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When I moved to Cary 6 years ago, we bought a for-sale-by-owner with a finished third floor attic. Now we're looking to sell the house, but have figured out that the work was never permitted. I can't claim the space when we sell it if it's never received a certificate of occupancy. Ugh.
Today I went over to Cary permits/inspections to see about getting it permitted and inspected, and it seems that since I'm not planning to stay in the house for 12 months I have to hire a general contractor. Makes sense, you don't want a home handyman doing a bunch of work that isn't worthy of his family living in the place for a year. And so, I'm looking for a contractor. But, of course, I'm hoping the work is good and I won't have to pay much to get it up to code and therefore it's hopefully not going to be a very big job for a contractor.
Anybody got any experience with this? I'm just thinking it'll be hard to find a contractor for such a small job. Anybody know any good contractors that might be willing to do it?
Unfortunately, we run into this type of problem all too often. Folks fail to hire licensed tradesmen who acquire the proper permits and schedule inspections end up with problems with the County Tax Assessor, the Building Inspector, and ultimately a potential buyer.
You have to satisfy the governing municipality that the work was done to meet or exceed the local and state building codes. If plumbing, electrical, and HVAC functions are involved, you may be opening the drywall in some key areas so an inspector can see how certain work was performed. If there is any question about the structural integrity of the framing, load bearing, foundation supports, etc. an engineer may be required as well.
Some projects are pretty straightforward and we've been able to satisfy the Inspections Office pretty easily. Others with numerous problems are more involved and involve a considerable time investment. On a recent project, we were required to remove almost all the drywall to gain access to the poor workmanship and bring it up to code.
What it boils down to is that someone has to take responsibility for the work in place and put their license and their liability insurance at risk should there be a future problem. We're quite meticulous about this and want to make darn sure that everything is as it should be before our licensed tradesmen will take the risk.
It absolutely, positively has to be right or we will not be able to sleep well at night.
My father is dealing with this right now up in NY - except that it's a house without a CO! The house was hand built by my grandparents many years ago and they never got a CO. It's come up now that my grandmother recently passed away and the house needs to be sold. The City of Yonkers is requiring blueprints to be submitted as well as all the major inspections. Apparently it's complicated by the fact that there was building permit that was never closed out (or something like that). Anyhow, they have the house under contract but now my father is running around like a crazy man trying to get this all done (and has to spend at least $10K to resolve it). What a mess! Makes me very glad my screened porch was permitted, inspected and I have a CO for it!
dougn - I'll DM you with the name of a contractor that might be able to help you. Good luck!
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