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What remodeling projects require permits? Two ways to find out is either to go to the city and ask them, or when talking with contractors you can ask them. All remodels could use a permit, but do not necessarily require one. This can vary from job to job, city to city and state to state. On some projects, you might just be painting a room and installing new crown molding, and you will not need a permit. But, in some cases painting, such as the exterior of a house, in some areas may absolutely be required to be permitted (for instance if your home is in a historical district). In many cases people who complete remodeling work on the inside of the home, and they do the work themselves, are not necessarily in danger of permit violations. But this work should not include anything that would affect the structural integrity of the house or its electrical and mechanical systems (plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, etc.). If your project does include this type of work, then you should apply for a permit whether you choose to use a contractor, or even if you do the work yourself.

We just finished remodeling our basement, and we chose to have our contractor responsible for obtaining all of the necessary permits. The decision was not an easy one for us, as we had many people that would tell us that they had completed many basement remodel projects without any permits, and some would even belittle us as their belief is so strong against permitting. One of the contractors we interviewed told us that 70% of his work is done without permits. We were surprised at this and asked him how he gets away with that. His response was that it is a risk, but that it is up to the owner to make that decision. Our feeling was why should we take the risk? Not only could you potentially have to pay more money due to the violation of not having a permit, but the city could put a stop work order on your property until all the permits are acquired. In addition, the city can make you take apart all of the work, just to inspect the construction methods. So if you installed new electrical, new heating and AC ducts, new lights and outlets, and new walls with insulation and drywall, then the inspector can make you remove all of the finished drywall in order to inspect the framing, the insulation installation, the electrical routing, conduit and pull boxes, etc. So this can get to be very costly, that you now had to pay for permit violations, and you had to dismantle all of the finished work to verify for inspection, and then complete all of the work all over again. Ouch!