I am currently working on my first project and from what I am learning, mostly from the neighbors, is that the village I am rehabbing in is notoriously difficult to deal with. I don’t necessarily want to name the specific city, but it is in Lake county and the employees in the office, as well as the inspectors, are seemingly always grumpy and in no mood to be helpful. Just getting permits was a 6 week struggle and I finally got them, but at a cost of about $1850.
I plan to continue to rehab homes in the area, not necessarily in the same city, and was wondering if any of you have experience in this area of Illinois? If not, stay away! Just kidding. Seriously though, I never planned on it being this difficult to simply get permits.
I’m in LaSalle county and if its not an obvious job like an addition, or major structural repair outside the motto seems to be, “Permits? We don’t need no stinkin permits.”
Yeah, the neighbors always joke when I tell them about the problems I’m having with the village, “Permits, what are those?” But there are a few other homes being rehabbed in the area and they all have placards displayed. So I decided to play it safe by getting the permits and avoid getting a work stoppage order. If that happened, then the already grumpy village employees would actually have a reason to be super grumpy towards me and delay the permit process even further.
I rehab and deal with rehabbers from all over the Chicagoland area. Even with the wonderfully non-politically contempt chicago offices. However, it is always best to do your rehabs right with permits. Move forward with the project. Keep applying for your permits. Start your track towards the permits before you close on the property.
Make friends in the offices you need. Cookies, donuts, muffins, those people that make the decisions love those things and most all have sweet tooths.
Remember you can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar! It is also good to work with contractors that regularly work in those areas because they know how to deal with the local government and inspectors as well.
Because this is my first project, I underestimated the time and effort needed to properly apply and receive permits. Of course there is a large learning curve with this type of work and I am slowly making my way through it.
The one thing I have always been, even during situations where I would’ve been justified to act differently, is nice and courteous. I realize that the village employees ultimately have my project timeline by the “balls” and like you said, I’m killing them with kindness. And I have found a few contractors who work regularly in the area and their relationship with the village has helped speed things up. I will make sure to try the sweet tooth idea next time!
My dad made some repairs in his house. He basically rehabbed his own house when he bought in waukegan and he didn’t get any permit.
I guess if it’s something that they’ll see from the outside, I’d get a permit.
But if it’s mostly interior, I won’t get any.
I actually rehabbed one and replaced the beam in the basement, dug some holes for the foundation and a lot of things without asking for a stinking permit.