BP,

Located in St. Petersburg, Fl. Am under contract with a single family home that I plan on adding a bedroom to. I work for a construction company and am quite handy, but county is saying I can’t do any work on these properties if they are for sale or lease. I intended to get the work inspected as it would be increasing occupancy of building, but this was my value add! The fact that I can do most of this work myself and save a bunch of money let’s me buy at a different price. This is just making me want to skip permitting altogether, but will I have issues down the road? Now I have to hire out a company to overcharge me for work I know I can do? Just very frustrating. Rant over.

Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Tim

You will have numerous issues that will arise especially if you already brought it to their attention. Neighbors could call the county for unpermitted work and stop you from building and fine you. If you did build it unpermitted and you went to resell you wouldn't get credit for the additional sq footage as appraiser base everything off county records. You may have issues obtaining proper insurability as you have an unpermitted addition. If something were to happen like the house burns down, they may deny any insurance claims since work wasn't properly permitted. There are a multitude of ways this would go wrong.

Adding habitable structures and attached sq footage to dwellings with no permit is very risky, and your asking for nothing but problems down the road. 

The extra few thousand for drawing and permitting will be well worth your money, time, and future frustrations. 

I'm a Realtor and general contractor licensee located right here in St Pete as well. Let me know if I could help you out with anything.

@Timothy Smith So I'm just taking space from a family room to add a bedroom so not really adding any SqFootage.  Have not already brought it to their attention, just doing my own research.

Just curious how fellow DIYers do this to their investment homes.  Do you just handle cosmetic items yourself and things that wouldnt require permit pulling?  Do they just ignore permits?  Do they pony up the $$ to hire out permit items, even if they can handle it themselves?

Well if you're just adding interior walls in an existing space, that is pretty minor. Just make sure you're not taking out load bearing walls and causing anything that could become a safety concern to tenants. Permitting is in place to protect safety and wellness of others (and add a little $$$ to your local municipality).

I would say most DIY don't pull any permits. They're only required for certain criteria. Any cosmetic rehab isn't going to need any permits. Its when you start moving around or add new plumbing/electrical/HVAC/structural work. I would say a vast majority aren't pulling permits for DIY rehabs unless they are very extensive. 

@Timothy Smith Yeah, just adding 1 wall.  Not removing/altering any others, but as I am "changing the occupancy" of a building, so figured it had to be permitted.  Just not sure how close the city is going to look into who is doing the actual work. 

@Tim Kaminski

I am planning on partitioning off a large pass-through room to make into a legitimate bedroom. I called the town to ask if any permits/inspections were required. They gave me the few standards that must be met & gave the thumbs up but suggested i call this local sewage guy to verify that the septic system could accommodate the extra bedroom.
I called the guy, he seemed very hesitant but eventually gave me the green light. now I'm wondering if i should report it to the county to update the house's records. would this increase my prop taxes?
But anyway. call the town. couldn't hurt if you just say you were thinking about it.. see what they say?