So, I bought this old residential property for $105K, thinking I could flip it for $250-$280K. The place had some shoddy remodeling work done, with a mix of old knob and tubing electrical work in some parts and more recent wiring in others. The layout was a bit wonky too, with a half bath in the kitchen, a full bathroom on the staircase landing, and an odd added bathroom in what looked like a large bedroom, but it had no heat. We dropped nearly $53K on a general contractor to fix things up, but he vanished halfway through the job.
Now, we’re left in a mess, trying to figure out how to salvage this project without blowing our budget. The electrical and plumbing work is a priority. We need to cap off the plumbing in the kitchen half bath to turn it into a closet. Upstairs, we want to convert the full bath on the landing into a half bath, and add a master bedroom ensuite full bath in addition to the existing large bedroom bathroom. It’s a crazy situation, I know.
The big question now is about permits. We already pulled a general building permit as advised by the contractor who ghosted us. I’m hesitant to pull permits for the electrical and plumbing work because I’m worried inspectors will uncover a can of worms in this old house. Should we just hire licensed contractors and skip the permits altogether, or take the risk of getting permits and potentially having to deal with a laundry list of additional issues like replacing all the knob and tubing wiring?
One option is to only get a permit for the electrical panel and hope for the best. It feels like peeling back layers of an onion, and I’m not sure which move is the right one. I’m stuck in a dilemma and need some guidance on how to proceed. What would you do in my shoes?