Reviewing Contractors - Tender Stage / Red Flag?

4 years ago

Hello,

I am in the process of reveiwing contractors for my upcoming remodel for 2023 with the kitchen and basement. One of the contractors did not want to be responsible for issuing the permits to our city and rather have us handle the permit work. If any questions from city inspectors - it would be routing to us, not the general contractor.

Would this be a red flag to consider? I thought the permits should be issued by the parties doing the actual construction job / overseeing the work - not the owners of the home.

Just new to this process! Being really careful here after hearing all the stories of shady contractors or abandoned jobs where the contractors did not do the work - just took the money and ran...

Many thanks for all / or any responses.

Cheers,

Colm

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Comments (5)

PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
4 years ago
This should be helpful.
Sigrid
4 years ago
Talking to city permitters and find out what the process is and how long it usually takes. If most permits are rubber-stamped, then you may be fine, but if the typical process is long and tricky, you'll end up in the middle between the contractor and permitting agency.
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PRO
Charles Ross Homes
4 years ago
It depends who produced the plans and what type of review they are subject to as part of the permitting process. If a client provides plans produced by an architect or designer whom they've hired, questions from plan reviewers should be directed to the architect or plan designer--not the builder or remodeler. In some municipalities the administrative burden associated with plan review/permit application is significant. I can understand a builder or remodeler wouldn't want to incur that.

Once the permit is ready to be issued, I recommend it be issued to the builder or remodeler. If it's issued to the owner, the owner is responsible for construction and the conformance to the applicable building code and gets immersed in activities that should instead be coordinated by the builder or remodeler.
Colm
Original Author
4 years ago
Hello everyone thank you for sharing your thoughts and explaining this portion. I was not sure how responsibilities fell re : issuance of permits etc

All the best!
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
"If a client provides plans produced by an architect or designer whom they've hired, questions from plan reviewers should be directed to the architect or plan designer--not the builder or remodeler."

Architects and plan designers can and occasionally do draw anything. When the thing they've drawn is built as drawn, but isn't code compliant (such as a stairway), the building inspector doesn't slap a red tag on the prints, he slaps it on the Newal post. And when the homeowner can't get his Certificate of Occupancy until the stairs are fixed, he sits on the builder or remodeler's money, the archy has probably already been paid.

So a homeowner who has hired his own architect/designer and pulled his own permits is really at a significant disadvantage here. The builder/remodeler can tell the homeowner "Hey, your architect/designer screwed up." and walk away; he built what was drawn. If his name was on the permits, he'd be singing a different tune.