All Forum Posts by: Dante Moore

There are  businesses around doing just that actually :D))))

The work was done 2 years before you bought the house . You have no relationship with this electrician , he didnt work for you . There could be  many reasons why it wasnt finaled , maybe the GC didnt pay him , who knows .  The $500 plus the permit fee is normal , why should he work for free . It takes time to fill out the paperwork , and time is money .  

Now what would concern me is if the electrical permit wasnt  closed out , what other work was done and not closed out . Typically you dont get a use and occupancy certificate until everything is inspected and closed out . 

$ 500 is reasonable , its his license on the line 

That is work. Its time, its liability, its knowledge of how to pull the permit.  People dont work for free.

And you dont have to hire him to pull the permit. You can pull the permit yourself. You can hire someone different to pull your permit.  When I need to get a full set of permits, I pay a permit expediator in the $3,000 range just to pull permits. 

1- It is common practice everywhere I think, unless you hire them to do work. I would not pull permit for free if I were an electrician.

2- I am not really sure why you call it bureaucratic nonsense, if permit pulled and never approved, it is is it common practice as well.

I can tell you "FOR SURE" that this is not common practice everywhere.  No one is asking him to do any work for free.  But I think charging $500.00 for a $50.00 dollar permit is excessive.  The permit was approved in 2018.  He completed the electrical work in 2018 but he didn't close out the permit in 2018.  

Absolutley not!  However, the key question here is why is the owner responsible for the cost of pulling the permit for the electrician who should have finaled it out the first time?  This re-work cost seems like it should be eaten by the contractor, but contractors understand well the situation that homeowners are in here and can easily create a nuanced "pay for this knee-cap insurance or you might find your knee-caps busted up" scenario.

I may be misunderstanding the situation with the electrician, but if this is the same contractor that didn't do it right the first time, then ^^ holds 

Will you are understanding the situation exactly right.  The electrician did not close out the permit in 2018.  I purchased the property in 2020.  The permit follows the property.  I looked him up and contacted him and now he wants $500.00 plus the cost of the permit for closing out the permit he didn't close in 2018.  The work has already been completed.  Its just Baltimore City paperwork nonsense.  

I think most people like to get paid for work they do. 

No actual work needs to be done here other than pulling the permit.   He didn't complete the work in the first place by not closing out the permit.

 Snakes? So should the electrician work for free?

No actual work needs to be done is this situation other than pulling the permit