Can I make my own repairs on a flip?

Question

In North Carolina where I flipped my last house, I was required to use the property I was flipping as my primary residence in order to legally make repairs to it and I had to live in it for one year prior to selling it.  There were two ways around these rules: Hire contractors who would pull required permits, or be a licensed general contractor myself.  I have several questions for the group regarding making repairs to a flip in Philadelphia:

-Can I buy an investment property and make all repairs myself if I'm not a general contractor?

-Are there holding requirements in the event that I make repairs myself?

-Am I required to use the property as my primary residence?

-Am I required to pull permits for cosmetic, non-structural work that I do myself?

-Are there any major "gotchas" that I might not have addressed related to rehabbing a property in Philadelphia on my own?

Thanks,

Matt

David Dachtera · Answer

@Matt Hummer,

The distinction I'd recommend making is between what you are allowed to do legally and what you should be doing based on your skills and knowledge.

If you are as competent as the professionals you would otherwise hire, then weigh it against the value of your time versus the cost to hire it out. Hiring others buys you your time back to go looking for another profitable deal.

Michael Enriquez · Answer

-delete post-

Matt Hummer · Answer

In my previous case the requirement was from the municipality/county.  I dug and dug and I think I've found an answer on one of the phila.gov permit sites.  It looks like owners who occupy the property may make whatever alterations they'd like in accordance with code and permitting.  How they would determine if you're occupying the property is someone else's guess.  Like you said, no permit is required to paint, install flooring, etc, but if you wanted to move an interior non-load-bearing partition a permit would be required.  In this case, the above rule about owner-occupied alterations comes into effect.  In general it looks like if no permit is required, then no obligation to hire a contractor exists.

Levi T. · Answer

I could be wrong, but the holding requirement is not from the state or county, but from your lender, like the FHA Owner Occupancy Requirements. In most states, a owner can perform their own plumbing, electrical, etc, but they will have to follow code and permits. You can always contact your county to see the requirements on when to pull a permit, but I have never heard of anyone needing one to paint walls, install flooring, or replace cabinets and such.

Peace of advice; build your business to operate so your not the owner and operator. Success people are business owners, not operators.

Matt Hummer · Answer

No one?