Permits
Check the permit before the price
A permit you forgot to price comes out of your pocket, and work done without one can come back to bite you. Checking takes a few minutes if you know where to look.
Text it like this
Fictional example.
How permit rules are built
Most towns start from the International Residential Code and then write their own changes into it. The model code says a permit is needed to build, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a house or a structure, and to install or replace most electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing systems. It also lists work that is exempt, such as painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets and counter tops, fences up to 7 feet, sidewalks and driveways, and small detached sheds.
The catch is the local changes. Plenty of towns permit water heater swaps, roof replacements, window changes or fences that the model code exempts, and some add rules for historic districts or flood zones. The building department’s own pages, fee schedule and permit checklists are what count.
Where to look
Start with the city or county building or permits page, then the fee schedule, then any checklist for your kind of job. Many are PDFs. If the home is in an HOA, its rules are separate and often need their own approval. If the home is in a historic district, there may be a design review before the permit.
When the pages are unclear, call. Building departments answer these questions every day, and a two-minute call is cheaper than a stop-work order.
How CrewBuddy helps
Text the town and the job. CrewBuddy searches the building department’s pages and documents, and tells you what they say for that work: permit listed or not, who applies, posted fees, required documents and inspections, with a link to every page. When something is unclear, it says so and gives you the department’s phone number from the page.
It then adds the permit as its own line on the quote if you want, with the fee and the inspection time. It does not apply for permits or book inspections. With Logins on and the town’s portal allowed, it can fill in an online application for you to check, and submitting waits for your code.
Pricing the permit into the job
Put the permit on the quote as its own line: the fee, the time to apply, and the inspection visits. Customers accept a permit line more easily when they can see it, and you are not stuck paying for it out of your margin. If the customer wants to skip the permit, write down that you advised it and let them decide whether to go ahead with you.
Keep a short note per town in your files: what needed a permit last time, the fee and who you spoke with. CrewBuddy can read that note before it searches, which makes the next lookup faster.
The permit lookup recipe is the one-text version of this guide.
Sources: ICC: 2021 International Residential Code, R105.2 work exempt from permit
Before you send the quote
How residential permit rules work, which jobs are often exempt, why your town’s own pages win, and how CrewBuddy looks them up for you.
- Name the town and the exact work.
- Read what the building department’s own pages say.
- Put the permit fee and inspection time on the quote.