Do utilities NEED to be turned on?

[Melissa Dinas]

I just closed on a house that did not have  the power connected nor the water. We won't be starting work on it immediately. My question is, do I need to turn on the utilities  or can I hold off on that ? I'm just trying to figure out  if something  bad will happen within the mechanicals of the house.

[Mark Fries]

@Max T. I can't remember the last time I did a renovation on one of my rentals when I had electricity and power.... We just use a generator and then we fill up 2 big trash cans full of water from the neighbor and we pay them 20 bucks and we just work out of that. But my renovations are usually gut jobs and I can't get utilities turned on until I'm almost finished anyway from the city..