DIY Work/Reno With Permits

Hello, I was wondering what the process for doing certain types of renovations to a home with a permit would be. I’ve searched around and a lot of the advice sort of hinges on hiring an architect (a good idea) and a contractor (another good idea) and in some cases an engineer (yup). However, if some projects seem out of reach for budgetary reasons and someone has the drive and the know how (or at least know people with know how) and the access to the proper tools to get the job done and does the due dilligence before hand to mitigate most of the costly errors (of which there will be some), is it possible at all to do the work permitted w/o being an insured and licensed contractor in possession of drawings? The kind of work I am referring to everything from removing old cabinets and hanging new to removing a non-load bearing wall (I realize here one would ask how I know it to be not load bearing), etc. Thank you.

wickedawesome

in DIY 11 years and 10 months ago

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Smokychimp | 11 years and 9 months ago

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A homeowner is allowed to act as a GC and do work as you’re proposing only when the property is single-family residential. If the property is multi-unit, then the homeowner would be obliged by the regulations to “become” a GC in name at least temporarily in two steps: -obtain a home renovation license
-obtain a worker’s comp policy and if those two steps are completed they can act as a general contractor. I would point out that the above two steps are fairly simple — if you have the wherewithal to replace a cabinet, you have the ability to get these two things done. You do not need a permit or any of this bureaucracy to replace cabinets in a kitchen. Removing walls is another thing entirely. By the law of the land, only a licensed engineer or architect is allowed to certify that a wall is load-bearing or not, so that requires a filing. This is not a statement that only these two kinds of training would allow you to actually KNOW that a wall was load bearing, it’s that these types of licenses have liability and professional obligations in place to keep a a party permanently responsible for the repercussions of removing a wall. This is for example why a very experienced carpenter wouldn’t be able to file a permit to remove a wall, because they could walk away from the project with no liability, but a newly minted architect that doesn’t have much field experience is allowed to stamp and certify that wall, because they are liable for the rest of their life. This is a question about how responsibility is distributed, not expertise.

wickedawesome | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Thank you everyone for very informative replies!

rh | 11 years and 9 months ago

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My husand and I do DIY all the time. We hire an architect to do drawings and pull permits ONLY when we have to. Licensed plumbers and electricians can file if you GC. There’s no reason to worry about re-installing cabinets or doing floors or sheetrock on your own. Go ahead and learn how to fix your investment. Nobody else is going to care about it being done correctly as much as you.

nycdesigner | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Check with your homeowner’s insurance company about covering any laborers that you may have in your home as well as you doing some of the more technical work yourself.  Most are not that happy with DIY work without some assurance of competency on the homeowner’s part. Some are OK with a limited amount of work done by the homeowner in a single family dwelling, but NOT in a multi family dwelling.  Unless you hold a license that says you are a plumber or electrician (especially!) you aren’t likely to receive DOB approval for new technical work of that type on multi-family, but you may be OK with basic replacement type work.  **All** structural work will need drawings for approval.  There is no way around that one at all unless you are a scofflaw, which is a really bad idea if you don’t want to fined.  When you live in the middle of millions, it’s in the everyone’s best interest that you don’t start a fire that can spread to others or collapse a building.  Thus the red tape.

jockdeboeraia | 11 years and 10 months ago

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You would need to get permission from DOB to do the work and pull the permit in your name.  If you are only doing non-structural work.  I had a boro manager that insisted on meeting the owner first.