Can you do your own work on your house if you take responsibility as the general contractor of your home?

Question

Can you do your own addition to your house if you take responsibility as the general contractor of your home and get all the permits? Can I hire a subcontractor? If I do does he have to be licensed? All my electricians and plumbers are licensed in Chicago but does my subcontractor have to be as well? Let me know for 10 POINTS! thanks

Answer 1

Yes, you can even do your own plumbing and electrical. You need prints and go down before the "board" and get an approval. You do not need any sort of license to do this either. They will final inspect, approve or disapprove and you can fix and they will reinspect and approve. A permit costs based on how many fixtures and so on. For these sorts of permits you dont need a licesnse or even insurance or Bond. I live north of Chicago in the burbs.

Yes, you can be your own General Contractor. You dont even need to know anyting about contracting either. Lots of Accountants are Gen. Contractors around here. And they cant even lift a Hammer Let alone use one.

Just go to your local Building Department and get an application. You will also need a Bond and Insurance. So those need to go in with the application. I got both my Bond and Insurance from State Farm Insurance at a cost of about $200 for both.

Then you MUST hire licensed Sub Contractors in the Areas required, such as Basement Concrete Construction, Electrical, Plumbing, and so on. Probably the first thing in this area is to get a Drive Way permit. You just cannot go anywhere and put in a drive, it has to be approved.

After each Subs work, there is an inspection process and the city issues an APPROVED Sticker. These Subs got to obey the rules or they lose their licenses so they dont do work that is sub par.

Never give a Sub money ahead of total completion and approval. NEVER AND ADVANCE. Remember this, as it is about the most important thing to stress.

I have built 2 homes this way, doing a lot of the work myself, that is not required to be Sub'ed. You will save a bunch of money and get a better house, HOWEVER it does take a lot of time to get things done and numerous trips downtown to the building department. One thing, the building department is really helpful to a homeowner doing his/her own General Contracting, they really help you a lot.

Answer 2

If you're named the General Contractor for this job and anyone, anyone, else works at your home, no matter if they're working and being paid through a subcontractor, you must have Worker's Compensation Insurance filed through the State in case anyone is injured on the job. You can really get yourself in a hugh mess of trouble, legally and financially, without this. Technically, this applies even when hiring a babysitter or house cleaner to work in your home, but it's more important with this kind of job because of the exposure to risk. You may not know the ethics of the people coming and going who work on your job or god forbid, someone truly gets really hurt or dies, better safe and protected, than sorry. Talk to your insurance people about this and contact the State for the specifics.

Answer 3

Cowboy and the others are right. Same suggestion as cowboy, call the local building department. They will tell you exactly what needs to be done. But basically, in most places, you can do whatever you want, including plumbing, electrical, HVAC, framing, foundation, etc, on your own house. You must pull permits, and pass inspections. But most people you hire must be licensed. In this county, only painters and carpet installers can do work without a license on a contract basis. And if you hire someone as an employee, like a handyman, he must be licensed bonded and insured, with a workman's comp insurance or exemption from workforce development, or if you pay him by the hour, then you must pay for workman's comp insurance and withhold taxes. My suggestion if hire someone like that, hire him as a subcontractor. Pay him per job task and let him worry about taxes and workman's comp. But then he needs to provide proof of license (which needs to be a general or job related), bond, general liability insurance, and workman's comp insurance or exemption and if he has help proof of workman's comp insurance covering his help.

I'd also suggest, unless you are skilled in foundation and framing, contract that out. And roofing. First it will get done faster, unless you have a lot time. Second it will get done right, hopefully, and if it doesn't you don't have to pay to fix it. Any extra materials and time is the contractor’s responsibility, not yours.

Above all protect yourself with a contract for contracted work, and check for the license, bond and insurance, and workman's comp for their employee's.

Answer 4

You don't need a license to work on your own home. You are best to get a permit for work you hire others to do for you. The permit gets the town involved in making sure the code for the area is followed properly and up to standard. Whether you hire a contractor or not is up to you. If you have the connections and the understanding of the trades you need to hire and what they need to do, you can be the general yourself. If you aren't "in the business" it is advisable to hire a general as then you have his reputation (and liability insurance) to fall back on, should anything go wrong. There is an awful lot of work done by non-licensed people that is as good or better than the licensed work. It really more depnds on the ethics and ability of the worker regardless of license or not. This is the big reason why you are always encouraged to get a guy that a friend has had good luck with, you stand a better chance of being happy at the end of it all.
If you're just trying to save money on the job; I wouldn't recommend cheaping out on the personnel; I would cheap out a bit on the scope of the job and split it into 2 jobs with time between to save more money for round 2. If you truly have the ability to manage the job yourself, with all the silly little things you'll run into; go for it yourself.
I wanted to gut my house but didn't have the knowledge to do it myself or the money to hire someone else. I decided it was important enough and interesting enough for me that I quit my low 6 figure job in the graphic arts industry, took 3 years and worked in construction to find out how and why things were done as they were. I did this at 42 years old. It worked for me. I ended up putting $30K into my house (for a job quoted at $90K), did 98% myself (I leave the gas and electrics for the guys that know it well) and then sold the house for $175K more than I paid for it, a year later. Not a bad income... $145K a year. I am now on house 3 and haven't worked for anyone but me for 4 years now. We are doing ok and the commute is really good! My real problem now is my wife likes what I've done to this house so well, she doesn't want to move. I might have to leave her here when I go... ok, not really. Now my negotiation skills need to kick in... lol.

Have fun and good luck!

Answer 5

you can if the city will allow it you might be able to go to the city pay $100 and get you contractor license. if you can run the job do so. the general get paid to run the job and hire the other contractors or you can find one contractor that can do the complete work. I myself am a contractor that does all the work the only thing I sub out is roofs. so all my customers are the general you can look up someone like myself on angieslist.com they should be in your area.

Answer 6

YES- You can be your own contractor as a "Homeowner/Contractor". The key here is to be very carefull of who you hire to do the job. There are construction "Contracts" you can have all your sub's submit to you (both of you sign). The more DETAILED and precise the contract is the better as to exactly what they will be doing for the money you will be paying them. You cab get these "Contract" forms at any Office Supply outlet or on-line. This step is CRITICAL-these contracts will hold up in court if necessary. CYA! As far as your sub's having to be licensed: Different States have different laws as far as if Sub-contractors needing to be licensed (EX: State of NC requires you to be licensed only if you do a job over $30,000.). Check with your state's Contractor's Board and they will give you the answer you need. And of course ALL plumbers and Electriciasns have to be licensed. Also-an FYI-different states have different Building Codes- Every step of your addition has to be inspected and to code before it passes in order for you to go to next step. Your local library should have your state's "Building Code" book on hand in the Reference Section. Any questions about codes at all- you can call your inspections dept. and an inspector should be glad to answer your question. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 7

Whether I get your ten points or not? go to the local County court house and find out, simple. The code office will let you know what you have to do, what steps to take.

Answer 8

Of course you can. I built all my homes myself. All you need to do is get the permits. You do not have to hire liscened people for anything. If you own it, you can do it all. I did, many times.

Answer 9

you are rquired to take out a buildign permit for any construction jobs and to hire licensed professionals, this is for your won protection. however, if its interior work any you know how to do the work whos gonna know, jsut make sure its up to code cuz when you seel the property they might find your remodeling projects

Answer 10

You can do anything you want as long as you pull permits and everything complies to code.