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El Gallo
Formerly “MumboJumbo”
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
 
2010-06-29, 07:54

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moogs View Post
So... why would the construction of the patio even come up when selling x years from now? Do most buyers ask to see old permits for paver patios? If so this is a good reason but I've never heard that. We didn't ask the guy when we bought (because we knew he did it himself - clearly) but it's an interesting point.
A couple points to ponder, you said you knew the guy who did the porch and so you didn't sweat it. The point to think about is what if you didn't? Also not to detract from that person, but you are making repairs now and should wonder, at least a bit, if any of that isn't related to substandard materials that have shown up now or might show up in the future. Sure it's just a paver patio, but it's attached to the house and darn it, you didn't know the termite would travel up it to start chewing on all the trusses in your roof.

The main point seems to be the 2% cost of the project as a fee. I think if you know the guy you are dealing with, it would be much easier to work on that than sweat the inspectors, neighbors and future home buyers.

Does the city consider the cost of the project to include what the contractor bids or does it have some way of tracking in total what was spent? Perhaps you could have your 2% saved merely by having the guy bid the work leave the cost of materials off the bid and have you declare you bought the materials outside of the project or that the materials were pre-existing, etc. If the materials are off his bid, would that affect the cost of the permit? It's a good idea to have the bid include estimates for both anyway because many construction folks are just sort of sloppy with their numbers and again, the cost can come out of your butt when they cut corners to make the numbers work.
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