I would like to build my own stone home, with my own hands, on my own land, with my own money (not the bank's) meeting modern safety and energy standards. Alas, I am told that I cannot because I am not a licensed this or that or the other and they will not let me pull the permits. I assure you that the home I would build for myself would be a work of pride exceeding all standards of workmanship and materials.
This has been a dream in my life. What suggestions do you have for me?
As long as you are not concerned with homeowner's insurance or resale value, you ought to be easily able to find a town that doesn't much care what you do.
a) I might move away but I would never sell a home I built myself with years of my life. Even if it was doing me no good whatsoever I wouldn't consider it. b) I prefer to self-insure even when not forced. c) I was hoping for a different answer than "move towns".
I was really hoping for some answer like "The Amish Church is exempt from the licensed electrician / plumber requirements; donate the land to them under the agreement that you can live there and build what you will until the death of both you and your wife." (I just made that up but you get the idea.)
The problem is that a residential contractor's license (as I understand it) isn't enough. In fact, I already have a contractor's license. Here is where the problems come in. Where I live to replace an existing toilet you must be a MASTER PLUMBER to pull the permit. It doesn't matter if you have replaced 100 toilets. It doesn't matter that most 16 year olds could replace the wax ring and bolt in another toilet. You cannot become a master plumber by demonstrating any skillset, or passing any written test. You must prove that you have worked as a plumber for some number of years.
Call the permitting office. Most places will allow "owner/builder" permits as long as you don't immediately roll the house over to a new owner. There are some rules about sub contractors having to be licensed, insured etc but if you are truly doing all the work you are OK. I built my own pool with no hassles from the county and my insurance guy didn't care. There is really more interest in income, FICA taxes and insurance on casual labor than the qualifications of these people. You pulled the permit and you "own" code compliance. You can buy some extra liability insurance to cover a guy who gets hurt on your job, just don't cheap out on it. The FICA deal is between you and the IRS. There are rules about "casual labor" and the number of hours you can employ someone before you have to start withholding taxes.
If you need a permit to replace a toilet, then the previous advice holds: move!
Where I live, you can do essentially all the work yourself. However, the final work has to be inspected and approved by a licensed person. This applies to plumbing, electric etc. With those approvals, you can then get the municipal approval.
My personal approach (in a future project that seems to be slipping away into the future more and more... sigh) is to do the dirty and time consuming work and let the pro do the finishing. For example, the electrical system - I'll run all the wire and place all the outlets, switches etc, but have the pro inspect that and do the connections. That way the parts the inspectors get fussy about are done by the pro and I get rid of a lot of time consuming ($$$) work on the pro's part.
I was told that I could not do the work myself but I didn't say the magic words "owner/builder permit". I will call back using this phrase and see what happens.
You can probably find out everything you need online if you live in a county that owns a computer. I was able to download all my permit applications and all the rules. It will be something like "community development" or "building services" on the county/city web site.
Call the licensed contractors in your area and find the ones that will take on a job involving owner sweat equity. I'm no were near you so I cannot help but I have been involved with a number of electrical projects were some or all of the work was done by the homeowner.
"William Deans" wrote in news:1104338496.c13f0e28880e58c7ffb4f1b4dc9cc97a@teranews:
Most likely they'll check the work you did and approve it or not. Probably for a fee. No one with 10% of a brain is going to ruin their own rep and allow you to "use their liscense".
William - all this stuff you're discussing is confusing and ambiguous because we don't know what community you're talking about and what their zoning and code regulations are. There are many places in America that have virtually no zoning and absolutely no code requirements. There are others that have highly restrictive zoning and code requirements. It varies from state to state, county to county, and town to town. There are NO hard and fast rules that apply to the US.
I know - An area in which I have lived has pretty much unrestricted zoning and absolutely no code requirements. There are no requirements that a licensed contractor do any work. There are no legal requirements that any code or standard is followed. There are many "owner built" homes - some that meet the stereotype of $hitty construction, some that are professional-grade. It is indeed possible to get insurance for these houses. It is also possible to get bank financing for owner-built both during construction as well as if you're trying to buy one on the market. Of course, banks may require inspection by a qualified inspector before financing, and may require that things they finance meet uniform building codes, but there are also financing options for "non-conforming" housing. The insurance business is the same (around here).
So the point is that it is indeed possible to do what you're wanting to do - in terms of just building a house yoursel. It is also possible to get financing and insurance if you want to go that route (you said you didn't). You just need to find a part of the country that has unrestrictive zoning and/or code requirements. Generally this will be in the rural part of a western state, but you might find other areas that suit your plans. Heck, we don't even know if there's anything in your particular community that would preclude it.
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