Rules that took effect on Monday should
have contractors in New Jersey raising the roof, since it's no longer
necessary to purchase a construction permit for roofing or siding jobs
on one- and two-family dwellings.
Just
in time for spring, the state Department of Community Affairs has
reclassified those big-ticket repairs as minor work and ordinary
maintenance, and now includes them on its list of home improvement jobs
that no longer are subject to inspection.
The
change will save contractors the time it takes to go to Borough Hall and
apply for the permit. It should save homeowners the cost, which,
depending on the size of the siding or roof job, would could be between
$200 and $500.
"I believe this is a good thing,"
said Jane Eliya, who operates Xpress Construction in Ridgewood. "This
way we can concentrate on doing our jobs, instead of having to go to
town hall to buy a permit. It's not so much the cost of the permits,
because we bill the homeowner, but the time. And then you have to wait
for an inspection."
Other tasks that no longer require a permit are installing alarm
systems, outdoor irrigation, chimney lining, indoor Sheetrock and
drywall and the replacement of indoor plumbing fixtures.
While potential loss to municipalities does not appear
to be huge, many towns opposed the move at a public hearing that the
Community Affairs Department held last November. Opponents argued that
eliminating inspections removes a layer of consumer protection.
"Residents
look at these fees as a money grab, when in essence these inspections
ensure the work is correct and is a check on poor contractors," said
Kevin Boyle, the borough manager in Pompton Lakes, which last fall
adopted a resolution that opposed the rule change.
Boyle
said it's impossible to predict how much revenue the borough will lose
in 2018, because each year is different. "It's not like we always have
10 roof permits and so forth," Boyle wrote in an email exchange. "Ask me
again in December."
The
changes seemed to catch many towns by surprise. The DCA informed
municipalities only last week that the new rules were about to take
effect.
Manny Jimenez, a contractor who runs AidPro Roofing in
Prospect Park, has mixed feelings about the change. He appreciated the
fact that fewer rules would save him time, but the permit process also
weeds out the legitimate contractors from the other ones, he said.
"If
a customer sees that I'm capable of going to town and getting the
permit, then it gives the customer more confidence in me that I am
legitimate," he said.
Jeff Fette, the
construction code official for the borough of Montvale, said smaller
municipalities would likely feel the revenue crunch more than larger
ones. Down the line, that could force more municipalities to enter into
shared service agreements, he said.
"Municipalities
will need to seek new ways to save money and stay under the 2 percent
cap they face each cycle," he said. "This, I believe, is just another
step in that direction."
Typically, a town won't
issue a permit to a contractor unless he shows proof that he is
registered with Consumer Affairs, which is required by law. Construction
code officials tend to know who the legitimate contractors are.
"We've had contractors coming in here for 50 years, and now all of a
sudden they don't need a permit," said Bob LaCosta, the construction
code official in Scotch Plains and the former president of the New
Jersey Building Officials Association.
LaCosta said that without inspections, it will be up
to the homeowner to determine whether the job is being done the right
way. And mistakes are not always visible to the untrained eye, he said.
Vinyl
siding expands and contracts with seasonal changes in temperature, and
so it must be hammered on correctly, he said. Sometimes, contractors
will fill in the gaps with excessive caulking, or wrongly cover up
electrical boxes or dryer vents, LaCosta said.
Roof
replacements pose another set of issues. Homeowners are only allowed to
add a second layer of shingles. Third roofs are illegal, and it's been
up to the construction code official to enforce that, LaCosta said.
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