Let’s talk about permits for residential projects. As an architect in Long Beach who completes a lot of residential projects, I get asked, on occasion, by my clients if it’s really necessary that they obtain permits for their project. It’s typically my home remodeling clients who ask this, since clients who are having new homes designed generally understand that their ground-up build will need to be permitted.
Some of these clients ask because they know that having their project permitted involves extra time and money that they don’t want to spend, but others are of the opinion that they shouldn’t have to get a permit. They reason that it’s their property and their home and they should be able to do whatever they want with it. These are typically older folks who grew up in a different time or those who have moved to Long Beach from areas that have much looser requirements when it comes to what you can and can’t do on your own property. While we certainly sympathize with our clients with this type of mindset, we have to tell all of our clients that, yes, you do need to have your project permitted.
There will always be someone out there who will tell you otherwise, such as a friend or acquaintance who remodeled their home without obtaining a permit, or a general contractor who doesn’t like dealing with the city and therefore avoids it at all costs. But I’m here to tell you that if your home remodel is involved enough to require a Long Beach residential architect, it will certainly need to be permitted!
If you meet with a residential architect in Long Beach who tells you that your project doesn’t need to be permitted, I would be very leery. He or she doesn’t have your best interests in mind.
What about Long Beach Homes with Previous Unpermitted Work?
Another reason I’ve come across for people not wanting to have their upcoming home remodel permitted is because they had previous work done on their home that was not permitted (either by them or previous owners). These homeowners are afraid that when city inspectors come to their property to inspect the new work being done that they will also come across the older, unpermitted work and either slap them with a hefty fine or require that they demolish or rebuild what was previously built.
For the most part, this is not something that Long Beach homeowners need to be too concerned about. In my experience, city inspectors aren’t chomping at the bit to red tag properties. They are much more concerned with the project at hand. Unless the previous work is an obvious hazard, inspectors will almost certainly stick to inspecting the areas that are currently being remodeled.
That being said, if you have areas of your home that were unpermitted and want to bring them up to code and have them permitted at the same time as your new project, a Long Beach residential architect could certainly help you with that.
Obtaining the proper permits will certainly add to your home remodel’s timeline and budget, but it is a necessary part of the home remodeling process and, realistically, should be factored into the timeline and budget from the beginning. That being said, hiring an experienced residential architect in Long Beach, CA can definitely help the process go smoothly, since he or she is more likely to know what the city is looking for in the architectural drawings they review. An inexperienced architect, on the other hand, may have to go through multiple rounds of revisions before the plans are approved, which could greatly increase your project’s timeline.
