Bill for permit

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Bill for permit

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 76.9%
  • No

    Votes: 3 23.1%

  • Total voters
    13
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PetrosA

Senior Member
I looked at a job today in a township I haven't worked in before. I would be the electrical sub for two bath renovations involving installing one fan/light and moving a GFI in one bath, and installing a GFI circuit, replacing fan/light, and installing 8-10 sq. ft. of floor heat in a second bath, so not a big job at all. With one-way travel time to get to the jobsite, I'm looking at 5 hours of time involved with filling out permit applications (including a whole house load calc.), getting notarized exemptions for workman's comp. etc. not to mention half a tank of gas ;).

Do those of you who work in areas with super stringent permitting charge for this time? Most of my permits take under an hour to prepare and file for, so this is extreme, especially considering how small the job is. It basically ate up an entire day of my time.
 

Sparky555

Senior Member
In my contract it states that the owner gets the permit. If it's quick, cheap and a good job I won't bother charging for it. In your case I would have put a price in front of the client before getting the permit. I also charge for a written load calc.
 

PetrosA

Senior Member
It seems that in that particular jurisdiction, there's no way the owner could get it. I had to provide proofs of insurance (customized for the township), a notarized affidavit that I'm exempt from Workman's Comp., the load calc. sheet (form and method provided by the AHJ) and my signature had to be on the permit application as the electrical contractor. In addition to that the GC is providing plans in triplicate.

The GC is a kitchen/bath fabrication company that I do a lot of work with and they give the customer the electrical estimate - something we've worked at smoothing out over the years. It makes the whole process go faster but this is the first time we've come up against such an involved permit application process. I don't foresee my work there taking me more than 12 hours so the permit application will be almost 1/3 of my total time there. I've decided to charge for that time. If the residents in that township care about more affordable permitting costs, they can attend the council meetings and do something about it :)
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
Bottom line is that you're entitled to be compensated for your time, whether directly, as part of your estimate or indirectly as part of your overhead. Since this particular scenario involves an out of the ordinary amount of work to obtain the permit I would included it directly in my estimation.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
IMO, the permit costs, including your time, are a cost of the project and should be included in the project cost. Just like the conduit, wire, and light switches.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
IMO, the permit costs, including your time, are a cost of the project and should be included in the project cost. Just like the conduit, wire, and light switches.


I agree and with large projects you had better due this because some permits can run several thousand dollars.
 
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