Red Tag Means STOP work now!

My electrician said the inspector would not be happy with the condition of the house. He was angry that the kitchen walls came down without a demo permit. To my credit, we had a large amount of water intrusion, and didn't expect that the walls would come down.  Water was dripping through the canned lighting in the kitchen, and we were looking to find the source.  Once a little Sheetrock came down, the water trail ensured more Sheetrock came down.  The electrician really was angry that the handyman was doing unlicensed work, he told me. 

Without telling me or the other subcontractors in advance, the electrician called his inspection in to the Building Department. This made the HVAC and the window installation teams scramble to ensure their permits were in order, with little time in which to do so.  And the electrician quit in the middle of the job, something that hung us up for months.

The building inspector came out and in due course saw the condition of the kitchen, which is now down to the studs.  The lead HVAC guy was on site and spoke with the building inspector.  He then gave me a call and told me about the situation. I asked him what I needed to do. He said I am allowed to hire my own contractors, but they need to be licensed. He also told me that the building inspector was angry that there was demo work done without a permit, and was talking with the electrician about double-fining me, and that it is probably better that I wasn’t there, because he’d have to take a hard stance in front of the other guys. 

I was under the impression that my handyman was licensed. It turns out that there is no such handyman license, and the electrician was upset that the handyman touched the wires in the house. The building inspector placed a red tag between the doors with a note to call him.

We went in to speak with the sole building inspector in our town. He told me that there are certain things we can do on our own, but we must have a permit for many building projects (to include painters), and he’d like to know our entire scope of work in advance. And, he’d like us to only hire licensed tradesmen, or use a general contractor, if we prefer going that route.

The red tag came down, and we were able to continue work.