as a homeowner of a 90 year old house i am planing a complete exterior and interior house renovation with a possible bumpout to make my kitchen bigger. i have been told if i add on to my house i will need an architect and he has to take care of all the necessary building permits. if i decide not to alter the original foot print of the house can i as the homeowner act as the general contractor as long as all the subcontractors such as plumbers and electricians are licensed and insured. thanks for any advice you can give me. my goal is to turn this old victorian into a grand home again.
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Your Authority Having Jurisdiction, dictates the rules.
And they do vary by locale.
An addition might require an architect to do the prints...............
or not.
If all the pertinant info is on the application (including drawings necessary for them to approve construction, then the architect thing might not be a requirement.
Certain engineering calcs might have to be done on things less than usual (such as header size for large or unusual openings, foundation/footing details, beam size and bearing locations............) Sometimes these can be done as an add on to your own drawings (the backup calcs and sizing).
Other trades may or may not need to be licensed.............that is, you may be able to do the work (with certain limitations) in electrical, plumbing, hvac, roofing, insulation etc.
So, your best bet is to go to your building inspection dept and ask.
if i add on to my house i will need an architect
Where does U live?? East totalistan? North historistanheritage? West cantdonutinurselfaguay? South govwantsitscutty?
Heck, own house is over 1/2 the age of yours and we built it ALL ourself.s...
The policies for this vary so much across the country (and even from block to block in some cities) that it's impossible to generalize. Most jurisdictions give homeowners (NB: **not** landlords) a fair amount of leeway with regard to doing their own work, but the rules are constantly changing (and generally getting more restrictive).
So you really need to talk to your local building permit office. If they're the "forward thinking" type they may even have a manual of sorts for homeowners.
Be wary of taking advice from neighbors and coworkers (and especially sales droids at lumber yards), since the rules often vary just across the city/county line, and even what was OK for your next-door neighbor last year may not be OK this year.
And, unlicensed work abounds even in areas where it's flagrantly illegal. All sorts of people will advise you not knowing the difference.
Even better, if one of these clowns comes in and does a half-donkey's job of it, then what do you do?
Gets to be tough sledding if you start from, well I knew you were supposed to have permits, but billyrayjoebob said he didn't have to bother witnostinkinpermits.
Go to your City's website. Look for Planning and Development services, or Code Compliance, or Engineering Services (you may have to visit all three--City web pages are built by the lowest bidder).
Being your own GC does not save you any money even if you are a GC. Now, if you are willing to learn everything on the job, and DIY all of it, that can be different. That will "save" you money in that you'll just not write any one big check.
Want some friendly advise? Pick the least important, least visible room in the house. Go and gut that entire space to bare studs. This will teach you a number of valuable lessons.
Like visqueen is you friend, and demolition dust is forever. And dumpsters are expensive, but less so than 13 trips to the dump with a borrowed truck. And that finished walls hide many things; and hidden things are always a surprise. And that Murphy insists that such surprises seldom make you smile.
Ani't the truth
"Like visqueen is you friend, and demolition dust is forever. And dumpsters are expensive, but less so than 13 trips to the dump with a borrowed truck. And that finished walls hide many things; and hidden things are always a surprise. And that Murphy insists that such surprises seldom make you smile."
Oh how true.
I must ask how you can say being a GC will not save you any money even if you are a GC? So GCs work free of charge? GC don't make a profit on houses they build. Interesting.
Ok, if I'm a GC, and I'm
Ok, if I'm a GC, and I'm renovating my house, I'm not renovating someone else's house, so, I'm "losing" money--ergo it's "more expensive."
If I'm a commercial GC, I also may not have the sort of connections needed for residential construction--ergo, "more expensive" again.
Being a GC is not a trade skill, it's a business operation. Like most businesses, it takes training, experience, and persistent determination to do well, too. If it were only "cuttin' 'n' hammerin' 'n' such" it would be as easy as most seem to feel it is.
Local fellow actually asked about finding a framer to build a shed from scratch (for better materials) and to "save money" by being the helper on the project. Except, a helper is a trained person on the job site. Teaching a new one is an occasional business expenses. But, if you have a trained-up helper, you have to "sideline" him for the proposed job. Which will take longer for being a teaching exercise, too.
That's why I recommend to gut some room that can be left that way. So it can be a learning experience you can keep a closed door on while it occurs.
You gut a living room as a first-time job, you wind up under a lot of pressure to "get it fixed" which can lead to some badly-cut corners. Also, if things "in the bones" are bad, better to find out in a less central place.
But, I've only done this sort of thing for three decades--I keep thinking I'm going to learn how to make it easy, simple, and cheap one of these days. Y'know, no more complicated than applied physics; Information Management; profitable web commerce or the like.
If you decide to act as the general contractor, don't pull the
permits for the subs, even if the local codes allow it.