Soon to have no roof over my head (Los Angeles, Highland: sale, real estate)

[gened42]

I added a small Gable roof to my existing porch roof. It it quite sturdy and did it with my body who is a weekend carpenter warrior. I took the opportunity to re-roof my entire house and pulled permits. Now the city inspector wants an architect to approve the pitch of my new gable or aka California roof. Any suggestions on who I could hire in the Los Angeles area or what is my best next action.

Greatly appreciate your thoughts.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Why does an architect need to approve it? Isn't that an engineer's job? And why can't the city inspector use their own eyeballs to approve the pitch in the first place? Do they not know trigonometry at city hall?

[looker009]

First mistake you made is actually puling the permit. Unless you absolutely need to pull a permit, my suggestion is do not.

[Texamichiforniasota]

Originally Posted by gened42

I added a small Gable roof to my existing porch roof. It it quite sturdy and did it with my body who is a weekend carpenter warrior. I took the opportunity to re-roof my entire house and pulled permits. Now the city inspector wants an architect to approve the pitch of my new gable or aka California roof. Any suggestions on who I could hire in the Los Angeles area or what is my best next action.

Greatly appreciate your thoughts.

That should be easy. It's a small job for an architect that most should be able to do. Just Google residential architects and call them until you find one willing to do that small of a job.

[thelopez2]

Originally Posted by looker009

First mistake you made is actually puling the permit. Unless you absolutely need to pull a permit, my suggestion is do not.

This is partly why so many consumers get screwed with shoddy work and stuff done incorrectly by "professionals" .

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by looker009

First mistake you made is actually puling the permit. Unless you absolutely need to pull a permit, my suggestion is do not.

Seriously. I would guess 97% of the homes in Highland park have some unpermitted work on them. They get bought, sold, and flipped every single day. Pulling permits in LA County is a recipe for disaster.

[looker009]

Originally Posted by thelopez2

This is partly why so many consumers get screwed with shoddy work and stuff done incorrectly by "professionals" .

Most of the time it's money making for the city, nothing more. If you change a toilet you need a permit, if you change dishwasher you need a permit. Etc.

[Des-Lab]

I agree with the overall sentiment of pulling permits often being nothing more than unnecessarily onerous and money making schemes for the city. I agree with all of those sentiments 100%.

But.....there's always that "but".

It is a double edged sword.

My understanding is (and someone correct me if i'm wrong), but if you do any sort of substantial work like adding on a room, building a patio, or anything that fundamentally changes the existing structure, and it is *NOT* permitted, then A) It cannot be included as a chargeable improvement towards eventual sale price. And B) if there's damage-such as a fire or earthquake, it would void your homeowners insurance.

I can see with not wanting to deal with the hassle of getting a permit to have some grass laid or a bathroom painted.

But anything else, you do that at your own peril. Unless you are absolutely certain you never, ever, ever plan to sell the place.

And all other things being equal, I'll still take a licensed over an unlicensed contractor any time, any place.

But that's another discussion.

[looker009]

Originally Posted by Des-Lab

I agree with the overall sentiment of pulling permits often being nothing more than unnecessarily onerous and money making schemes for the city. I agree with all of those sentiments 100%.

But.....there's always that "but".

It is a double edged sword.

My understanding is (and someone correct me if i'm wrong), but if you do any sort of substantial work like adding on a room, building a patio, or anything that fundamentally changes the existing structure, and it is *NOT* permitted, then A) It cannot be included as a chargeable improvement towards eventual sale price. And B) if there's damage-such as a fire or earthquake, it would void your homeowners insurance.

I can see with not wanting to deal with the hassle of getting a permit to have some grass laid or a bathroom painted.

But anything else, you do that at your own peril. Unless you are absolutely certain you never, ever, ever plan to sell the place.

And all other things being equal, I'll still take a licensed over an unlicensed contractor any time, any place.

But that's another discussion.

As licensed real estate broker I can answer questions about real estate. Yes you're correct about not being able to count not permitted work. Sometimes we do raise price of property higher compare to compatible property in taking a count of what is there but officially it can't be listed. Regarding fire insurance, that is more tricky. If fire is shown that it started in the non permitted space and it's as result of faulty work it might not be covered. It's really depends on insurance company. If fire starts in permitted structure then when insurance is paying out they will not cover any part of not permitted part of structure. Personally I would never not get permit for any major work such additional room etc. There are many cities that demand permits for almost anything including changing of a toilet which to me is just ridiculous.