In the Field · Part 4
Case: the "customer doesn't want a permit" job
A homeowner replacing a water heater asks the plumber to skip the permit: it costs money, the inspector is a hassle, and the old toilets would have to be replaced at final under SB 407. The plumber agrees, does a clean job for cash, and hears nothing for three years. Then the house sells, the buyer's inspector reads the heater's date code against the permit history, the seller's disclosure statement names the plumber, and the buyer's complaint to CSLB lands on a license that had never had one. This case follows the conversation, the three-year quiet, the complaint, the citation under section 7110, and the version of the same conversation where the plumber kept the customer and the license.
What the full lesson covers
- There is no "customer's choice" about a permit. CPC 104.1 puts the duty on the person doing the work, and B&P 7110 makes a licensed contractor's willful disregard of permit laws cause for discipline. The customer's wish is not a defense.
- Unpermitted work surfaces at sale: the transfer disclosure, the buyer's inspector, the permit history search, and the date code on the heater. Three years of silence is the normal delay, not proof of safety.
- The complaint is about the paper, not the work: the investigator cited the missing permit, the missing contract, and the payment ahead of the work, and never questioned the installation.
- The sentence that keeps the customer: "I pull a permit on every heater; it protects you at sale and it protects me. It's in the price. If the city requires the toilets at final, here is what that costs and here is a schedule."
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More lessons in The Field: Method, Code, and Cases
- 1The diagnostic method: verify, isolate, cheapest test first, cause not symptom, the options ladder, document
- 2Permits: when one is required, what is exempt, pulling it online, the inspection sequence, what inspectors look for, and handling corrections
- 3Daily-use code: drainage slope, venting, water sizing, cleanouts, trap arms, and fixture units, with the section for each
- 4Gas piping in practice: sizing, CSST bonding, the pressure test, appliance connectors and shutoffs, sediment traps, and seismic shutoff valves