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Who's Working on Your House?
• Building without a permit could be costly
Saturday,
June 6, 2009
In a down economy, some Margate homeowners may be foregoing the city’s permitting process to save a few bucks on home remodeling and repairs. Some homeowners even hire unlicensed contractors to do the work.
What happens if you get caught?
“We get a lot of calls from people who say their neighbors may be doing work without a permit,” said Margate Building Director, Jack Morell regarding complaints filed by residents with the city’s building department.
Technically, building permits need to be posted in the front of the house where they are visible and accessible by building officials, said Morell. This is the easiest way to avoid a complaint if you’re having work done on your home.
If you don’t follow Margate law regarding building permits, a number of things can happen.
Firstly, you’ll receive a code violation and be charged a double permitting fee, which can be expensive depending on the total cost of the project.
Second, if your project is finished and needed inspection points such as plumbing, electric and mechanical are hidden, the building inspector will ask you to expose these elements, which could result in costly demolition and rebuilding.
In the case of adding a room onto a house, for example, this would mean taking down the interior drywall and ceiling and, if the load capacity wasn’t up to spec, possibly demolishing the entire structure.
Recently, the City of Pompano Beach cited 62 contractors for driving unmarked commercial vehicles, which often indicate unlicensed contractors who are required by law to list their contractor license number on the side of their work vehicle.
In the event you pull a homeowners permit, you become the contractor and are required to meet all Margate building codes.
Residents need to consider, said Morell, the goal of permitting and inspections in the city is to watch after the safety of the people that live, work and play here.
Although permitting is a necessary expense, it isn’t cost prohibitive when you look at the benefit: You find out if the person you hired to do the job did the job right.
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