Why we still pull permits for a bathroom remodel
A permit is not paperwork for its own sake — it is a second, independent set of eyes on the plumbing and electrical work in a room where both can hurt someone if they fail.
Permits get treated as a tax on doing the work, and sometimes contractors sell skipping them as a favour — faster, cheaper, no inspector slowing things down. We pull them anyway, on every bathroom, every kitchen, every addition.
A city inspector is a second set of eyes with no financial stake in the project finishing on schedule. They have caught things on our jobs before — a GFCI circuit wired wrong, a vent pipe sized too small — that we would rather have caught by an inspector than by a homeowner six months later.
The other reason: an unpermitted bathroom or kitchen remodel is a disclosure problem when the house sells. Buyers’ inspectors ask, and ‘we did it without a permit to save time’ is not an answer that helps anyone at a closing table.