Doing renovation work yourself

We are hoping to buy a brownstone in CH that needs a lot of work, and I’m wondering how much of it we can legally do ourselves. E.g. if we get an architect to prepare drawings, and file for all the right permits, can I legally do plumbing, electrical, framing, flooring, etc. myself, or do I need a licensed/union tradesman to do those things? If some degree of licensing is required, can I do some of the work myself, e.g. running the electrical lines but leaving the final connections to be done by a licensed electrician? I know I could just do everything “off the books” but I would like to stay within the law. But at the same time I don’t want to pay some union guy $85 an hour to do work that I’m perfectly capable of doing myself. Thanks!

daveincrownheights

in Brownstoner Renovation 13 years and 4 months ago

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zampano | 13 years and 4 months ago

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As this is a pre-78 house, you had better go out and get yourself set up with EPA as well.

uiyycgzlbp | 13 years and 4 months ago

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I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with taking all the walls down to the studs, in order to do electrical or plumbing work. Unless all of the walls are totally wrecked and falling down already, it’s a lot of unneccessary work, a ton of dusty plaster and lathe for clean-up and disposal, and a waste of good plaster walls, which are far superior to sheetrock. Wiring and plumbing can be done with strategically placed holes in walls and temporarily removing baseboards and trim, and not even that, all the time. Yeah, it takes longer, and may cost a bit more, but plaster walls are worth it, in my opinion.

bobjohn | 13 years and 4 months ago

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As other said, you do not need licensed plumber as long as licensed plumber will put his license on the project. So you can find a cheaper guy who has muster plumber friend and they will do good and completly legal job for you. If you do large reno, i would realy sugest to hire plumber. He knows a lot of things you might not know especially when working with the old house. He has all the tools, which you do not have and it makes your much less efficient. He does it all the time and is very efficient. I would say he is ~3 times faster then you. Add the luck of tools. Add that at times he will bring helper and you will have to move heavy radiators yourself. and so on and so forth. On the other side, this is housing downtern and plumbers are very competitive to get your business. So you can get one relativly cheap.

northofditmas | 13 years and 4 months ago

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You seem to think the problem is the license or union, but as opposed to “union trades” or “licensed trades,” they are known as “skilled trades.”  There are a lot of little things you need to have in the back of your head when you install electrical or plumbing.  When it comes to small jobs like replacing a sink or moving an outlet over a foot you are correct – in most cases you can do it yourself and the end result is just as good as what a pro would do.  But when it comes to a full reno you really need the skills of a tradesman.  The biggest obstacle is not licensed work but dealing with the walls.  Depending on what kind of reno you planned to do the most useful task for you would be to demo all the walls down to the studs.  The plumber and electrician could then knock out their work in a few days.  You could then sheetrock the house and have them come back to finish up.  Your walls may end up crooked but at least everything will be up to code.

pigthree | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Union is not required You can do the basic electrical and plumbing if you have the liscensed trade who is willing to pull the permit and advise/inspect regarding code and then have the inspection by the city.  I would only do this if you have a well established relationship with the tradesperson.  You can do all other work, but it must conform to fire code.

jockdeboeraia | 13 years and 4 months ago

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You can do some work legally when you pull the general building permit, but that is not easy as DOB really wants to see that you know what you are doing.  Your insurance can be used to satify those requirements.  You will not be able to do the plumbing, electrical and such unless you have a license to do that work and a license would need to be pulled.  Union workers do not normally do brownstone renovations.  They do much larger work.