How to Conform to Code in a Renovation

If you are adding a room to your home, finishing your basement, or making other major improvements, you must make sure that the work conforms to local building codes. You can find out the building codes in your community by going to the local planning or building department. These codes vary widely from place to place even within the same state, so don’t assume that a project that was approved in one place will pass muster in another.

Working With the Building Department

Once you have the building code in hand, you can start negotiating with your community’s building department by doing the following:

Submit your plan. First, you will need to take a set of plans for your renovation to the building department. The department will review them to see that they meet the local codes. You may have to make changes to satisfy the codes.

Get a permit. After the department approves your plans it will issue you a building permit for the project. You will have to pay a fee for the permit, usually based on the size of the job.

Expect inspections. Once you get the building permit, you can expect periodic visits from a building inspector, who will check the work to see that it is being done according to code, and that if follows the approved building plans. If you have violated any part of the code, the inspector can make you stop work until violations are corrected.

Receive written approval. When the work is complete, the building inspector will issue a document known as a certificate of occupancy, which states that the renovation complies with the community’s legal requirements.Can You Get Away Without a Permit?

What happens if you don’t get a building permit for a major project? It depends on the community in which you live and the nature of the improvement. Finishing a basement may not draw the city’s attention to your project, but building an addition to your house almost certainly will. The building department can bring your project to a halt and take action against you.

The building department can obtain a court order requiring you to stop work until you receive department approval.

It can require you to demolish any work that was done before a permit was obtained.

It can issue you a fine on top of the cost of obtaining a building permit.

In rare cases, it can have homeowners who persist in making improvements without obtaining a building permit arrested and jailed.There’s another important reason to get a permit, however. When you try to sell your home, the sales contract normally requires that you guarantee that the property meets all code requirements. If the buyer discovers that there are code violations, you could find yourself forced to make expensive repairs in order to have the sale go through. Worse still, the prospective buyer may even be able to back out of the deal. While it may seem like a hassle to go through the process of getting a building permit, proceeding without one could prove much more troublesome in the long run.