The Expert Podcast

One of the most common questions we get from property owners is how to file for a building permit. Obviously, if you're doing any kind of substantial remodeling, addition, or even things like fences and decks, sometimes a building permit is required. Whether you agree or not with whether you should have to do a building permit or not, most jurisdictions require that building permits be pulled for any types of work on a property. So, we're going to talk about when a building permit is required, when it may not be required, and when you, as a homeowner or property owner, may have some allowances to do some of the work yourself and maybe not have as much threshold for what the permit requirements are.

We're going to use an example from a county in Oregon, although this is very similar to most counties. Most counties use national building code guidelines as the origin of their permit requirements. In this county, they give you a list of all of the different permit applications, instructions, and even fill-in-the-blank forms. One of the things you'll find is, as a homeowner, you can sometimes apply for a homeowner's permit, which is different from a contractor permit, and they have a separate form for that process. It’s information to owners about construction responsibilities. In this case, it says homeowners acting as their own general contractors to construct a new home or make substantial improvements can prevent many problems by being aware of the following responsibilities.

This is an important thing: if you are using labor provided by workers that are not CCB contractors (meaning they’re not licensed), you may be considered an employer and you might need to abide by certain things. You might need to withhold taxes, you might need to have UI insurance, and you also probably need to have workers' comp. Here's an important thing: if you're a homeowner and you're pulling a permit and then you pay somebody to do some of the labor, even building a deck, and that person is injured on your property, if you do not have workers' comp insurance, you may not have any coverage for that injury.

So, look, we’re not attorneys, we're not giving you legal advice—make sure you get good consultation on this because you don't want to build a $3,000 deck, hire somebody for a couple hundred bucks to nail some lumber together, and then they get hurt. You end up losing $50,000 on an injury claim that you have no insurance for and have to write a check out of your pocket. So make sure that you know what you're getting into if you're hiring other laborers to do work on your property.

Other important responsibilities include code compliance. As a permit holder for a construction project, the homeowner is responsible for making sure that you're complying with the codes in your jurisdiction, whether it's city or county. And if you have an issue where you don’t meet the code for some reason, you have to resolve that after the inspection discovers a problem. Also, make sure that you have your homeowners insurance notified that you're doing work because, first of all, your property is going to improve in value so you want to have additional coverage for that. Also, there may be some activities such as storage of materials or demolition that wouldn’t be covered under your standard HOA policy or your homeowner’s policy (HO3 policy), and you want to make sure that you coordinate with your insurance agent to get the right kind of coverage for that activity.

Last but not least, they say expertise. Homeowners should make sure they have the skills to act as their own contractor and to coordinate the work of the trades. That’s the hardest part of being your own general contractor. The hardest part of even being a general contractor is coordinating the different trades that are working on a project to make sure they show up at the right time, in the right order. You don’t want the electricians to come after the sheetrockers, for example.

Oregon law requires residential construction permit applications from homeowners who are not licensed to sign the statement before a building permit can be pulled. They’ll give you an exemption for some of the requirements, but you have to sign saying that you understand that: "I own a residence that I reside in or that I plan to reside in. If I hire subcontractors, I will hire only subcontractors licensed by the CCB." That is an important factor. They basically want to put you on notice that this is what you need to do to be your own contractor.

As you’re doing the work, you’ll need to know when you will have to have inspections done. You can’t just build an addition on a house and then call the inspector afterward and say, "Hey, can you come inspect it? Is it okay?" They have to do intermittent inspections to make sure that work or construction or even remodeling that’s done, that’s not visible, is inspected before it gets covered up.

First of all, are there setback and zoning requirements? Making sure that your property lines are a certain distance from any addition. Most cities, counties, and even states have requirements that you can’t build right up to the property line. There are some zero lot line properties, but your particular survey will show where you can build and where you can’t. That has to be done before any concrete is poured. Foundation wall and rebar: if you're pouring a foundation, before you pour the concrete, they have to make sure that the rebar is installed prior to placing concrete. The inspection has to come in and look to see that the rebar is in there because if you pour the concrete, there’s no way for them to tell how the rebar is structured inside that pour.

The main thing is to make sure that you don’t cover anything up that needs inspection before the inspection is signed off on because you might have to tear something out. For example, if there’s any under-floor plumbing or electrical. So, if you have water pipes, electrical wires, HVAC, even ductwork if it's under the floor, once you put down all the flooring, the inspection can’t be done. You have to rip up all the flooring to get it inspected. Even things like framing that’s under the floor, if you are on a slab-on-grade, obviously there’s not going to be much underneath that, but if you’re on piers or if you’re on a kneewell foundation, you may have some framing underneath there, even piers that have to be inspected before they’re covered up with your subfloor.

Make sure that you schedule all of your inspections around when that work is going to be done. Obviously, once you get into the specific trades, those all have to be inspected: plumbing, mechanicals (ducts and vents), and electrical. Once you get the meter base in, that has to be inspected. Then the service entrance conductors, where it connects to your primary disconnect (usually your breaker box), that has to be inspected prior to the next stage of conductors and devices being put in, and that’s part of your rough electrical. Make sure the service is in, all your device boxes are in, and you may have to have nailing blocks on all your stud walls. You have to have your circuits and conductors run so the inspector can see, first of all, that they’re the proper installation, the proper gauge conductors.

Also, even when you drill through your stud walls, there are certain requirements on how far back that drill hole has to be from each side of the stud. You have to maintain a certain distance so the meat of that stud is still there. Then you have your framing; they’re going to be looking at all your blocking to make sure that the type of framing matches the engineered designs and that the fasteners are all put in at the proper intervals.

Then, as you start getting dried in, they’re going to be looking at the insulation, your interior shear wall, and the sheetrock inspection to see the number of fasteners, how it’s installed, how it goes around all your electrical and plumbing. They want to look at that before you start mudding and taping.

If you're building a new home or an addition, you need a site plan. The site plan is basically a drawing, and they give you a little grid to put it on that shows all the property lines and dimensions, and also where the addition or the construction is going to go. They want to see your setbacks from the property lines. They want to see your setbacks from septic systems or drain fields. They want to make sure that it doesn’t interfere with any existing underground utilities. They give you a checklist of what to put on there.

First of all, you have to have a north arrow so they know which direction it is. Property lines and dimensions, any driveway roads, internal roads, and parking. Also, if you have a curb cut, you may need to get permission from the street district because the road division wants to know about any cuts in their curb. Any accesses to the road, usually it’s not going to be a problem, but if there’s a high-traffic road or if it’s in a neighborhood, they want to know where the curb cuts are so it doesn’t interfere with traffic flow with drainage. You might need a culvert. You also want to make sure you call before you dig so you’re not digging up electric lines, sewer, water, or even internet/phone/cable access.

Next, you want to draw out the proposed structures. You want to see where these new additions are going to be related to existing structures. Make sure you also know about easements. Most properties have a utility easement on the property, which means where the utility company is allowed to place their connections to your home and other homes in the neighborhood. Usually, it’s a five-foot-wide little pathway on your property. You won’t be able to see anything by looking at your property, but your deed and your covenants on your property will show where that easement is. You want to make sure that you don’t build on top of an easement or put anything that’s crucial on top of an easement.