Thank you all for your responses! In answer to your questions: "Does this mean the final contract documents/quote specifically included the fireplace in question?" Yes, they did. The Final Estimate -- a separate document from the Contract, but part of the document package -- states that the builder will install the fireplace. (It includes a short desc. of the installation, and the price.) "Wouldn't you have had to pay the 800.00 either way?" No. The $800 was just to amend the permit. FWIW, I understand that we paid him to put the permit sets together, and that it was our job to submit them to the county. We did so with the belief that he would create accurate and complete permit sets. So, are we responsible for having the technical knowledge necessary to review a permit set for accuracy? (I should mention that when the County Reviewer found several errors in the plan, our builder corrected them. He did not say, "Oh, that's your responsibility dear client...) So, whaddya think? Do we have a leg to stand on? Thanks! Temple

First of all - donâÂÂt panic! I had a somewhat similar incident when we installed our geothermal system. Someone from the municipality happened to drive by and just about went berserk when he saw what was going on with 2-drill rigs, massive compressors and tracked excavators etc. He asked if we had permits; I informed him that we didnâÂÂt. He didnâÂÂt say stop all work, which we wouldnâÂÂt have done in any case but he did take MANY digital photos of the work site and informed me that he will be submitting them to the Engineering Department. Our municipality has no permit requirement; I guess they havenâÂÂt figured out yet how to tax it. I have since heard from the cityâÂÂs chief engineer on 2 occasions, once to consult with him on converting the municipal swimming pool, sports complex, indoor skating rink, and municipal garage - all separate buildings, to geothermal. The other occasion was when he himself was interested in a geothermal conversion of his own home. Why am I telling you this? HereâÂÂs the bottom line. Many, perhaps MOST municipalities have NO regulations or by-laws concerning geothermal installations. If itâÂÂs not on the books, they leave you alone. Most wouldnâÂÂt even know what or how to inspect them. So, if your municipality has no by-laws on the books then almost certainly no permit is required and youâÂÂre home free - literally. Furthermore, if by-laws were adopted AFTER your installation was done then you should be exempted and grandfathered! Some jurisdictions that have brought in permit requirements have absolutely killed geothermal for all but commercial and institutional projects, as the permit requirement requires an engineering study to be performed and having a professional engineer sign off on the project. This could easily add $10k to the cost of a residential project making it untenable. Commercial or institutional geothermal projects always have the engineering requirement so itâÂÂs no big deal and already factored in. As a case in point to illustrate the effect of regulation, after 1-geothermal driller encountered natural occurring natural gas in 1-residential geothermal borefield, a province wide moratorium was placed on ALL geothermal drilling everywhere in Ontario with the requirement of proving that any project - even residential, conform to and comply with EPA regulation. ItâÂÂs like trying to get EPA and governmental approval to build a pipeline in you front yard! Imagine the cost⦠SR Here is a link that might be useful: CGC - Moratorium On Drilling

Sorry to hear you are in this situation. Did you have a written contract? Where I am in Ct I honestly don't think they will let you file in small claims if you don't have a contract but they might. I had a contractor pull the same kind of thing, but he had signed a contract and was licensed. We won in court, but he never paid us back, even though we garnished wages, etc. He kept changing jobs and avoiding the payments. Now we are stuck with about half the judgement unpaid, attorney's fees, and nothing else. Another contractor had to finish the work and it cost more because we had to undo what was done improperly. It was an expensive nightmare. The work you were going to do might and might not have been allowed, depending on your zoning for your area. Here, an auxillary apartment is allowed, but it depends on quite few factors, such as your water and sewer tie ins or septic etc. Here, I don't believe the Dept. of Health allows for a tie in to an existing septic, but I could be wrong. (The ones I've seen had to have their own separate septic if not say an inlaw apartment in the basement say) If it wasn't legal and you had no contract, I think you might be throwing your money away. Just my opinion though. You can find out what is needed for the local small claims court in your area, including the cost to file and the amount you can sue for. It might just be an expensive lesson learned though. I hope it works out for you.

If you are in fact in an area controled the the Los Angeles County Dept. of Building and Safety, you can, against mine and others advise, permit the project yourself. The permit application contains a paragraph, requiring your signature, in which you assume all of the liabilities for assertaing the validity of any persons performing any trade related funtion of the project. You can affirm that you and your immediate family members, ONLY, will be preforming all of the trade tasks. However, government agencies have a low tolerance for repeated failed inspections and will asses additional fees. You can elect to permit and act as the general contractor, hire subs with the requirement that they permit their specific trade. This will insure the validity of their âÂÂCâ lic., their city lic, and insurance. Hiring subs will require numereous sets of the plans, to conduct a comprehensive bid process, as well as the review of those bids to insure their cmpletness. When you act as the general you can require the trades to schedule and stand their own inspection, or you can schedule and stand the inspections. As the general, you are required to schedule the trades, some of which will have a low tolerance for delays and mis-scheduling, IE. wasting their time.