Homeowners asked him to skip the permit, now they want a refund: what a California contractor faces

The contractor laid out the job in a post on Reddit's r/Contractor forum: about $20,000 for six windows, $10,000 collected in advance for materials, and no permit, because the owners asked him not to pull one. Their attorney now demands a refund, the cost of redoing the work and attorney fees, and threatens a complaint to the Contractors State License Board (CSLB).

The deposit is the first problem. On a home improvement job, CSLB caps the down payment at the lesser of $1,000 or 10 percent of the price, with no exception for special-order materials. On a $20,000 job the cap is $1,000. After that, payments cannot run ahead of the value of work performed. Any home improvement job over $500 needs a written contract, and the contract has to say who will get the permits.

The permit is the second. According to CSLB, doing work that needs a permit without one violates Business and Professions Code sections 7110 and 7090. The board can assess civil penalties, as much as $5,000 for each violation according to its website, or $8,000 according to its current referral form. It can issue an order of correction that makes the contractor pay the permit fees and any penalties the local building department sets, and it can suspend or revoke the license. CSLB's guidance contains no exception for work skipped at the owner's request, and anyone can file its building permit violation referral form.

CSLB also warns that unpermitted work can leave the homeowner with extra liability and costs. For the contractor, the records that matter under these rules are the signed contract and whether it assigned the permits, the deposit amount, what materials were delivered and when, and any written request from the owners to skip the permit.