Acting as a General Contractor

[Levi Graziano]

I am curious about the laws surrounding acting as a GC on a spec home build without a GC license. I know you can act as your own GC for personal residences but I am not sure about homes you intend to sell. I would be developing, pulling permits, securing financing, and managing licensed sub contractors. Does anyone have experience with this?

[Christopher B.]

@Levi Graziano So, once upon a time you could go down to the city/county building here in Knoxville and pull a permit for your rehabs as the owner. I did this for a few years myself before getting my GC license. As flipping became more popular contractors complained to the city about this as they felt it was taking money out of their pocket. So now they require that you be living in the home in-order to pull the permit. I wouldn't lie to them about this because if you are active you obviously will eventually get caught. You want the city/county to be your friend. 

You have 4 options though. 

1. Hire a GC
2. Become a GC
3. Become a licensed remodeler
4. Do un-permitted work

A licensed remodeler doesn't have to take the lengthy and tough GC test. It is more of a paperwork license but the catch is you can only pull permits up to $25K.

I don't recommend doing work without a permit for so many reasons I can't type them here. You will get caught. I just bought a house from a guy that got caught in this very scenario

Hope this helps