Give it some time and more knowledgeable people will come and answer. I know a red-taged item cannot be put in service. It would be against the law for someone to turn on your fan, or to hook up electrical service to it if it were not hooked up already. For a professional, it would likely be a licensing issue. For you, it is an outstanding violation that probably means you cannot sell your house. There is essentially a lien against your title if you continue to ignore it. These are all my guesses, based on things I have read. I googled, "What happens if I don't fix a red-tag violation in my house" and found one town said this: "Red tags must be recalled for inspection and paid, if applicable, within seven working (7) days. Failure of the contractors or owner/builders to request and receive re-inspections before proceeding with additional work may result in disciplinary action or a fine against the contractor or owner/builder." If you live in an incorporated city or village, go to the website, there is likely a FAQ with lots of info and maybe your question is answered. If you are not in an incorporated area, go to the county site - whatever governmental entity sent out the inspector. See if you can figure out the answer. Or just call the permit office and ask what happens when a red tag is ignored.

It has been a stressful morning already, so I'll apologize in advance for venting. On the phone again with our electrician trying to get him to stop cutting corners. They were supposed to be done last night. Except for the finish electrical, I'm doing all the finish work. I went through the house last night and I'm just frustrated with the level of work: 240 circuits in the subpanel without a double pole breaker, junction boxes exceeding the 1/4" setback without box extenders, and open junction boxes in the attic. I completely understand that some officials want a licensed electrician to do the work, but "licensed" does not equal a job that meets or exceeds code. Getting back to the original post... Chris2009 asked if DIYers in CA would have licensed people do the work. I'm in CA and I wouldn't hesitate to do it all myself under permits. When in doubt, hire a pro to review your work. I spend so much time reviewing the work that they do that my wife and I often joke it would have been easier for me to do it myself. If you hire pros, I'd also recommend to be your own GC. We hired a GC because I didn't know how to subcontract for structural and seismic stuff, but I've had to fix his plumbers mistakes, fix his insulators mistakes, and ride the electrician. Chris, if you have the skills, then the real question comes down to time. The pros did in 5 days what would have taken me weeks. Best of luck.

Revising the wiring doesn't necessarily require bringing the wiring up to code. Title 24 still includes NEC 250.130 (C) However, I would always advise rewiring the entire circuit anyway. The price per receptacle is so rediculously high, even trying to imagine California costs, that it had to include "fishing" the wires in without removing the drywall, which takes more time. It really doesn't matter much if they have to tape a few small sections of drywall, or a whole room, it still takes the same number of trips and the mud still take just as long to dry. This should have been included in the GC's contract to take care of ALL trades at one time. It should have been included as a general rule. If nothing else, as a listed charge as an "extra" that is almost quaranteed to happen. If they are charging you the price per receptacle for fishing in wires, and then charging you for removing drywall, so they don't have to fish wires, then I would call that double dipping, or at least getting charged for "fishing" that didn't happen. Charging more for inspected work is not a good sign. Writing a contract that presumes illegal practices is in itself, illegal. Any judge should be on your side immediately just because of that.

amberm - The code I referred to was forced on everyone by federal regulations for energy efficiency without proper vetting by the industry. It did not say "plastic wrap". It said "vapor barrier." So, it's not the code per se but how it is implemented. Your local inspectors may very well be old-boy-network Luddites but you may also live in one of those areas that got burned in the past over some code problem. I do know one thing; arguing with an inspector while they are inspecting your project is a bad idea. They sometimes inspect 20+ properties a day and they simply don't have time. The time for doing this is before the work is even started. If you want to try something different, talk to the plan reviewers in the building department before you start. I discussed with them using Pex in my house two years ago and I won't do the plumbing until next summer. I presented how I wanted to run the lines and asked them specifics of how code would affect the plan and they answered my questions. In fact, after discussing with the plan reviewer and them asking one of the inspectors, we came up with an even better way of doing it. Beachem - I really feel for you. I think you are being harassed by your local government and have a legitimate complaint. Some cities set up speed traps to make extra revenue. I suppose some cities use regulations for the same thing.