95XL883
Member
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# Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:22am
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I suggest you keep copies of your permit, inspection certificates and CO for at least a couple of years after the CO is issued and the completed project is showing on your tax bill.
I built a house many years ago. I got the permit before construction. It passed every inspection. The CO was issued. A couple of months later I received a letter saying the CO was being pulled for failure to get one inspection. Because I had the copies they gave me of all the paperwork, it was easily resolved.
Even in this digital age, keep copies, even if they are digital copies. I am being paid to rebuild accounting records because a server was hacked and the backup was unable to be restored. Don’t think a cloud service is completely reliable. Just last week we were told that MS was having cloud problems and thus our services were very slow. (Not sure I believe it was an MS problem due to who said it; I could see them blaming MS to cover their mistake.)
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:32am
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95xl that's good info...keep all records of inspections. Il make sure we do this on our build.
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ArtifactJack
Member
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# Posted: 27 Apr 2020 09:52am
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I had to move my 20 year old cabin up close to the road due to the family farm being divided and sold. It was in a secluded area not visible from the road before. When the county seen its new location close to the road, they sent me a letter calling it a new build, and I didn't have a permit. You could clearly see that it was not a new building, there was even moss growing on the roof. I straightened them out in short order to say the least. Probably should have got a moving 'permit' to relocate in on the farm also....eh.
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RiverCabin
Member
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# Posted: 27 Apr 2020 01:32pm
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Most of the property I own is in rural Missouri. They are not too concerned about permits but they do exist. A building permit (mind you not in a town) costs $25 from the county and there are no inspections. Basically they exist so they can convince you to pay $25 so they can reevaluate your property tax.
For instance, I built my 1600 square foot shop at my home with no permit. It took the county three years to realize it was there.
My cabin in another county was also built without a permit. They were a lot quicker to notice and my next tax bill was tripled (went from unimproved land to a dwelling).
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ArtifactJack
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# Posted: 29 Apr 2020 11:08am
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Yep its all about property taxes, permits, and fees.........the government wants to help you build the cabin. Without those you would stupid, and irresponsible to provide shelter for yourself.
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