Newbie mistake - risks associated with installing unpermitted bathroom?

Question

Hello! Newbie here - 2 weeks into my first property, I plan to house hack short-term rental (live in basement, rent main house) in Nashville. I'm doing some improvements before listing on Airbnb, including installing a small half bath in the attic bedroom. I didn't do my due diligence to learn about permitting before my contractor started work.  I'm now hearing an unpermitted bathroom could cause issues with insurance claims, city fines, and resale. Oof.

Some tell me it's not a big deal and everyone does it. Others say I definitely need a permit before proceeding. The space will not have head clearance to meet code (only 6' 4" like the bedroom) so my options are to cancel the project or proceed unpermitted. What would you do?

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Don't do it withour a permit. There are so many negatives and zero positves. @Frank Barletta mentioned some of them. You also will not get full value for the SF associated with the bath remodel.

And you are essentially building an illegal room. Why would you want to do that?

You will have no inspections, so your 'Contractor' might miss something (Intentionally or not). Bathrooms are considered one of the most dangerous rooms in a house because you have a mixture of water and electrcity in very close proximity. Just imagine a guest getting shocked because the GFI was not installed properly, or you hang a chandelier too low over a tub, or wrong type of can light in shower, or.........?

Picture the look  on your face when your Insurance Company denies the claim. And yes, they will.

Tanner Lewis · Answer

The best way to do it is to permit and find out how to meet head clearance or not do the project. It seems like a small headache now, but it is a much bigger headache once you go to sell/refi

Andreas Mueller · Answer

Highly recommend you get it permitted! And Nashville / Davison county is not California. If you are straight with them they will work with you. My 2 cents.

Evan Polaski · Answer

@Laura Winegardner, for what it is worth, I would certainly play up the naivete of being new to this.  Most building departments don't want to be mean or vengeful.  So, stop where you are, ask for forgiveness (sounds like you already have) and get permits.

It may become not worth the effort, since you will likely need to run a dormer of some sort to get more head height.  You will need full plans approved by architect and/or engineer, and then the work.  As for work completed, when I had a friend get caught doing work without a permit, he didn't have to pull everything out, but had to pull out pieces to allow inspector to verify work.  So if you have the walls up and floor in, you may have to pull sections of flooring and drywall to expose plumbing for inspection.  But, likely not all of it, only what is needed to confirm the work that should have been inspected.

Ray Hage · Answer

It is definitely better to do it with permits. Lot of risks associated if you do it without, especially if it is done wrong. Now for example, if there was a half-bathroom already there and you just want to put new shower tiles, toilet, vanity, etc. that's one thing (you could probably get away without doing a permit). If you are adding a bathroom from scratch, ALWAYS get a permit!

Right now, I have a friend who is considering adding a half bath to his first floor by removing a closet w/o a permit and I am really trying to convince him not to. I gave him the same warning I gave you so I hope he will listen.

Luka Milicevic · Answer

@Laura Winegardner

What did your contractor say about permitting?

Inspections take for absolutely ever so I know many would be permit pullers are skipping the process because it can take a month to get an inspection. (Yes, I know everyone wants to sit out their high horse and say to get permits but it's different when you are eating a 12% loan while waiting for someone to check your project).

Have you spoken to the city about what type of permitting you need? If you're running plumbing, electrical, HVAC out there it's different than if you're just putting up drywall. Depending on the extent of the actual work you may or may not even need one.

Your contractor should be the one that is on top of all of this, assuming they are the GC.

Jonathan Greene · Answer

1. Fire the contractor.

2. Continue on to get it permitted with a new contractor.

3. Any time you are trying to put a bathroom in an attic or basement, it is going to be harder than you think.

4. Once a town finds out you started without a permit, they can make it hard, so you have to play it up that you had no idea and the contractor did not tell you.

ALWAYS. ALWAYS. Get permits. It's silly to think you could ever just install a new bathroom without permits.

Frank Barletta · Answer

Mike Holmes will not save this for you.

Laura Winegardner · Answer

Thanks all. I'm going to get started on the permitting today. Sounds like since it's under $25K I can submit for the permits myself.

Newbie mistake - risks associated with installing unpermitted bathroom?

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