All Forum Posts by: Curtis H.

@Arlen Chou

That wasn't the guy I was going to use anyway. The guy I was going to use is the one that is unlicensed, but highly referred, and I will pull my own permits.

@Arlen Chou

I fully intend to pull whatever permits are necessary, as intend to sale the place one day and that bathroom will be vital to the resale, as it's a 2/1 as it stands. I will add a half bath now, and then an addition of a master bed and bath before resale. 

I have had two GCs and an engineer (who sucked) look in the attic and verify the walls are not load bearing, but one quote said "install two posts and a beam, and pour one pad footing to support inner post". That's probably being more safe than sorry, and since they only wanted $2800 to knock down two walls instead of 3, it may be better to go with them since they will pull the permit. 

Me being responsible for the framing work is my rub with a contractor that won't pull the permit. It's not so much that I AM responsible as much as it is they are NOT RESPONSIBLE. The contractor charging $6500 for just the bathroom reiterated more than once that I would be pulling the permit. And him pulling it wasn't an option since he wasn't getting the electrical and plumbing work too. And he was licensed. Red flag. 

@Jay Whitfield  and @Andrew Cordle 

Thank you for letting me know I'm not crazy! And this guy was WAY cheaper than everyone else I talked to and showed the house to. I got $10K for just the bathroom conversion the first guy, $6500 for just the bathroom conversion (with no drywall just framing) the second time, and this was the cheapest guy at $5K. People in Socal are getting absolutely jobbed by these contractors out here. 

I forgot to mention that I am living in this home, not flipping it. I picked it up Sub2, and it was in such a good neighborhood I decided to keep it.

But I thought the same thing as Andrew, and that was, "it's really not much in materials at all. Wood and drywall and some odds and ends and the rest is...labor?"

It just still seems too high. And if it turns out he is NOT licensed, I still may go with him but his price has to come down in the $3K range in my opinion. 

So I have a small closet that I am converting to a half bath, but one of the walls need to be pushed out about 2 feet to make it work. I also want to knock down the wall dividing the living room and kitchen, and then the dining room into the kitchen to open the place up. NONE of these walls are load bearing. They are only doing the framing and drywall. I have a licensed electrician and plumber coming in after them that are pulling permits and the whole nine yards. 

1) Do I need a licensed contractor to do this framing job?

2) Does the city usually make you go through the planning department to convert this closet to a bathroom? Or just pull the permit? 

3) I'm pretty certain the walls are plaster, how does that change things?

4) Is $5K a good price from a reputable (probably unlicensed) contractor to knock down one 3 foot wall, two 9 foot walls, reframe, and install tile in the new half bath? This includes hauling trash out.

@Chris Martin

Thanks for the info!

@Tim Norris

I surely want to keep it in place just in case. I just didn't know if your policy was contingent upon my cancelling the existing policy. If it's not, we are all good. 

Thanks again

Curtis

Just an update here. I spoke with Tim Norris' company and emailed Tim today and these people are more awesome than I knew they were and I use them already!

Very informative, helpful, and kept reiterating over and over, that if another insurance company won't give me a policy call them and they will help me not be in a bad situation with no insurance. It is so important to be "First name insured" on the policy, and if the company doesn't want to do that because the previous owner is on the loan, walk. 

I agree. 

Nreinsurance doesn't offer owner occupant policies since they deal with investors (naturally), but they even offer a policy for under $15 per month for liability protection while I renovate. Doesn't include the workers (as they should have their OWN worker's comp) but includes others getting injured, etc. That's a no brainer! Since my renovation is under a month, there is no need for "Builder's Risk" coverage really, and I'm not doing any heavy renovations. 

At the end of the day, I will roll with the liability insurance for $10-$15 this month, and then when renovations are complete will get regular Homeowner's Insurance through the same people I get my car insurance from to get a nice discount. Again, this is only because I will be LIVING IN THE HOME. If I were planning to sell or rent it, I would use nreinsurance for my policy.  

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

And if I'm missing something, let me know. 

@Tim Norris , do I have to CANCEL the other policy in place now before using your liability plan? That may send a red flag to the bank, but I assume this will happen regardless eventually when I get the new plan. 

@Tim Norris

Ok so homeowner's policy is the way to go. If I don't leave the current plan in place, I'm using you guys! Assuming you cover Southern California?

@Kent Verge

THANKS!

As simple as a suggestion that is, it's very valuable to me. When I was working on a short sale and got lots of advice about talking to the bank (since I had never done that before), the one thing I didn't ask is "what to say when they ask these basic questions". Well they asked me who I was, and I said "just a friend trying to help them out". Wrong answer. Arms length transaction, and I almost couldn't write an offer on the property. Eventually I did write an offer but I was thinking "DAMN I wish I would have known not to say that!" If the bank wasn't cooperative, that could have killed the deal. 

So knowing what to say when talking to these companies is not critical, but it is important.

@Tim Norris

On your post about Sub2 and insurance, it seemed to imply that I would not be living in the unit, but merely be a "landlord". Naturally that's the way it normally works, but in this case I am living in the property, so how does that change things? I just get a homeowner's policy?

Also, how necessary is it to get builder's insurance on 2 weeks worth of work if all contractors are licensed and bonded with worker's comp for their employees? I don't mind getting the builder's risk for a month, I'm simply asking if it's overkill or not.