Permit for room and bathroom addition Bloomfield Anh

Heather Nguyen · 2019-05-24T20:14:05-07:00

Hi allI just bought my first house hacking property in bloomfiled NJ. It is a single family home in a legal 2 family zone with 2 floors and an attic. I plan to live on first floor and rent out the second Fl and attic . Second floor only has bedrooms so I want to do 1) an extension on the second floor and 2) add a bathroom and potentially a 3) kitchen.I called town office and was told to submit an original survey and a drawing of new layout plus $40 processing fees. My questions are1) how much does it cost to pull permit to a) add room b) add kitchen c) add bathroom? —-any recommendations on an affordable handyman/ contractor ? I was quoted 12000 by a contractor nearby which is way over my budget of 3k for a bathroom2) should I must as well convert it to a two family home? - will prop tax be significantly higher ( I already am paying 9500 per year) Thank you so much for your help in advance! Heather

Ann North

Rental Property Investor · Wayzata · Member since 2019 · 80 posts · 24 votes

7y

@Heather NguyenMy understanding of what you're describing, although by your post I couldn't exactly tell, is that it is very, very expensive. Adding additional square footage and changing layout, say an above the garage addition can be $100k or more. This is what I've heard but others can chime in.

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Scott P.

Rental Property Investor · Indiana...mostly · Member since 2019 · 468 posts · 245 votes

7y

Ask the town what information they require to price the permits. Some jurisdictions price based on square footage of the work area, others price based on the estimated construction costs, etc. They might require one overall permit or they might require separate permits for the different types of work. Once they tell you how they calc the cost of the permit, then you'll be able to determine it.

I've pulled maybe 10 permits in the State of New Jersey. Every local jurisdiction is different. In my opinion it is not an easy State to permit in, as compared to most others.

In my area, I could probably add a bathroom to a one story SFR on a crawlspace for $3000.I could NOT add a bathroom to an upper floor that currently has no plumbing for that price. So the estimate you have been given may be correct. Adding plumbing and kitchens to an upper floor which only has bedrooms would introduce structural support questions that may need to be addressed by an Engineer or Architect in my area. It might not be structurally possible to add a bathroom or kitchen without a lot of other support system upgrades. Those types of additions would be very expensive.

I don't know about the property taxes in your area. My gut feeling is that the improvements will cause the taxes to be higher regardless of whether or not the improvements are for an SFR or for a Duplex.

The good news is that the property is already zoned for a duplex you say. So, at least you won't spend time or money rezoning it.

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Allan Szlafrok

Rental Property Investor · Long Island, NY · Member since 2015 · 490 posts · 301 votes

7y

@Heather Nguyen Mind you if you plan on converting this to a 2 family from a 1 family you will need a zoning application as well. It’s gonna be a while before they gets done. If you add a kitchen to the second floor without it being zoned as a 2 family you will fail your CO inspection. So the first thing you need to do is get that application into the zoning board unless it’s already zoned as 2 family which is possible. Sometimes people convert a 2 fam to a 1 fam without making a zoning change. Check with the town for the zoning for that specific property to make sure you don’t need a zoning change. If the area is zoned for 2 family you’ll likely get the change but it will be a hassle. The permits for all that work will likely run you a few grand at least it does in neighboring towns and the plans and survey another couple of thousand. 12k for frame out, wire, pipe, tile, and fixtures sounds pretty reasonable actually.

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Heather Nguyen

OP

Member since 2018 · 3 posts · 0 votes

7y

Thanks all for your advice. Very helpful. I forgot to mention that there is a small room ( out of 3 bedrooms) on the second floor that sits directly above an existing bathroom on the first floor. So 2 follow- up questions:

1) will adding a bathroom above existing bathroom on first floor cut cost down significantly?

2) This is my first investment and honestly I have a tight budget after closing, so if it costs too much to implement everything (kitchen, bathroom and extension) At once, I ‘m thinking of only adding the bathroom first and rent out rooms on the second floor. Then use the rental income to add a kitchen later. Have you seen rooms rented out with no kitchen ? And what would the diff in rent be for a mid size room (500 sqft) with shared kitchen vs. without a shared kitchen ?

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Judy Parker

Rental Property Investor · Closter, NJ · Member since 2015 · 884 posts · 722 votes

7y

Also, keep in mind that there are New DCA Laws in New Jersey making significant changes to the definitions of "minor work and ordinary maintenance."

Pursuant to adoption in the March 5, 2018 New Jersey Register, types of work designated "ordinary maintenance" and "minor work" do NOT require permits. I recently had a town in NJ trying to charge me $118.00 for a plumbing permit, due to my licensed plumber changing a leaky steam pipe!!! This does NOT require a permit. I am still disputing it.

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Allan Szlafrok

Rental Property Investor · Long Island, NY · Member since 2015 · 490 posts · 301 votes

7y

@Heather Nguyen I assumed you were going to do that anyway so you could just use the same sewer stack and water pipes. It’s still an extensive job because you still need to run a lot of pipes behind walls and there will likely be some demolition involved. Regarding just renting out the rooms without a kitchen, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to live like that. And the type of person who just wants to rent out a bedroom and share a bathroom isn’t going to be the kind of person you would want as a tenant. Also I’m not sure if that wouldn’t constitute an illegal rooming house. It seems to me (and I could be wrong) that you have underestimated the repair costs by a large margin. It happens. If I were you I would try to find a way out of the contract or negotiate a much lower price because it sounds like you haven’t budgeted enough money to the repairs the right way and won’t be able to maximize your investment. Talk to your lawyer and see if there’s a way out. Use the inspection contingency maybe. But it’s starting to sound to me like this is a way bigger job than you anticipated and I don’t want to see you get hurt.

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Allan Szlafrok

Rental Property Investor · Long Island, NY · Member since 2015 · 490 posts · 301 votes

7y

@Judy P. That’s absurd. That’s like a basic service call for a plumber. What town was that in?

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Jared W SmithBusiness Member

Architect · Westchester County, NY · Member since 2018 · 684 posts · 476 votes

7y

Originally posted by @Heather Nguyen:

Thanks all for your advice. Very helpful. I forgot to mention that there is a small room ( out of 3 bedrooms) on the second floor that sits directly above an existing bathroom on the first floor. So 2 follow- up questions:

1) will adding a bathroom above existing bathroom on first floor cut cost down significantly?

2) This is my first investment and honestly I have a tight budget after closing, so if it costs too much to implement everything (kitchen, bathroom and extension) At once, I ‘m thinking of only adding the bathroom first and rent out rooms on the second floor. Then use the rental income to add a kitchen later. Have you seen rooms rented out with no kitchen ? And what would the diff in rent be for a mid size room (500 sqft) with shared kitchen vs. without a shared kitchen ?

I think you're thinking about the budget too much and will yield an inefficient space which has what you want but is cumbersome. Plus you are negating the building codes and zoning requirements which have parameters on what can be built, where it can be built and how.

If I am understanding things correctly, you are 1- converting a single family to a 2-family 2- adding an addition onto the second floor including an additional kitchen and bathroom. This involves, new exterior walls, windows & a roof. This is a tall order and would be easily be $100k in cost plus you have the paperwork for the conversion.. and don't forget fees to the Municipality (could be as much as $1k). Not sure what the contractor was pricing which was $12k, but that's not going to give you much with an addition. In my opinion, $3k for a full bathroom is not realistic unless you have subpar materials which won't be durable or long lasting. And as Scott said, NJ is a fickle animal. Each town/city is different. [FYI- The township of Bloomfield, NJ Uniform Construction Code: 149-8 has a lengthy document on construction fees & 149-3 has more info on Certificate of Habitability (Occupancy) fees].

I think you need to make a plan, writing down all of your wishes and get a local architect, design professional or at least someone with construction experience in your town to at a minimum discuss the feasibility of your project and ball park cost. Don't get into a renovation that you cannot finish.

Disclaimer: I am an architect, but I am not YOUR architect. I am not giving professional advice only general information. Contact a local architect/engineer for a detailed consultation specific to your project/locale.

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Judy Parker

Rental Property Investor · Closter, NJ · Member since 2015 · 884 posts · 722 votes

7y

@Allan Szlafrok, it is Dumont NJ. Still battling with them to get it waived. They won't admit the Admin made a mistake...keep blaming me and my plumber! So I keep documenting my requests to have them waive the permit fee. Ugh!

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Wilbur Langurayan

Hinton, WV · Member since 2026 · 8 posts · 0 votes

6mo

most towns will want the existing survey plus the new footprint drawn in, and then a basic floor plan of the addition. If the original survey isnt findable you can usually recreate an acceptable site plan from GIS for cheap, some ppl use mysiteplan to handle it for like a hundred bucks. Call zoning first tho, Bloomfield can be picky about setbacks on older lots.

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Permit for room and bathroom addition Bloomfield Anh

Permit for room and bathroom addition Bloomfield Anh

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