In his experience, for this job he says we don't need a permit and it will only cause more delays.

If they qualify comes down to if the home is zoned for such use and is permitted by the city/county for such use. 

That guy got caught building a garage without a permit in March 1996 and had a stop work order issued. 

My partners and I are working on our first flip in Dekalb County and we have run into permitting hell.

The new boiler, all associated work, and extra items were around 7500 including permits and inspection.

On that campground, we have a conditional use permit (CUP) and have been approved by San Bernardino County by land use services to modify the prexissiting CUP with some additional units, dry to wet campground, pool, gazebos, utility building, etc. it’s a big project.

For example; 80% of my business is servicing investors seeking vacation rentals where less than 1% of listings can qualify for a vacation rental permit.

Here in AZ, you can generally piece together those subcontractors at pretty cheap rates, so unless you need an acutal GC for permits being pulled, etc...

I don't know about the Olympia city limits, but in Lacey I don't need any kind of business license or special permit for duplexes.

Like when I didn't pull permits, I had to rip on the cabinets and tile and then abate asbestos that was under the kitchen floor tile.