Elderly couple

[LillyAnna]

This one is tough to understand. Why would a general contractor do the work without a permit?.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article...ar-over-court-order-to-demolish-home-addition

 

[Scotty J]

Hmmm we need an expert opinion on this one.

I wonder who could help us.lol.

 

[the.ash]

Damn if you do and damn if you don't. I can relate but have to admit a permit is needed. On the other hand it took us almost 16 months and thousands of dollars to get our permit to rebuild our home. Dealing with arrogant clerks, city inspectors is no joy.

Then we had to leave one wall structure as per city by-law. We couldn't demolish the whole house. Not a good 16 months i may add.

 

[Metropolisforever]

Ever watch Mike Holmes show? He seems to find lots of contractors who do work without permits.

 

[Delilah]

Where is Tboy. :aww:

 

[Pompal 09.]

Because of their age I say hire an engineer make sure it's safe and let it be.

 

[RyanMAN]

The first thing I'd like to answer:

Why would the contractor build without a permit?

No where in that story did it state that they requested one......the absence of such a statement makes me believe that they more than likely TOLD the contractor to not get a permit to avoid certain hassles.

Sure, if they hired Mike Holmes he would have just torn down the entire house and rebuilt it. But seeing as how on Holmes' show, the homeowners don't pay for anything, not many contractors can do that.

I have gone and quoted on jobs and when it is cut and dried that a permit is needed, I say so and more often than not, the homeowner says "no" because any improvement might increase their property taxes. For eg: if you build a garage where none existed before, your taxes WILL go up because the curbside value of your home went up.

From the story: their reasoning that other houses have variances for a staircase, well a staircase is a HELL of a lot different than a 2 story addition.

I also bet that these city inspectors they've had, wanted to remove ALL the drywall to inspect the framing, the electrical, the plumbing etc and they said no way.

As to why they are being pursued so enthusiastically? I bet all along they scoffed at the city officials and that my friends is NOT something you want to do. As shown, these people have the power to ruin your life. Treat em nice and they're great to work with. Shit on them and they WILL shit on you.

Oh, and their excuse that it is smaller than the thing it replaced? Who said the thing they replaced was legal to begin with? That old saying comes to mind: two wrongs don't make a right.

And finally, wtf were they thinking going out of the country while this was going on? They may be harvard educated but they IMO ain't that smart.

Oh, and to inspect it to make sure it is safe and sound? That'd cost probably, oh, $30,000.00.....but what kills me is I bet the addition didn't cost them $200,000.00. They could have torn the thing down and started again legally......

 

[hex]

Thanks for the education dude.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Wrong there TB. Would take at least 2 years for permits of that kind. Read Wanker's post.

 

[Pompal 09.]

How am I wrong? I never said how long it could take to get the permits, only that for the money, they could have done it the right (aka legal) way......