I had a fun experience this week. I sent the homeowner to the local (N. Illinois) building department to pull a permit.

He was told... "We don't do permits anymore. Just find someone that's qualified". I called another nearby town and the county to confirm that we had contacted the right AHJ.

The job is a 200-amp service upgrade.

Dave

Dave,
This is good news (I think), getting qualified people will actually save you money in the long run, it's just that a lot of homeowners, never see that side of the argument.

Without permits, and the subsequent inspection... Means some guy hanging out in the Home Destructo parking lot could be considered qualified? What's it all mean?

I think it all means the permit fees are not high enough to fund a building department that can do an adequate job. I bet they decided it was safer legally to stop issuing permits than to issue them and expose the city to liability because the inspectors didn't have enough time/money to really "inspect" the job.

if the home owner is getting the permit then there is no way to know if the work is being done by someone qualified. IMHO only the licensed tradesman, should be able to sign out a permit.
I hope the money they aren't spending on a building department is being spent on the fire department, or at least to lower taxes to offset the higher insurance premiums.
Alan--

I'm with gfretwell on this - I know that out here in CA, since our Governator decided to start keeping the city & county portion state sales tax revenues to help balance the state budget, all the local cities (& counties) are running budget deficits and eating thru whatever reserves they may have had. They simply must cut spending by cutting services and staff.

Is that the right place to cut? No, but each city makes their own determination as to what's most important. One thing I learned a couple of years ago is that in order to even be a city in the first place, you have to demonstrate certain capabilities, like being able to provide police services, etc. I don't know the specifics, and maybe the Building Department side of Public Safety isn't an issue. Something to look into tho . . .

Anyone have more specifics on basic city qualifications? I would think that maybe there are legal means for the local citizens to force the city to provide Bldg Dept services.

Radar

I called some other building departments in the area. One inspector said "You shouldn't have to beg someone to take your money".

Another twist on this is the line work is being done by Trench-It rather than ComEd. Maybe everyone is bowing out to leave the liability between Trench-It & me.

What bothers me about this most is that building departments check for license and insurance, homeowners don't.

Dave

I /know/ I'm going to be slammed a few times for this, but I have a question in relation to being qualified. Recently I did work for a friend of mine who has his homeowner's license. Personally, I have no license for electric work (I'm on the forum for telecom, but have a slight obsession with wiring). Even though my every step was double-checked by him (the friend), is it still bad if I do the work (the final inspection passed, btw)? (I only did the work since he didn't have much time)

The rule in Florida is the homeowner can pull the permit but he can't hire anyone do do any of the work without listing them as a sub on the permit (license number etc). They can't hire unlicensed people.
If he does all the work himself it is OK.

Hiring someone as a "hands off" consultant is probably legal but I have never heard it done. The H.O. wouldn't want to pay a decent price anyway.

Technically, I wasn't hired in the strictest sense of the word. I was recommended to help the HO on his new shop. My experience comes from a lot of work in theatre (stage electrician), and reading Code books (NEC, IRC). Also, the only work I did was boxes, rec., fixtures, and cable-- the HO did all the panel work and final trim. As for pay, it was never discussed and although I assumed I was working for free they did end up handing me a check.

Edit- Please know that since I am entering telecom, I do not plan to pursue further electric work until licensed.

[This message has been edited by trobb (edited 06-19-2006).]