A good home inspector will look at the quality and safety of the home including the basement. He may or may not check to see if the basement was finished with a building permit. Guess what–this info is available to the public online.

The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department web site has a feature that allows for an address search of any area property. The search will yield info on all of the building permits that have been pulled for that property. If there are no basement finish permits, this could indicate a future problem with the home. If no permit was pulled for the work then more questions need to be asked. The basement may look fine but the issue could be with what we cannot see.

The building department does periodic inspections during the construction process. The insures that the framing, electrical, plumbing etc. all were done according to the local building codes. If these inspections were not done, the new homeowner may be required to prove that the code has been followed to bring the permit current. This might require cutting into walls to show how the work was done.

Many buyers do see this as a major inspection issue. This is because when they get ready to sell in a few years, their new buyer might want the inspections to be completed. If not done, resale value can be affected. Safety can be greatly impacted if wiring or plumbing wa not done correctly. Just because your cousin Billy used to work in construction does not mean he is qualified to wire a basement properly!

Bottom line here is that all work done on a home needs to be properly inspected if it impacts the structure or safety of that home. A new deck require a permit. New kitchen cabinet installation does not. For more info on local building permit issues, contact me or leave a comment below.