Buiding permit or not?

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OneShot

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Thinking about building a wooden front porch, 15' wide X 8' deep. I am pretty handy and have done some research. Seems pretty straight forward except for the footers, all reference material says to follow local code for requirements. I'm not sure how to wade thru the internet for that info. Called the county and they were no help, so I'm not sure if I want to sign up to get in their radar.

My question is: Should I get a building permit (which subjects me to numerous inspections) or just build it and see what happens if they catch me. Or get the permit and never call for inspections.

The construction will be easily seen from a low volume road in Stokes County.
 
OneShot said:
Thinking about building a wooden front porch, 15' wide X 8' deep. I am pretty handy and have done some research. Seems pretty straight forward except for the footers, all reference material says to follow local code for requirements. I'm not sure how to wade thru the internet for that info. Called the county and they were no help, so I'm not sure if I want to sign up to get in their radar.

My question is: Should I get a building permit (which subjects me to numerous inspections) or just build it and see what happens if they catch me. Or get the permit and never call for inspections.

The construction will be easily seen from a low volume road in Stokes County.
Click to expand...

Permits always. If the home is ever sold planned or not you can really screw up the sale without it.
 
Get the permits, and have the inspections done. In addition to fines, building inspectors have been known to require owners to tear it all apart, and start over. It's rare, but has happened.
 
You’ll be required to submit a drawing as well.
Some counties will accept it on a napkin. But also, sets you up for scrutiny. Submit a nice drawing, they cannot deny a hand drawn, but just make it nice.
The bottom of the footer should be below the freeze depth in your area.
 
I would get a permit. As Duane said, I would hate to have to build it twice. It is my understanding here in the City of Savannah, if it is permanent (footers in the ground) you have to have the permit. When we put up a fence the vendor had to get a permit because the post were cemented into the ground.
 
Get the permit. It could make it easier to sell in the future. They’re not expensive and the inspectors usually aren’t bad to work with if you have a good attitude.

When I took over the completions my parents house, I had to get the final. I talked to him before hand asking what he would look for and got some hints and made sure they were done. He flagged a few minor things which we fixed, called him back, took a quick look and signed the form for an occupancy.

When I put the pottery kiln in the garage with some help from a coworker, we pulled a permit. The guy couldn’t find anything to complain about and was easy to work with.
 
Just check with local officalis. Since it's not a close space or conditioned you may not need a permit anyway.
 
Pulling a permit is too get permission to add on to the governments property, to use as you wish for as long as you pay the annual lease fees up untill you sale your rights to useage off to some one else.

Without that permit, the government doesnt know what it now owns.
 
Get the permit if you don't hate freedom. While code inspectors aren't all bastards, I've met more than a few that are and would love to make you start over.
 
OneShot said:
Thinking about building a wooden front porch, 15' wide X 8' deep. I am pretty handy and have done some research. Seems pretty straight forward except for the footers, all reference material says to follow local code for requirements. I'm not sure how to wade thru the internet for that info. Called the county and they were no help, so I'm not sure if I want to sign up to get in their radar.

My question is: Should I get a building permit (which subjects me to numerous inspections) or just build it and see what happens if they catch me. Or get the permit and never call for inspections.

The construction will be easily seen from a low volume road in Stokes County.
Click to expand...

Since no one has asked, I will.

Is it going to be a “free standing deck” or an attached to the house by anchor bolts. I was told by the code or tax folks, if it wasn’t attached permanently to the house it wasn’t part of the dwelling. Then it’s just a bunch of wood to stand on just like a storage building isn’t part of the dwelling or permanent to the property

I had my father in law build my front porch, no permit needed. House sold without issue. It wasn’t attached

But I wasn’t in city limits, and was in Wilkes county, out in the boonies

If there is nothing saying anything about code or permits for anything on the books and you already called, call up a contractor and ask them about needing any permits for your area.
 
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What you gonna do when the poarch collapse, someone falls on the steps, or some other incident? No permit, no insurance payout. You could be on your own.
 
As a general rule you need a permit if it's attached to the house in any way. Also especially if it has any kind of wiring coming from your breaker box. If they wired the house correctly but the porch wrong it might burn your whole house down.
As far as taxes go even if you don't get a permit every county in NC is required to do a revaluation at least once in an eight year period. This means a sight visit from your tax office to all properties.
 
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