NJ basement renovation questions

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4160

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NJ
Got a call today from a woman who already began demo'ing her basement (single family house in North NJ urban neighborhood).
She claims she will only be needing new receptacles in the walls which havent been framed out yet and adding the required lights in the basement, outlets in a bathroom and new light fixtures on a couple of other locations on the house.

I will be going to scope out the job tomorow and give her an estimate. I called the local permit office and they said I might need Building, Electrical & Fire permits, & inspections throughout the job.

As I am not familiar with the inspection process since this is one of my first jobs since getting my license, can anyone enlighten me on what to expect:(prices for all permits, inspection process etc.)

any comments with past experiences would be great.
 
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dieselram752

Member
Location
mass
Safest way to deal with permitting is note the cost as an extra on your estimate.
Also don't forget you may need to allow a few hours to get the permit,a few more hours to met inspector for rough then another few hours to meet for finish inspection.
 
Dennis Alwon

Dennis Alwon

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Location
Chapel Hill, NC
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Retired Electrical Contractor
4160 said:
I called the local permit office and they said I might need Building, Electrical & Fire permits, & inspections throughout the job.
Click to expand...

Why would you need to get a building permit. That is the homeowners or builders responsibility not yours. You need the electrical permit-- never heard of a fire permit but I am not in Jersey.
 
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RICK NAPIER

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Yep we have fire permits and inspectors. They inspect gas and oil appliances, suppression systems, fire alarms, class 1 and 2 hoods among other things.
 
Dennis Alwon

Dennis Alwon

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Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
RICK NAPIER said:
If he is putting in or relocating the smoke detector.
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Interesting. That rule is a building code rule around here however the electrical inspectors inspects that. Most of the time I don't even get a permit in many areas because it is built into the builders permit. Makes life easy for me.
 
goldstar

goldstar

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
4160 said:
Got a call today from a woman who already began demo'ing her basement (single family house in North NJ urban neighborhood).

I will be going to scope out the job tomorow and give her an estimate. I called the local permit office and they said I might need Building, Electrical & Fire permits, & inspections throughout the job.
Click to expand...
If you plan on becoming the GC for the job, then yes, you'll probably need all these permits for this work. If you're only doing electrical work then that's the only permit you'll need.
As I am not familiar with the inspection process since this is one of my first jobs since getting my license, can anyone enlighten me on what to expect:(prices for all permits, inspection process etc.) any comments with past experiences would be great.
Click to expand...
A lot depends on what town you're doing work in. Permit fees vary from town to town and are based on total $$ of contract. There are also some towns where you'll have to add on a few grand to your price just to cover your time to correct violations because no matter how good an electrician you are, you will fail inspection for the most ridiculous reasons.
 
gadfly56

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
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Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
NJ Permits and You - Perfect Together!

NJ Permits and You - Perfect Together!

Yes, in NJ you need to pull electric and fire permits for a smoke alarm. Also applies if you were putting in a low-voltage system, even if you aren't pulling the branch circuit to power the panel. The electrical inspector will still inspect the wire to all the 24VDC devices; you just file the electrical permit as an "exempt applicant".

As to cost, your basic permit minimum is going to be +/- $55 for each (fire, electrical). After that, it goes by some arcane formula involving the number and type of devices, the square and cubic footage, dollar value of the work, and phase of the moon for all I know.

The clerk at the building department was almost surely just covering the bases, unless you are in fact putting up the walls. A little hint on customer relations if you AREN'T putting up the walls; let the customer know you will be applying for a permit and mention that the town said a building permit was necessary. Too frequently homeowners think that just because the NJ code allows them to do almost any work on a dwelling themselves this somehow exempts them from the necessity of getting permits. It could get awkward when you call for the rough inspection and the electrical inspector wonders why the "Building" box on the yellow card isn't checked.
 
4

4160

Member
Location
NJ
Job still needed to be demo'd & lines traced out.
Told her $2500 plus permits and light fixtures, saw the look of shock and awe on her face :eek:hmy: , havent heard from them since.
 
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